LeBron James, Dwyane Wade prove doubters wrong by taking stand for Trayvon Martin

Last season, when they were the biggest lightning rods in American sports, the Miami Heat spent enormous amounts of time talking about proving people wrong.

Last week, they actually did prove a lot of people wrong. They were joined by several big-name athletes inside and outside their sport, who also proved a lot of people wrong. They all did so by volunteering to be much bigger lightning rods than they were at any time before, under any circumstances.

The Heat players—led by none other than LeBron James and Dwyane Wade—took a very public, very principled, very bold stand in support of Trayvon Martin, and the cause to bring to justice to the man who gunned down the unarmed teenager on the street of a gated community in Sanford, Fla., last month.

James and Wade took to their Twitter feeds, with nearly seven million combined followers, to send these messages: “WeAreTrayvonMartin,” “Hoodies,” “Stereotyped” and “WeWantJustice.” Wade’s explanation was one that connects even the richest, most famous celebrities to the most common of motivations: “As a father, this hits home.”

The team photo that circulated Friday, however, packed an even more powerful punch: every player wore Heat hoodies and stood with their heads lowered and hands in their pockets.

Millions of others have posed the same way, individually in pictures posted all over the internet and in groups of thousands at protests all over the country.

When one of the marquee teams in one of the country’s three biggest sports leagues does it, though—with two of the most popular athletes on the planet front and center—it takes the issue to a much higher level.

It’s the platform of sports celebrity once used with such determination and courage by the likes of Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and so many icons of decades past, brought to a new decade and a new audience.

And that’s where LeBron, D-Wade, the Heat and all the athletes who have joined the cause have proven people so wrong.

In the days before they stepped to the forefront, the consensus from the public was that it was something big-name athletes should do, particularly ones from Martin’s hometown of Miami and from Orlando, 20 miles from Sanford ... and that it was something there was no chance in hell they would do.

Between the image most have of athletes being selfish, shallow and self-absorbed, and the memory of a Michael Jordan quote from nearly a quarter-century ago (“Republicans buy shoes, too”), it’s hard to blame anyone for doubting. On the other hand, no one can ignore the backlash athletes receive for doing so much as changing teams as a free agent—a certain Heat superstar can relate to that—and the demands to “just shut and play” to any player who makes the slightest attempt at engaging a controversial non-sports topic.

From one side, they’re hearing it is their obligation to be role models. From the other, they’re told that they belong in this entertainer box and had better not dare to step out of it.

It’s the very definition of a Catch-22. But it’s not one greater than what previous generations of outspoken athletes have faced—although, in defense of the current player, the Alis, Smiths and Carloses were far more isolated in their activism than the old-schoolers would like us to believe today.

So the hope many had that athletes would take a stand on Martin’s behalf was drenched in skepticism.

CNN political analyst Roland Martin took to his Twitter page last week to call out NBA players in general and James specifically— and one of the replies he got sums up the widely-accepted sentiment: “The young man was trying to get home to watch the NBA all star game. He supported them but they don’t support him.’’

Either James was moved to action by the overall conversation, or the public badly underestimated him and his mates. The last few days have been a parade of the likes of Amare Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony and Steve Nash donning hoodies at games, posting themselves wearing them, or both.

And the backlash has been exactly as ugly, demeaning, hate-filled and insulting as expected. The evidence is smeared all over the individual players’ social media accounts and the comment sections of every story about their actions on Trayvon Martin’s behalf.

If only “Just shut up and play” was the harshest.

It takes true strength to stand up to that, and stand up for one’s convictions. The biggest, most visible, most vulnerable stand has been made by the Heat ... and the athlete, James, from whom it was least expected.

Well, maybe not the least expected. There’s a certain iconic golfer playing the final round of a big tournament Sunday, right down the road in Orlando ...