LeBron James Fires off the Tweet Heard ‘Round the World

When LeBron James signed up for Twitter roughly six weeks ago, the sports world reacted in a variety of ways.  Doubts surrounded whether or not it was even James using the account, others assumed it would be strictly for promotional reasons.  And while both may have been true to a point, it turns out that James is also using the microblogging medium to turn into a 6-foot-8-inch Carl Monday.

On Tuesday evening, James took a break from talking to Chris Paul and Chad Ochocinco to fire a warning shot to all of those that have cast him in a negative light since “The Decision.”

Don’t think for one min that I haven’t been taking mental notes of everyone taking shots at me this summer. And I mean everyone!

Naturally, this just added more fuel to the anti-LeBron fire.  Considering that the only person not on the list is ESPN’s Stuart Scott, James’ mental notes should be of considerable size.  Typically, re-tweeting anything James says is a tired exercise as anyone that cares would be following him to begin with.  However, most of the quick-witted added thoughts of their own, perhaps being added to James’ list of perceived shooters.

Many were quick to ask whether James’ “notes” included his reason for quitting on the Cavaliers during the playoff series against the Boston Celtics.  Even more were willing to raise their Twitter hands in unison, playing right back into the empty threats that were crammed into a 140-character box.  And with any viral tweet that gets disseminated among Twitter’s finest, it spawned a hashtag of #bronsmentalnotes (possibly the best use of the hashtag since #BlameBranyan) that ranged from “practice wincing and make vacation plans for May” to consulting NBA stores of fireproof jerseys, buying a dog and teaching said dog how to “Dougie.”

On the other side, some are calling the James tweet “the most MJ-like thing he has done so far.” Creating enemies, fueling desire to dominate the NBA game and win a championship.  While MJ made his enemies in a different fashion, James is utilizing his resources – in fact, it was the first tweet he has made in the six weeks that those following actually acknowledged.  But on the flip side, this whole episode just cast that much of a larger spotlight on the biggest name in the NBA to not have a ring – the same man who put half of the NBA through the wringer over his pending free agency and ultimately turned on the fans that supported him through all of these types of moves for the last seven years.

Given the transgressions of this summer, one can only assume that this is not the end of the threatening tweets from the King James account.  The “look at me” medium is undoubtedly right up his alley – he likely hates the fact that he was this late to the party.  But if anything is true, its that James’ heel turn will only continue to be magnified until the start of the 2010-11 NBA season and James will continue to make up for lost time.

Until then, let’s hope this isn’t the last we hear about these mental notes. 

[/Dougie]