It seems no millennium era NBA player ranks higher up the blogospere than LeBron James—oops, sorry KING James. His immense talent has garnered him saint-ly status among fans and his net worth makes the folks on Madison Ave drool. His publicity meter is back up to fill tilt with the new Vogue cover in which he poses for the April “Shape” issue with supermodel Gisele Bundchen,  (the cover is a little odd, it actually looks like Gisele is pulling away from LeBron-obviously I'm no art or photo director/editor, but I think it still would've been cool to have LeBron in a suit and tie or something else classy because if he's in shape he's in shape. I get it that she's the model, he's the athlete. But I would've liked to have seen something different. And down from the soapbox I come) only the third man in Vogue Magazine’s history to be placed on the cover. And he appears on the cover of ESPN Magazine’s April issue for the fifth time.

    But what I find even more fascinating about LeBron James are his skills off the court. Business wise, that is. When James fired his original agents, brothers Aaron and Eric Goodwin to hire his own marketing firm made up of himself and three childhood friends from Akron, Ohio, LRMR Marketing and Branding, the sports world looked at him with eyes wide shut. You could feel the sports writers, analysts and bloggers cringing. I found it intriguing that a young black man with enormous athletic talent and starpower could use his status to develop his brand—himself—and do this with loyalty and respect for his childhood friends. Naturally, everyone gets a little rich a long the way. And we’ve all read instances where the celebrity will set up businesses for friends or even go into side ventures once they actually blow up. But LeBron did something a little different. LRMR doesn’t just want LeBron to be a “"global icon”—they want to hire other athletes for the same purpose.

 
    So MTV Cribs and endorsements be damned: what many critics still consider a ridiculous move for an NBA megastar, let alone a ROOKIE—to turn over your entire career to your buddies, your buddies who didn’t go to Harvard Business Schools—is still an impressive, bold move to me. Smart? Don’t know yet. Remember it was the Goodwins who secured that nice little 90 million dollar NIKE endorsement in the beginning. Hardly small potatoes. But I do know that LRMR plans to build “partnerships” instead of just endorsements by seeking equity stake in various corporations which isn’t novice or dumb by far.

    And yes--their website. Sigh. Let's just hope this gets a makeover SOON. It's already been a little too long. Maybe they're searching for the right content writer. (Hint: LRMR--I'm available!!!!)