LeBron will get ‘Rise’ from fans with new ad

LeBron James‘ new Nike ad, called Rise, is all the buzz. Here it is:

The obvious parallel is the instantly famous Tiger Woods/Earl Woods ad, in which Tiger, in black and white, stares at the camera as his late father talks via voiceover about learning from mistakes and such. But the closer relative is probably Charles Barkley‘s famous “I am not a role model!” ad, which LeBron references in the central part of this commercial, right down to the close-up of his face as he says the “role model” line and the black-and-white flashes of LeBron on the court that follow.

Other things of note:

• The obvious reference to The Decision at the opening, with LeBron sitting across from an empty chair we can only imagine will soon be occupied by Jim Gray. Freeze the frame and check out the teleprompter. It reads: “Of America … LeBron, everyone in the country is waiting to hear … ” Without checking, I’d bet that exact language comes from The Decision.

• Along those lines, LeBron asks at one point, “Should I really believe I ruined my legacy?” He’s standing at a podium in an empty banquet room in front of a banner that reads “Hall of Fame.” Presumably he’s getting inducted to some local hall of fame in Akron or Cleveland, but no one has shown up to honor him. It’s sort of cool that LeBron was game for this.

• The image of LeBron driving past the famous “Witness” banner in Cleveland as the banner is being taken down is cool, though LeBron hardly looks upset. In the background, you can hear a commentator talking about Cleveland taking LeBron with the No. 1 pick. You also hear LeBron ask: “Should I tell you how much fun we had?”

He has a point here, though Cleveland fans will not like it. He is the greatest Cavalier ever, and he took the franchise to places it had never been.

• There is a wink-wink quality to this commercial. It’s not as serious as either the Woods or Barkley ads. LeBron smirks, literally winks at the camera, whispers about disappearing and dresses up like an Old West villain. The tone strikes me, in part, as saying, “Hey, it’s just basketball. All that happened here is I switched teams. That really makes me a cartoonish villain?”

I think Cleveland fans will see this and say LeBron still does not understand the meaning a player can have to a city and the hurt they felt at his leaving — and, especially, in the way he left.

• The Miami Vice bit, with Don Johnson giving LeBron (and perhaps us, too) some perspective, is very cool. You can’t deny that.

• The other vibe you could take from this ad is one of victimhood. When LeBron goes all beatnik poet at the end, he says: “You may shoot me with your words. You may cut me with your eyes. But still, like air, I will rise.” (Is the “air” a Michael Jordan reference?)

This comes close to whining about the public’s misunderstood (in James’ view) criticism of his move to Miami this summer. Is LeBron playing a bit of a victim here? If so, he still just doesn’t quite understand how callously he treated Cleveland fans.