Lebron James has worked hard to shape his image over his seven years in the NBA; he has a publicly stated several times that he wants to be the first billionaire athlete.  People refer to him as “The King” because of his last name and the fact that some believe he is the best player in the NBA.  Lebron has been very careful to keep his private life out of the limelight, which is relatively easy to do when you play for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

There is now a new reality for James one that he may not have considered when making “The Decision”.  James now plays in Miami, Florida which is a place where keeping your personal life quiet does not happen all that often.  The media in Miami are much different than the media in Cleveland, and now that he is in a more visible place reporters from all over the country will be snooping around for any information they can get their hands on.

Recently reporter Arash Markazi for ESPNLosAngeles.com had the opportunity to party with Lebron James in Las Vegas, and the subsequent story he wrote about his experiences was pulled by ESPN.  The story chronicled an event that was straight out of a dream for most men, here is an excerpt from the story to give you the full effect.

“About a dozen security guards, moving their flash lights, direct us to a roped off section on the dance floor of Tao next to a couple of apparently nude women in a bathtub full of water and rose petals.

Bottle after bottle of “Ace of Spades” champagne is delivered to the table by a waiter flying down from above the dance floor like some overgrown Peter Pan on a wire. One time he’s dressed like a King, another time as Indiana Jones and another in a replica of James’ No. 6 Miami Heat jersey.

James, who can hardly see the flying figure through his tinted glasses, almost gets kicked in the head on the waiter’s last trip down. He looks at the girls around him and says, “I wish they’d have one of these girls with no panties do that instead of the guy.”

Toward the end of the night, Boston Celtics forward Glen Davis walks past James’ party and looks at the scene up and down several times like a painting in a museum, soaking in the images of the go-go dancers, the “King” sign and the costumed man delivering bottles of champagne.

Davis shakes his head and walks on.”

“Five security guards are stationed around him, one at each corner of the table he’s about to sit at and another roving around with him, watching his every move. Anyone who takes two steps toward James is stopped and must have James’ approval to come closer.

The waiter bringing him his cup of green tea with a spoonful of honey and a dash of lemon juice makes the cut, as does the scantily clad brunette with a tattoo of a heart on her right shoulder.

She wants to take a picture with him. “I can’t right now,” says James. “Maybe later, upstairs, I’ll remember you’re the one with the tattoo.”

That was during dinner, as James and his entourage head to the club through back hallways in the bowels of The Palazzo Casino and Resort, the story picks up.

“James, now wearing sunglasses in the dark club, immediately stands up on the couch and folds his arms high on his chest and nods his head.  He smiles as he looks at the dozens of people crowded on the dance floor.  Noticing him, they stop dancing and snap pictures as the DJ screams out, “LeBron James in the building!” and plays LMFAO’s “I’m in Miami.”

A giant red crown-shaped cake is brought over to James while go-go dancers dressed in skimpy red and black outfits raise four lettered placards that spell out, “KING”.

This is nothing new for James much like many other athletes, but stories like this about Lebron have only been rumored for the most part.  Very few concrete stories of his off the court activities are out there, this is all part of James’s plan to keep his image on the up and up.  He saw what happened to Tiger Woods and his endorsement deals when Tiger lost control of the information about himself being released to the public.

My problem with this situation is not the fact that James is celebrating his fame by partying it up in Las Vegas, any young red-blooded man would do the same thing.  But the fact that the story was posted on the internet and pulled within a half hour tells me that both James and ESPN did not want the story out there.  ESPN claims the author did not go through proper editing channels and the story was posting prematurely, then later they said the story would not be posted at all.

Why the cover up?  ESPN has invested a lot in Lebron and cannot afford for his image to take a hit in the public eye.  Having a self serving party in Las Vegas is par for the course when dealing with professional athletes.  I think Lebron over did it a bit, and I think he is over playing this “King” moniker a bit too much.  When a majority of the television viewers see themselves as conservative, and a majority of the viewership is struggling financially the last thing ESPN wants is their marketing cash cow viewed in an arrogant light.

The interesting part of all this is what if this were Ron Artest, Terrell Owens, or Chad Ochocinco would all of this be covered up so fast?  The answer is no, it would be almost front page news.  Ron Artest at club with a crown on dancing with naked strippers!  That would be the headline, but when it is King James all we hear is silence.  I have a variety of sports sources and I only stumbled across this story purely by accident, once again I am not saying that Lebron cannot party and have his fun.  My only point here is, let’s eliminate the double standard, if Terrell Owens self serving actions get reported on in the media then Lebron should be no different.  Making an ass of himself in public is his choice, but he should not be free from the same scrutiny as everyone else.  Doing crossover dribbles, shooting fake baskets, and faking dunks on signs outside of businesses inside a Casino are all immature and childish things to do.  But who can blame him, all the people around who want his money and to profit off of his fame are going to continue enabling him to act this way.

You can read the original posted article here if you want to see all the details about what went on at the party, this was captured by a few people before it was removed by ESPN.

The Cincinnati Bengals signed Terrell Owens to a 1-year $2 million dollar deal this week.  I think Owens will be an asset to the Bengals receiving corps with his “homeboy” Chad Ochocinco on the other side.  Most fans and pundits will bemoan the signing of Owens, and the cries of how Owens is a cancer and will ruin the team chemistry will surely start.  Owens was correct when he said the media was one of the reasons he had not been signed by a team, all sportscasters have been saying on the radio is they don’t see how Owens will help a team.  They forgot the fact that he had no problems in Buffalo last year, and was a model citizen, and to top it off has never been in trouble off the field.

This article is not about Owens signing though; this is about the Bengals General Manager Mike Brown assembling probably the biggest group of misfits in the league.  I talked in a previous article about each team needing to have a certain element of “Bad boy” or flamboyant players on a team as a path to success.  There are a few teams who can make it without that element, but most teams need to have those fringe players who can cross the line anytime.  That is what makes these players good they play with confidence even bordering on cockiness that they will take risks to make plays that not many others will.

Maybe that is why the Bengals have taken the road less traveled and signed the NFL all trouble team over the past few seasons.  The Bengals have signed Adam “Pacman” Jones, Tank Johnson, Antonio Bryant, Cedric Benson, Matt Jones, Chris Henry, and Terrell Owens all of them had off the field issues with the exception of Owens.  Throw a unique and cocky Chad Ochocinco in there and you have a team of big personalities.  The haters have started commenting already, this will never work, these guys won’t function together, they are going to argue over catches and whatever other negative things they can come up with.

I like what the Bengals are doing here, they need to get over the hump and find a way to get past the Jets, Colts, Patriots, and Chargers in the AFC.  In the end it comes down to how many wins and losses you have, no one gives a crap about a team of good guys who never get in trouble when the team is 0 – 12.  Mike Brown is sending a message that he is trying to win this season, and adding a multiple time pro bowler like Owens is not a bad thing if you are trying to win games.

All the people doubting these moves are forgetting something, this is the NFL where the contracts are not guaranteed.  So if Johnson, Jones, or Owens become too much of a headache they can cut ties with them and not be forced to pay that player all that much in return.  There is a money side to this as well, you have two receivers on the same team who have reality T.V. shows, Pacman is known for “making it rain”, and Cedric Benson’s mugshots and police run-ins are legendary.  That all sounds like entertainment to me, and that is why people will buy tickets and tune in on television to watch the Bengals.    People want to see if that T.O. blow up comes, or if Pacman gets in trouble at another strip club, it is all for entertainment value.  When fans realize the NFL and other pro sports are entertainment businesses more than anything, then maybe they can see the hidden brilliance in these moves.

Many have eagerly waited for the new season of Pros vs. Joes to debut, the first episode this season was a special one.  Rather than having three unknown Joes they had NFL players as Joes playing against NBA Pros, whoever thought of the idea is a genius.  The teams were Donovan McNabb, Antonio Gates, and Terrell Owens for the Joe team, and Rick Fox, Kenny Smith, and Hakeem Olajuwon for the Pros team.

The first contest that was up was called “Cut Throat” where they went 1 on 1 against each other, if the player scored on the defender then the defender had to rotate.  If the defender stopped him from scoring then the offensive player would have to rotate with one of the others.  First team to five points wins the game.

T.O. starts out against Olajuwon, and T.O. takes a jab step to back Olajuwon up and then drains shot over Olajuwon who was anticipating a drive to the basket from Owens.  Rick Fox is then rotated onto defense, and T.O. wastes no time and takes Rick fox to hole scoring a layup over him.  Kenny Smith then comes on to guard T.O., and T.O. tries to pump fake Kenny.  Kenny does not fall for it and successfully defended Owens who missed the 15 foot jumper.

Kenny Smith then goes on offense, and he fakes a drive to the basked against Donovan McNabb.  But McNabb does not commit to the basket fully and managed to get a hand in Kenny’s face as he misses the jump shot.  Gates fouls Olajuwon to prevent him from scoring, and gets rotated off.  T.O. comes on to guard Olajuwon, and he fouls him, but Olajuwon still manages to make the shot.

McNabb rotates on to guard Olajuwon, he backs McNabb down into the post and scores over him easily.  It was now Antonio Gates turn to guard “The Dream”.  Olajuwon drives to the basket and scores over Gates in the paint.  T.O. comes on and manages to prevent Olajuwon from scoring by stripping the ball away from him.

T.O. then drains a shot over Rick Fox who was totally lost when he came on to defend.  T.O. used his size to back Kenny Smith down in the post, but he was fouled by Kenny Smith which was a smart play to prevent T.O. from an easy bucket.  Olajuwon comes on, and gets closer to T.O. this time.  T.O. takes a jab step, but decides to do a step back three pointer.  He shoots an air ball because Olajuwon gave him less room this time.  McNabb comes on and has to stop Olajuwon or the Joes lose the first challenge.  Hakeem goes to his patented move and Dream Shakes McNabb, nothing but net the NBA Pros win the first challenge.

The next challenge is a game called Buzzer Beater where the offensive team tries to inbound the ball and get a shot off in five seconds.  Each team gets three tries and the highest score wins.

McNabb Steals Rick Fox’s pass on the give and go, it was a horrible pass by Fox.  They start again and pass the ball around, eventually working a Pass to Olajuwon in the paint who scored easily.  McNabb Steals Pass from Olajuwon on the inbound when he tries to tap it out to Kenny Smith.  The teams switch sides, and McNabb Misses 3 pointer.  They inbound the ball to Gates who misses 2 point jumper from the elbow.  They inbound to McNabb who pass back to, who then T.O. misses layup but taps the rebound out to Gates who drains 3 pointer Joes win.

The next game was Fast Break where two defenders try to stop all three offensive players running a fast break, each team gets three chances to score with the most points winning.

T.O. and Gates decide to stop Olajuwon and make Kenny Smith beat them with jumpers, “the jet” drains a jumper when they left him wide open.  T.O. says he will miss eventually and they employ the same strategy, Kenny Smith Drains another jumper against T.O. and Gates.  They say that he can’t make three in a row and go with the same game plan, and Kenny Smith Drains yet another jumper against them.

They NFL Joes get their chance and they run a Give and Go with McNabb and Gates, McNabb lays it in over Kenny Smith for an easy score.  The NBA players sub in Olajuwon for Kenny Smith, and that caused T.O. to avoid going all the way in the paint and he missed a runner in the lane.  Gates gets the rebound, but Olajuwon affects the shot and snatches the rebound.  The NBA Pros take this challenge.

That now brings us to the Final Game where they have a five minute three on three basketball game, and of course the highest score wins.  The NFL Joes start out with three points because they won one challenge.  Joes start out up 3 – 0 and taking a bunch of jumpers, McNabb drives to the basket and lays it in 5 – 0 Joes.  T.O. blocks Olajuwon and kicks it out to McNabb who drains a 3 pointer to make the score 8 – 0.  Rick fox hits a two from the baseline to put the Pros on the board 8 – 2, McNabb makes one of the free throws after being fouled by Rick Fox.  Terrell Owens steals the pass from Kenny Smith hits a three pointer and the Joes go up 12 – 2 on the pros.

Gates fouls Olajuwon which seems to be the game plan for the Joes, they take the ball out.  They throw it in to Olajuwon again and he hits both free throws to make the score 12 – 4 joes.  Pass it in to McNabb who backs Kenny Smith down and passes to Gates for a backdoor layup on Olajuwon.  T.O. pump fakes the dream goes around him to the hole and gets fouled by Rick Fox, T.O. misses both free throws and Olajuwon gets the rebound, it is kicked out to Kenny Smith who drains a three pointer to make it 14 – 7 joes.  Gates gets a pass on the wing and he takes Olajuwon to the hole and scores on him baseline to mek the score 16 – 7.  Olajuwon hits a shot over Gates gets fouled and misses the free throw.  T.O. misses a drive to the basket Kenny Smith grabs the rebound kicks it out to Rick fox who drains a three pointer.

Gates gets the ball and is fouled hard then misses both of the free throws, Olajuwon gets a deflection and scores to make the score 16 – 14 Joes.  Olajuwon backs Gates down in the post and gets fouled, but hits a shot and then he misses the free throw.  The score is now tied, T.O. does a step back three pointer and drains it.  Olajuwon is then fouled by Antonio Gates and drains both free throws to make the score 18 – 18 with 21.8 seconds left in the game.  The Joes try to run the clock out, and McNabb takes a turnaround layup I the lane and misses, and the ball is rebounded by Olajuwon as Rick Fox calls timeout with 1.5 seconds left.  Olajuwon misses the shot from the inbound pass by Rick Fox, and the game goes into overtime.  T.O. takes a shot gets his own miss and lays it in over Rick Fox.  Rick Fox in bounds to Olajuwon and he is immediately fouled, he misses the 1 and 1, T.O. rebounds kicks out to McNabb who drains a 3 pointer to make the score 23 – 18 Joes.

They foul Olajuwon again who misses the 1 and 1 which is rebounded by Gates, the joes miss a shot and the ball gets kicked out to Kenny Smith who drains another three pointer.  Gates gets the pass from McNabb drives to the basket and is fouled by Rick Fox, gates makes 1 of 2 free throws.  On the miss Kenny Smith misses a three pointer and T.O. grabs the rebound and knocks down a 2 poitner to make the sore 26 – 21 joes.  Olajuwon gets a quick pass and shot in the basked to make it 23 – 26.  They joes inbound the ball to McNabb who backs down Rick Fox and is fouled, he sinks both free throws to make the score 28 – 23 joes with 13.1 seconds left in overtime.  T.O. breaks up the pass to Olajuwon and kicks it out to McNabb who runs out the clock to seal the victory for the joes.

What a great way to start the season, the NFL Joes surprisingly beat the NBA Pros.  I think Kenny Smith and Hakeem Olajuwon were great choices, but Rick Fox was the weak link.  He hardly scored and he played fairly garbage defense, which led to a lot of shots and opportunities for the team of McNabb, Gates, and Owens who all contributed to the win.  T.O. was the star though, hitting shots, blocking Olajuwon, and making a ton of hustle plays he can probably play in the NBA right now.  We will see what Michael Vick does on the show next week, but it’s good that this show is back on the air finally.

Tyra Banks dubbed her “the model of her generation. In June 2007, White signed a contract with cosmetics company Maybelline.

She has done editorials for Harper’s Bazaar, Teen Vogue, King and covers shots for Surface and Trace magazines. In 2003, White was chosen for a coveted shoot in Sports Illustrated’s famed Swimsuit Issue. She was also featured in the 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 issues. In addition to working with world-class photographers she was the object/subject of several Joanne Gair body painting works in these editions.

In 2006, White had a small role in Big Momma’s House 2 and has appeared in music videos for singer John Legend, rapper Jay-Z, Robin Thicke, and singer Trey Songz. In 2008 she appeared in The Young and the Restless.

White was part of Elite Plus, a subdivision of Elite Model Management, in New York City until it was terminated. On October 14th, 2009, she was featured on America’s Next Top Model. She was reportedly dating Buffalo Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens, as seen in Owens’s VH1 reality show, The T.O. Show. She has been romantically linked to actor Sean Penn. She is represented by Lorenzo Martone and Ryan brown, founders of Arc New York Public Relations.

The Miami Dolphins traded for talented but troubled Broncos Wide Receiver Brandon Marshall today, in a move that surprised a lot of teams.  The reason is the Dolphins Czar of football operations typically does not deal with “divas” on his teams, and Marshall would definitely fit in that category.

On top of that the Dolphins signed him to a 4 year, $47.5 million dollar contract with $24 million guaranteed, while giving up several second round draft picks.  This is a lot of money and a big gamble on a guy who has had his share of on and off the field issues.  But the bigger change is this trade may have made the AFC East the best conference in the NFL.

The case can be made because the Jets have made tremendous off season moves acquiring, Antonio Cromartie, LaDanian Tomlinson, and Santonio Holmes all for relatively favorable terms for the Jets.  Yes Cromartie is a gamble, but if he can return to his form of a few years ago the Jets will have the best secondary in the league by far.  Sanchez should be better after a full season under his belt, and proven weapons to throw too.  Couple that with the Jets offensive line and power running game, and this team is poised for another deep playoff run.

The New England Patriots have not made any big off season moves, things have been relatively quiet around Foxboro these days.  But do they really need to do anything?  They locked up Vince Wilfork for another seasons, Brady, Moss, and Welker are all coming back to a prolific offense.  The offensive line should be better, and if they can find a semblance of a running game this season they will be right back in the running for the Super Bowl.

With the addition of Marshall, and the continued development of Chad Henne, the Dolphins are poised to be in the thick of things as well.  Take the Dolphins rushing attack, and a quarterback who can actually stretch the field with his arm, and the Dolphins offense now looks to be viable.  The defense was solid last season, and they believe removing Joey Porter will allow them to actually get younger and more athletic at the line backer position.

The Buffalo Bills have not made many moves either, and are expected to draft a quarterback in the upcoming NFL Draft.  They have a new coach, and are rumored to be seeking a trade to send Marshawn Lynch out of town.  Terrell Owens is gone, their offensive line is porous, and their quarterback situation is far from being resolved.  They were last place in the division, and unless something changes they will be there again this season.

If you look around the NFL there are few other division that have three teams that all viable enough to make deep playoff runs, maybe the NFC East, but with the trade of McNabb the Eagles are a question mark.  The only other division is the AFC South, but the Texans and Titans, or Jagauars would need to all step up big time to change that dynamic.

As a Jets fan I will be watching the AFC East race very closely as usual, but now Revis gets Moss and Marshall two times a season.  Think about what he would face if Terrell Owens had stayed in Buffalo?