Why did LeBron James say he was taking his talents to South Beach, instead of simply saying the Miami Heat were his choice?
I have no idea.
Trivial though it may seem, that exact phraseology is high on the list of things people love to ridicule him for, and it has provided ammunition to those eager to make the case that is hopelessly arrogant. (It has also spawned a NSFW list of alternate meanings.)
What I learned today, however, for the first time, is that in fact James might have seen this coming.
Those same words have alienated an NBA star from his fans once before.
TrueHoop reader Alex points out that when Kobe Bryant announced that he would skip college to go straight to the NBA, which you can see about the 4:50 mark of this video, he used that exact same phrase, saying that "I have decided to take my talents to uhh ... no I have decided to skip college and take my talent to the NBA."
That video is part of a good story about how the city of Philadelphia has almost no love for Bryant. That moment at the microphone is cited as one of the major fractures in their relationship.
Maybe that phrase should be retired for a while. It sure seems to do bad things to those who say it on national TV.