James will miss Feb. 23 game against Toledo Scott

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Associated Press

AKRON, Ohio -- LeBron James was cleared Wednesday to resume his high school career, but he must sit out at least one more game.

Summit County Judge James R. Williams issued a temporary restraining order that will allow the 18-year-old superstar to get back onto the court, though James must serve a two-game suspension.

James, a 6-foot-8 senior at St. Vincent-St. Mary who is expected to be the No. 1 pick in this year's NBA draft, already missed a game after the Ohio High School Athletic Association on Friday declared him ineligible for accepting free sports jerseys valued at $845 from a store.

James will miss the Feb. 23 game against Toledo Scott, the school said in a statement released Wednesday. That game will come four days after a scheduled hearing.

In a one-hour hearing, Williams listened to arguments from OHSAA attorney Steven Craig and James' attorney, Fred Nance. The judge met with both sides in his chambers for much of the morning before bringing them into the courtroom. James did not attend the hearing.

Williams said James would suffer "immediate and irreparable injury'' without a court order. He did not say why he overruled the OHSAA.

"He wants to finish what he started,'' Nance told the judge. "He didn't want to let himself down. He didn't want to let his team down. He didn't want to let his school down.''

Nance did not absolve James for accepting the jerseys.

"He's made mistakes,'' Nance said. "He's an 18-year-old kid but he didn't deserve the ultimate sanction of losing his eligibility.''

James' family planned to make a statement later Wednesday, Nance said.

The judge scheduled a hearing for Feb. 19, when he will decide whether to grant a permanent injunction or go to trial.

"Neither side is going to be happy,'' Williams said. "There are a number of issues the court wants to hear.''

If Williams grants a permanent order, James would regain his eligibility and the school would regain a victory it had to forfeit as part of the OHSAA ruling.

St. Vincent-St. Mary's has four games left in the regular season, three of them before the next court hearing. The team, No. 1 in the USA Today rankings for the fourth straight week, is next scheduled to play Saturday in Trenton, N.J.

Principal David Rathz was disappointed that James wasn't exonerated.

"I like things clear-cut,'' he said. "This is a tie. I don't like ties.''

In a statement, the private Roman Catholic school said it "was gratified by the decision which will immediately return LeBron James to competition with his teammates.

"Although we had hoped there would be no additional sanction, we understand and accept the courts' imposition of a one-game playing suspension.''

Muscaro attended the hearing, which attracted a media throng, including seven camera crews set up in the back of the courtroom.

OHSAA lawyer Craig said he will begin preparing for the next hearing.

"There are some facts that are in dispute and we will put forth some evidence so the court can know wherein the truth lies,'' he said.

Nance argued in court documents filed Tuesday that James did nothing wrong when he accepted two "throwback'' jerseys from the owner of a Cleveland clothing store.

"All LeBron did was receive a gift from a friend as congratulations for his academic achievements,'' Nance said. "Had LeBron wished to capitalize on his fame, the recompense could be in the millions of dollars.''

James says he has a 3.5 grade-point average. He has said he returned the jerseys.

The OHSAA found that the store gave James the Gale Sayers and Wes Unseld jerseys in exchange for posing for pictures to be displayed on its walls.

Muscaro ruled that James broke an amateur bylaw "by capitalizing on athletic fame by receiving money or gifts of monetary value.''

Muscaro's decision came four days after the OHSAA cleared James of any wrongdoing for accepting a $50,000 Hummer H2 sport utility vehicle as an 18th birthday gift from his mother.

Gloria James provided proof she obtained a bank loan to buy the vehicle. She said Wednesday that she is pleased her son can keep playing.

"I look forward to getting the final hearing behind us so that LeBron can focus entirely on his schoolwork, basketball and his friends, just like any other teenager, as much as possible,'' she said.

James attended practice Tuesday in the school's gym, wearing a gray T-shirt and blue shorts. He warmed up with his teammates and was stretching in the middle of the floor when coach Dru Joyce closed the practice.

Joyce then ordered green cloth banners to be hung over the glass doors, so no one could see inside.

Yeah - and look - there go some pigs flying past the window!

Whoa!! Let's not be hasty!
http://www.animationfactory.com/anim...fly_md_blk.gif

Take all the stuff written and said about this guy and put in "computer software genius" wherever you see the words "basketball player".

Is all this still such a big deal?

Not a bad comparison. My mother worked for a graduate engineering program at a well-known private institution. The program's director had a son who was a computer whiz. At 16-17 years old, he designed an advanced game engine that ultimately was used to power some very popular computer games.

Dad wanted him to go to school - he took the job and instant cash. Still collects royalties, though I think he also has had some of the same adjustment issues that athletes face when jumping straight from HS to big bucks. But nobody ended up saying that he was wrong for doing what he did - it is acceptable to do it in the right field.

That said, I think there is a lot more instant $ for sports stars than for academic stars, and certainly more renown. Nobody knows this other kid's name, they just play the games he gave hem the power to create.

I guess I just get sick of all the pontificating (there's that word again!) about "amateur" sports stars, especially NCAA ones. I'm a big believer in overhauling the system, paying the players, opening the colleges' books, etc, to eliminate all the fuss and feathers it seems to create.

People complain constantly about sports figures: salaries, their attitudes, every little thing they do. Other notable people in society (rock stars, actors, etc), who may do the same things and act the same way, are not held to the same level of scrutiny. It's hypocritical and pathetic.

Yes, athletes are treated special, and why-don't-we-treat-academic-stars-the-same-way-yada-yada-yada. That's a larger (and legitimate) discussion for another time.

If he blows out his knee, and has nothing to fall back on, where will all this "concern" be? Although he does claim to be a 3.5.

Bottom line: let the kid be. The world's a twisted place.

The judge is a disgrace to the legal profession. LB took the jerseys knowing full well that he was violating OhioHSAA rules. Whether the store gave him the shirts because it wanted to give some "love" to a famous athlete or because it wanted to give him something for letting the store take his picture (because he is a famous athlete) so the store could hang the picture on one of its walls where customers could see it, taking the jerseys made him a professional athlete. LB knew what he was doing. He was 18 years old, that makes him an adult, subject to the law as an adult. He is old enough to vote, get married, sign a contract, and even be drafted and/or serve in the military. He needs to suffer the consequences of his deliberate at of professionalism.

...This just in...The opinions of MTD, Sr. do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the majority of officials on this site...

They rarely ever do.

It is called life.
 

Let me ask you this then. Would anyone be getting over $800 worth of stuff because they were a "computer software genius?" Would they make the cover of Forbes Magazine just for their grades alone or Computer Weekly? (not a real magazine, but you get the point) And better yet, would any of these "computer genius" even be paid by a booster, other than their education to go to college?

When you play a sport at that level, you have to follow rules. When you do not follow rules, you run the risk of losing that previledge. No different than being licensed as an official. We have rules we must follow. If we do not follow them, they take our licenses away.

Peace

I don't always agree with MTD, but I do in this case. The statement by James' mother that "now he can back to his studies and his teammates" is ridiculous. No one was trying to keep him from his studies. The only thing that kept him from his teammates was attention he chose to give for a photo shoot. No one forced him into that. The point is, he cheated. Pure and simple. He got caught, and now all of a sudden he's a poor abused little ghetto kid who can't get a break from "the man"? Sorry, I don't buy it.

And I still can't figure how he could get a 3.5 at a private catholic school, if he isn't smart enough to get more for a photo shoot that a couple of old jerseys.

I don't recall anyone here calling him "a poor abused little ghetto kid who can't get a break from "the man"?"

Bottom line, I don't believe the punishment fit the crime. Just seems a little too strict IMHO.

The software kid doesn't have any amateur elegibility to worry about. He can make all the money he wants to. This seems pretty simple to me, and I cannot possibly think anyone believes he got the jerseys for academic achievement.
I'm also tired of hearing people complain about him being exploited by his school and the Ohio Association. All the publicity they've gotten him is going to pay him huge dividends when he signs his first endorsement deal.
Now that I'm on the topic, how did his Mom get a $50,000 loan to by that hummer anyway? She must be a lawyer or something.

And, as long as these athletes get paid the big bucks, they are by default taking on the role-model job. That's why they get big money, because people (lots of people) like to watch them play. It comes with the money. They are held to a higher standard for the same reason they make more money.
Okay, I'm off my soapbox now.

snaqs

...or on this planet :rolleyes:

If James had spent 6 yrs at Harvard, gaining a law degree and a 6 figure offer from a Wall Street law firm he could have gotten that $50K loan 6 months before he graduated
(and he wouldn't need to put it in his mother's name).

In 2 months James will have an 8 figure sneaker contract, whether or not he ever plays 1 minute in the NBA. A $50K loan is no big deal for someone with that kind of earning potential. Let's all get over it, shall we :)

Danref:
If James had spent 6 yrs at Harvard, gaining a law degree and a 6 figure offer from a Wall Street law firm he could have gotten that $50K loan 6 months before he graduated
(and he wouldn't need to put it in his mother's name).

In 2 months James will have an 8 figure sneaker contract, whether or not he ever plays 1 minute in the NBA. A $50K loan is no big deal for someone with that kind of earning potential. Let's all get over it, shall we

Snaqwells:
Thank you. You just made my case. I understand how he could get the loan. But don't try to tell me his Mom secured the loan without the benefit of her son's basketball talent.

snaqwells

Ah! Therein lies the problem. He didn't get the loan, she did. Therefore, it's not illegal. There's nothing that says she can't benefit from his basketball talent. And gifts from a parent can't be considered reaping benefits from his talent.

Twisted, eh? :)

I agree, it's twisted. Which is probably how they got by with the Hummer. The jerseys, however, were a direct violation and reason enough to drop his status. But hey, it ain't my call; I'm just a ref.

Similar punishments.
 

I have know a few kids in the past 5 years in our state get suspended for a lot less than Lebron James was suspended for. He knew the rules, but a bulleye on his back and complains what everyone else thinks of his situation. We just had a coach get suspended the entire year for recruiting. He just was reinstated by the IHSA, but the first ruling was that he had to sit out an entire year back in December. The Judge did this for public relations, not because there is justice in the ruling.

Peace

I guess I don't get your case, unless it's that somehow an 18 year old kid with an 8 figure earning potential does not deserve a $50K loan because he plays basketball. Of course, I could go to the bank tomorrow & get a $50K loan
for my kid's car and no one would bat an eye. And LeBron and his Mom will make more money next year than I'll make next decade. (And I never said this is not about *his* basketball talent.)

Now I'll jump up on the soapbox. LeBron James is an extraordinarily talented young man with an incredible earning potential who can also manage to maintain a 3.5 gpa at a good school. He could have skipped his sr year of HS basketball, taken the money from Adidas & not had a single problem. In this day when the likes of Rasheed & Iverson are giving sports a bad name by "keeping it real" we should all be praising LeBron for bringing some wholesomeness to sports. And we should all hope that it lasts.

This whole senario parallels the US government nailing Al Capone for tax evasion because they couldn't get him for his real crimes.

Re: Similar punishments.
 

I believe you are refering to Pontiac High School's head football coach. The player who was "recruited" was permanently banned from playing any sports for Pontiac High School.

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If Ohio operates like Illinois, the by-laws are made by the member schools of the assocation. The State Association is only responsbible for enforcing the by-laws created by member schools. Schools in that area must have wanted to prevent players from benefiting monatarily from their athletic fame. It may have been harsh, but is also may have been a "by-the-book" penalty. I'm on the fence on this one.

My wife and I have two sons and we have done our parental duty to teach them right from wrong, when judges pervert the system like this one has done in Summit County, it makes it more difficult for parents of children all across this country to try to explain the craziness in our world to our children.

With regard to LB's mom getting the loan to buy the Hummer for him. My wife spent 16 years working in consumer lending, specifically automobile loans, for a large regional bank. There is no way LB's mother would have received a loan from her bank or anyother bank if she were not LB's mother. LB's mother has never held a job and has been on public assistance for his entire life. In other words she is unemployed, owns no property that could be used for collateral, and yet she was able to get a loan for a $50,000 automobile, and not have to make any payments until 2004. My wife could not have gotten that type of deal and she was the head of the department's executive assistant. Let's get real about this case.

I wouldn't talk about Ms. James that way, because I have never met her. If I had met her and knew all that (you say) to be true, I still wouldn't talk that way.
mick

Mark, I agree with the conundrum we seem to face as parents. How do you teach your children the right values in life when everywhere around them they are bombarded by cases where a lack of good values is rewarded or ignored.

As for Mrs. James, what she did was legal although LeBron is benefitting from it in a backhanded way. None the less it is legal. The jerseys on the other hand are another story as far as I'm concerned. I guess if other students, including those that aren't athletes, were to come forward and testify that they also received jerseys/merchandise from this store because they too had good grades, then we could easily elieve LeBron's story. Until that happens I firmly believe he was capitalizing on his athletic fame.

Lastly, bringing software prodigies into this has nothing to do with this case. There aren't rules that apply to them, and if there were, then I would expect them to follow them as well. I personally am sick and tired of the way our society idolizes athletes and has a different set of rules that apply to them because they can jump high, run fast, catch balls, hit balls, skate backwards...what have you. Study history and you'll see that ancient Rome had the same set of values not too long before that civilization crumbled.

Our society needs to "get real"! Of course thats just my opinion.

Dave

Mark, when a bank makes a loan it does not care about past earnings except as a predictor of ability & willingness to pay off the loan. Obviously Mrs. James will have no trouble paying off a $50k loan, and in any event the car is collateral.

Just my opinion...

For those who say the punishment does not fit the crime, sho gives a rats arse if it fits the crime. LB knew, or should have know, the rules. The punishment from breaking the rules is clearly defined. Too bad...so sad, he should be ineligible.

Last year a girl in a nearby town was kicked off the cheerleading squad for smoking a cigarette on school grounds. She was old enough to legally purchase tobacco in the state so no law was broken. However, the code of conduct for extracirricular activity in that district strictly prohibits the use of tobacco and alcohol with the punishment for violation set at expulsion from the team. Because she chose to violate the rules and became ineligible, the full ride cheerleading scholarship being offered was pulled off the table. Nobody bailed her south-side out, though the parents tried.

There are three things EVERYONE should do related to rules;
1) Know the rules.
2) Follow the rules.
3) While complying with 1 & 2 above, work within the system to change the rules you feel are unjust.

I'll get off my soapbox now. :)

Great thoughts LArryS!!

IMO Labron should not be afforded any more leiniency than anyother athelete just because he is an NBA star. Blame him and the people around him for allowing him to make this stupid decision, don't blame the system, they are just enforcing the rules as they are written. (the tower philosophy doesn't apply here does it :D )As far as the hummer goes, it may have been a stupid decision by LB and his mother as it drew much undue negative attention when he would have had enough money in six months to buy 10 hummers. Another poor decision. As far as the bank goes, however, they would be stupid not to enter into this loan agreement. Car as collateral and $$$ on the way... sounds like good business On their part to me. Again are we blaming the bank for giving the loan or LB for making a poor decision??? Yes, everybody including me wants to see him play basketball, however just because he is the most talented prep in the nation does not YET allow him to circumvent any rules the rest of the millions of atheletes have to follow. It is these rules and the few people w/ the highest integrity that enforce these rules that keep the high school game as pure and unadultered as it remains to be. If you want a circus act watch the NBA.

Wrong coach.
 

No Mike, I am refering to the Quincy High Basketball Coach, that got busted for recruiting a Pittsfield player. Not exactly the same issue as Lebron had in Ohio, but there are many cases were the rules were clear and the IHSA suspended coaches and players for their actions. The IHSA this year has even suspended players for violations and they were not reinstated by the courts. As I stated, this Judge did this to make everyone happy, not to adhere to the rules of Ohio.

Peace

Re: Wrong coach.
 

I forgot about the Quincy coach. The Pontiac coach suspension really stirred the waters around here.

Just think about this! Who ever buy: Addidas, Nike, Watches Sportcenter, Admits to watching the NBA, Buys, Gatorade, Goes to a sporting event is a part of the problem. Our dollars fuel this society.

MTD comment on LJ mother. Leave her out of it. What did she do wrong! In my mind nothing. If I was told I could get a loan with no money down, no payments for 1 year, I have nothing to lose. I would do it!

AK ref SE

Hey Mike Sears
 

Where are you living? Are you in the Pontiac area? I am a University High graduate (former Corn Belt Conference member). Made many trips up the road to Pontiac!

Kwame Brown's Take
 

Yesteraday's Washington post had a column by Tony Kornheiser based on an interview with Kwame Brown, probably the person in the best possible position to understand what LJ has been going through. You can read it at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2003Feb4.html

It's worth a read.

comparison
 

***What is the latest line in vegas or with the local bookee on that computer wizkid?????
LeBron is just a kid and could have been duped into doing
something that might kill his career.

you said they are playing toledo scott on feb 23. are they playing in toledo? im from toledo...