LeBron James said most of the right things in the aftermath of the Miami Heat's Game 6 elimination at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday. He admitted that the loss was a "personal failure," gave copious credit to the Mavericks and emphasized how much hard work he puts in away from the media's rolling cameras.
But one particular comment stands out, and will stand out going forward.
At the end of the day, all the people that were rooting for me to fail ... at the end of the day, tomorrow they have to wake up and have the same life that [they had] before they woke up today. They got the same personal problems they had today. And I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things I want to do.
There's actually nothing wrong with the statement insomuch as it's impossible to live to appease the haters, especially when you're someone as high-profile as LeBron. But you know why so many people are glad to see you fail? Because of the "you jealous?" vibe LeBron gives off in comments like this, partly.
Those haters will wake up Monday with the same ol' problems. But they'll get through their day a bit easier knowing that the guy humble-bragging through an NBA Finals collapse is drinking a bitter tea.