“We have the utmost respect for them”
“Play one game at a time”
“There is no I in team”
The world of professional sports has been sterilized. Once a place where the likes of Muhammed Ali and Deion Sanders were free to talk trash as they saw fit has been reduced to a finite list of cliches. Cliches that announcers, coaches, and players say ad nauseam to the point of giving the average sports fan a mixture of deja vu and car sickness.
Enter Lance Stephenson. Game 3 of the 2012 Eastern Conference semi-finals between the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat. LeBron James misses a free throw late in the game to which the Indiana crowd responds gleefully. Pacers guard Lance Stephenson stands up, wraps his hands around his neck, sticks out his tongue and, signals to the entire country that Lebron James is choking. Was James choking? It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that some one had the nerve to mock “the chosen one” on national television. After the game some one with the media told Lebron about Stephensons antics to which James replied "Lance Stephenson? You want a quote about Lance Stephenson? I'm not even going to give him the time. Knock it off."
James’ response was reasonable. He is the best basketball player on the planet, he didn’t need to explain himself to another player who got hardly any playing time. Something happened that day. James’ dismissal planted a seed in Lance that would grow into a disdain for James that the world would witness again on a national stage.
Who would have guessed? Who would have guessed that Lance Stephenson would become the 6th man for the Pacers and eventually their starting shooting guard? Who would have guessed that Stephenson would become one of the most exciting players in the NBA and lead the league in triple doubles in 2014?
Lance has a play style unlike any other basketball player on earth. He doesn’t run the court, he does this weird combination of galloping and prancing. When he drives to the rim he doesn’t arch his back, he keeps his back straight up and his head straight forward like a middle aged Dad power walking through a suburban neighborhood. It’s a combination of goofiness and beauty that people can’t take their eyes off of. Lance is a character with two sides. There is no better evidence of this than his two nick names. Born Ready: the Lance that is a wizard around the rim and has a smooth jumper to boot. The 8th grader: the Lance that can be seen slapping himself in the face to draw fouls or spreading his legs and making funny faces to taunt his opponents. Which one is the true Lance? Both are.
“And tell them b*****s, blow me, Lance Stephenson” - “Only”, Nicki Minaj. It’s game 5 of the 2014 NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers. The 8th grader goes over to the opposing teams huddle and squeezes in like he is a player for the other team. Everyone outside of South Florida loves it. Later in the game Lance does something that will go down in NBA history. As Born Ready is guarding Lebron James, waiting for the ball to pass half court he bends over, blows in James’ ear and turns away as if nothing happened. James’ kept his cool, he grins and shakes his head. This small simple act explodes across sports media, the general media, and even into the latest rap song by Nicki Minaj.
Even though Lance signed with Charlotte and now Los Angeles the 8th grader lives on. Love him or hate him he is a glorious break from the tight lipped “nice guy” persona professional sports have taken on. Maybe the public doesn’t want another good sport, maybe they want some one who will speak his or her mind. Is being bold and unpredictable as opposed to dry and nice really that bad of a thing? Is the world ready for Lance Stephenson? I’m sick of cookie cutter sports personalities, I was born ready.