Will LeBron James Play in the Internet Invitational?
The first incarnation of the Internet Invitational was, first and foremost, for YouTube and social media golfers. The 48-person field consisted primarily of those who had made a name for themselves through those mediums, with a few random exceptions – such as the Duke, who made a name for himself courtesy of a chance meeting with Bobby Berger and being generally bizarre. But while these celebrity golfers will likely again feature heavily in this year’s field, there’s always room for a few wildcards. Could LeBron James be one of them?
I won’t lie. As much as I’d love to tell you that, breaking news, you heard it here first, LeBron is playing in this year’s Internet Invitational, there is a whole lot of water to go under the bridge before that happens – probably too much. But rumours have begun to swirl.
They began late last year, around the same time that LeBron started yabbering away about YouTube Golf on social media. Speaking on Wake Up Barstool, owner of Barstool Sports Dave Portnoy mentioned that, in an obscure collision of global sporting heavyweights, he’d been asked by none other than Rory McIlroy whether none other than LeBron James would be playing in the Invitational.
“I don’t know,” was the Barstool chief’s response. “Maybe. I just don’t know. He’s been talking an awful lot about YouTube Golf. I’d love to invite him, love to get him there.”
Unfortunately the conversation didn’t go much further than that, because host Brandon Walker followed up that little slice of news by asking who was taller out of Portnoy and McIlroy.
But tongues started to wag. LeBron continued to post about YouTube Golf in the ensuing months, and earlier in April the talking about it turned into appearing on it. Following months of online flirtation with the Bob Does Sports crew, he made a well-publicised appearance on the channel in a video which has so far received over three million views.
By and large, that appearance seemed to be a success. Love him or hate him, LeBron fit in seamlessly with the BDS boys and many of the typically staunch LeBron-hating brigade found themselves acknowledging that he made for a pretty good guest. As we all know LeBron is certainly not allergic to a nice little public image boost, so it would be a surprise if that was his first and last YTG appearance.
Included among those begrudgingly acknowledging that LeBron is not actually the devil incarnate was Portnoy himself. In the aftermath of the video, he tweeted the following:
It might not seem like much, but given his past rantings about the man it was a pretty major concession. Previously, there have been indications that Portnoy has not possessed a huge deal of fondness for the man many consider to be the greatest basketballer of all time – unusual for a Celtics fan.
“I fucking hate LeBron James,” he once mysteriously quipped, holding his cards characteristically close to his chest. “I fucking hate the guy’s guts.”
He’s also called LeBron a “total bum, a total failure, he’s ruined the franchise (Lakers)”, as well as “one of the most sensitive babies we’ve ever seen in sports”, and claimed that Bronny James is on the Lakers roster as a “Make-A-Wish” to his dad.
Safe to say these kinds of comments from the man in charge of the company in charge of the Internet Invitational might take some recovering from. Still, who knows – the Internet Invitational is a joint Barstool Sports/Bob Does Sports venture and LeBron at least likes the latter of them, and Dave himself has demonstrated he is more than happy to extend the olive branch.
Again on Wake Up Barstool with Brandon Walker and Mark Titus earlier this week, he was asked point blank about the situation – if you can call it that.
“Have you officially extended the invite?” he was asked by Walker.
“Well I’ve never communicated with the guy, but I told the Bob Does guys, I’m like ‘Is he gonna play in the Invitational?’ And they’re like, ‘Well we didn’t ask because we thought you didn’t like him’. I go, ‘Listen, I don’t care who it is. If LeBron’s willing to play, of course we’ll have him in the tournament.’ So, I dunno if he’s gonna do it. I know he knows who I am and I’m sure doesn’t like me and why would you?”
So we can safely deduce that Portnoy’s very public contempt for the well-known philanthropist is not going to prove a barrier to him being invited to the event. But it takes two to tango, and LeBron is still much more likely than not to be an unwilling dance partner. Despite him having dipped his toe into the proverbial pool of YouTube Golf, there remain numerous major hurdles to getting him at the event.
The continued barbs Portnoy has thrown at him over the years remain one; so too is the fact that he is still an NBA player and may not have the time and/or inclination; while it’s also debatable whether he would willingly hand the keys to his well-curated public image to the people at Barstool Sports.
Regardless, whether you’re a LeBron lover or sit more on Portnoy’s side of the fence, he would be a huge get for the Internet Invitational, no doubt dragging in a hefty crowd that otherwise wouldn’t know or care about the event. Already he’s one of the biggest names to ever make a YouTube Golf cameo (probably trumped by a certain president), and if he happened to play in the Internet Invitational he would be the biggest name there by some margin. There’s a long way to go, but Barstool Sports linchpin Big Cat recently gave the best indication of LeBron’s chances of playing.
“It’s a less than 1% chance that LeBron would compete in the Internet Invitational. But it’s no longer zero.”
