By now you’ve probably seen the video of LeBron James jumping onto the court to celebrate a dunk at his son’s AAU basketball game.

He’s been pretty exuberant and enthusiastic lately, even joining the team’s layup line before one of their matches. In the dunk celebration, he lost his shoe while scrambling back to the sideline and had to go retrieve it.

This is the video in question, which might seem rather innocuous but sparked a huge debate about whether or not his behavior is appropriate:

https://twitter.com/HOT97/status/1156540705717870593?s=20

Perhaps the most high-profile of the online disagreements was when Kyle Kuzma responded to Jason Whitlock’s take that LeBron should “sit (his) ass down,” which resulted in Whitlock calling Kuzma “Kap lite.” Jayson Tatum also had a quote tweet exchange with “KFC” from Barstool Sports.


So on one end of the spectrum, you’ve got people saying that LeBron should calm down, butt out, and stop hogging the spotlight.

The other side of the spectrum is this, after the jump:

Listen, Gargano is right. LeBron is being a good dad. He’s being a supportive father and attending his son’s games and showing interest and excitement. Let’s not downplay how important that can be, especially when the flip side is that some kids don’t even have a father figure in their life, OR that person doesn’t come to their games or give half a shit in the first place. I think we’d probably all agree that it’s important to have active and engaged parents.

But like most things in life, the correct take is somewhere in the middle, and in this case both things can be true, the idea that LeBron is being a good dad while also going overboard at the same time.

Which brings me to my point:

Parents should stay off the court or the field of play, period. It’s not about you; it’s about the kids.

Sit in the stands and support your child, but understand where the boundaries are. Don’t yell at the refs. Don’t yell at other parents. Your behavior sets an example for impressionable kids who are playing the game, whether you like it or not.

I say this as a former referee who has had to halt and even abandon games due to bad parental behavior, like that one time when the New York dad threatened to beat up the Toronto dad at Chestnut Hill Academy. We stopped the game, separated the dads, and then two minutes later the teams started fighting on the field, obviously influenced by the idiocy they just witnessed. In other cases, I’ve seen parents removed by the coach of the team at the official’s behest, because they came onto the field or behaved inappropriately in another way (cussing, etc).

That’s all it really boils down to. It’s about the children, not the parents. Support your son or daughter, watch their games, bring the orange slices or even take the team out for ice cream after the game. Just stay off the field of play. That applies to the 39-year-old mom at Avon Grove pee wee football and it applies to LeBron James as well.