Comic relief: Sharpton colleague urges LeBron James, Dwyane Wade ‘to change franchises’

Comic relief: Sharpton colleague urges LeBron James, Dwyane Wade ‘to change franchises’

Skittles ice tea hoodiesIt’s not just the idea that is utterly ridiculous but the wording of an appeal by Sharpton associate Gene Collins that will give you a good chuckle for a Monday morning.

Breitbart reports that Collins, who heads up the Las Vegas chapter of Sharpton’s National Action Network, led a Trayvon Martin rally on Saturday, during which he made this modest proposal:

We are here also to ask our sports icons LeBron James, Dwyane Wade [unintelligible] and other professional players in baseball and football to change franchises and play for another franchise until the state of Florida recognizes there has to be change. [Emphasis added]

We are also asking the collegiate athletes who have signed contracts and who have signed letters of intent to play for various universities to transfer to another university until the governor of the state of Florida calls a special session and changes the laws so that African American males and females, black and brown kids will be safe in the state of Florida.

Just like that, eh? If Collins is contemplating a switch himself — to a career as an employment counselor — he is advised not to quit his day job (whatever that might be).

Miami HeatGranted in March 2012, the Miami Heat (the team on which both James and Wade play) posed for a photo wearing hooded sweatshirts, in tribute to Trayvon Martin. Several Heat players, moreover, took the floor for a game around the same time with the phrase “We Want Justice” scrawled on their sneakers. But once the game began that night — and every night since up through the tournament-deciding Game 7 of the NBA championship, which the Heat won — it has been business as usual.

And business it remains. The interesting thing is that James, who has an opt-out clause in his $107 million 6-year contract, could very well leave Miami to sign with another team. Wade, one of two Miami stars that provided an inducement for James to join the team in 2010, turns 33 this year. In basketball years, that’s old.

But whatever career decision he makes, you can bet your bottom dollar that it will not be based on the idealistic urging of some loon tilting at windmills.

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Howard Portnoy

Howard Portnoy

Howard Portnoy has written for The Blaze, HotAir, NewsBusters, Weasel Zippers, Conservative Firing Line, RedCounty, and New York’s Daily News. He has one published novel, Hot Rain, (G. P. Putnam’s Sons), and has been a guest on Radio Vice Online with Jim Vicevich, The Alana Burke Show, Smart Life with Dr. Gina, and The George Espenlaub Show.

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