Vilified/Redemptive black athlete and simmons email

Been reading a bunch of fascinating articles today re: the vilified/redemptive black athlete:

Simmons on Vick (who I am loving on so hard right now I gotta say)
Adande on Lebron (the videos are worth watching too, Jalen Rose makes some really eloquent points... I was actually surprised because he is usually like cardboard)
Article on Vogue cover that Lebron did
Jesse Jackson on Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert's crazy rantings against Lebron (Gilbert's rant is here if you missed it originally)
Article on Lebron (and lots of vilified black athletes) being on the Q list of most disliked athletes
And another article on Black reactions to Lebron hating

All worth meandering through, esp the 1st two.

I wrote this to Simmons in response so I thought I'd share, since I wrote it and otherwise it just sort disappears into the ether:

"Excellent article today on Vick. As a diehard birds fan (and admitted underdog lover) I haven't felt this excited about the team in a long time. You encapsulated a lot of my own feelings about vick's comeback really well.

That said the aside about Lebron playing the race card is unfair. I thought the Decision was a punk move too, but answering a loaded question with a sort of half hearted nod to the literal truth (of course, race has to do with EVERYTHING in basketball) is NOT "playing the race card." I agree that Lebron seems to still not fundamentally get why he's been vilified for his move, but I don't think he's saying it's all bc of his race, just that (obviously) the race of an athlete who bucks the trend or does something controversial is always relevant in today's world...

The real error though is to then compare him with Brett Favre, who continues to have his nob slobbed daily by the very network you work for. And nobody ever burned favre jerseys nor ever will. Do people now hate favre for his ongoing self-important, self-deluded saga. Probably a few. But (myself included) probably a lot of them hated him already for winning so much, and for those TERRIBLE wrangler ads."

What are your thoughts on all this business?