The latest deconstruction of an American sports icon took place on live television, in prime time, during a one-hour broadcast so surreal it felt as if we were watching "The Truman Show." LeBron James proved that he is a self-absorbed, egomaniacal child. Jim Gray and ESPN proved that they are shameless stooges. And we proved that we are now completely lost, wandering along without any moral compass whatsoever.

So James is going to play for the Miami Heat. Great. Good luck to him and to Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and the rest of the Heat. None of that should really bother anyone. But the manner in which James announced his decision last night brought American sports to a new low and made a complete mockery of our core beliefs, most notably the ones that declare no individual to be bigger than the team, league, or, most importantly, game.

But then, all we�ve been doing for 25 years is telling LeBron James how great he is, all while happening to omit a fairly important detail: You have to win something, LeBron. You can�t really become a megastar until you earn it at the highest levels. At this moment, the sad truth is that James is more like Freddy Adu or Michelle Wie or Anna Kournikova than he is Tiger Woods or even Alex Rodriguez, if only because the last two men actually have some titles. LeBron has none. And yet, ESPN all too willingly indulged James last night by kissing his bottom like no major media outlet ever has done before, providing him with the pedestal from which James could look down on, well, everyone.