The City of Philadelphia Desperately Needs To Find Anybody Else Willing To Let LeBron Use Their Helicopter Instead of Fanatics
Jim Poorten. Getty Images.When the news first got out there that LeBron James would be living in NYC and commuting to Philly via helicopter, everybody immediately had a pretty bad feeling about it. It just seems like such an unnecessary risk to take. I get that LeBron initially envisioned himself playing for the Knicks, so I'm sure he was locked into the idea of living in New York from the start. But the idea of going 2000 feet into the air every day to get to practice just seems a bit over the top.
At the end of the day, it is what it is. Helicopters go up in the air every single day regardless of whether or not LeBron James is in one. And I'm sure he'll always have a driver on hand to get him back and forth to the city in shitty conditions.
However, we are now finding out that the helicopter LeBron will be using actually belongs to Fanatics. And that changes everything.
Obviously people are immediately going to try to frame this as a part of some sort of shady deal Fanatics worked out with LeBron to sign in Philly. They are going to make some comparisons to the Kawhi situation with the Clippers. But that's not what worries me about this news.
It's the fact that literally everything that comes from Fanatics sucks. You order a jersey from Fanatics and you'll be lucky if it comes in the mail 7 weeks later with the right logo on it. The material sucks, there is never any consistency with the number and lettering, and chances are they don't even have the jersey you're looking for in stock but at least they have a bunch of designs the team never actually wears available. Fanatics has been able to completely takeover the sports merchandising world by doing as little as humanly possible. And good for them. Clearly it appears to be a successful business strategy.
But just keep your goddamn helicopter away from LeBron James.
Everything that Fanatics does seems to completely disregard quality and integrity. So if you can't even trust the company to send you the right jersey tee of your favorite player, can you really trust them to safely and successfully commute LeBron through the air every day?
All I'm saying is there has to be another filthy rich Sixers fan who owns a helicopter, and can lend it out to LeBron for the next 2 years. Give that guy a championship ring if the Sixers are able to win a title with LeBron. I'm sure that'll be worth whatever it costs to take LeBron to and from NYC every day.