LeBron James Gets Harder to Hate After He Tweets Photo of Son Ready for First Day of School, Jokes About Hairline

Ever since he walked off the court in defeat after Game 6 of the NBA Finals, it’s gotten harder and harder to despise LeBron James.

Oh, there’s still a high level of good old-fashioned hatred, and the basketball-loving world was almost unanimously united in rooting against James and the Miami Heat in the Finals. Apart from “The Decision” and the obnoxious preseason celebration with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh — neither events were fully James’ idea, by the way — the unfiltered, hype-free James has been surprisingly likeable.

Thank Twitter for gradually improving James’ image.

James took to the social networking site Wednesday to send out a photo of his son, LeBron James Jr., preparing for his first day of first grade. All dolled up in a red polo shirt, fresh haircut and cool lunchbox, Bronny is ready to knock the ladies dead.

There’s more bad news, LeBron-haters. Not only is LeBron a family man with cute kids, he’s got a sense of humor, too.

As observers have noted, James’ hairline is, at best, unfortunate. It’s receding a little too early for a man of just 26, and it could use a good shape-up.

Unlike some men, however, James is able to laugh about it.

“Had a dream my hairline was back! Woke up and went to bathroom, turned on light slowly,” he tweeted on Aug. 24. “Same ol story. Damn! Lol #wishfulthinking.”

We’re not sure the world is ready for a funny, self-effacing King James. It’s difficult to think of him as a villain when he’s constantly willing to bring attention to his flaws or happily tweet photos of his kids on their first days of school. It makes him seem so, I dunno, normal. Normal with millions of dollars in his bank account, but still normal, relatively speaking.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Must be nice officially being the coolest person in the world, and Bronny definitely qualifies for that.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We are obviously not talking a Tiger Woods here, but I was unfaithful.”
— Boxer Oscar De La Hoya talking about unfaithfulness to his wife that went along with his drug addictions and thoughts of suicide. While De La Hoya should be commended for admitting his struggles, this is the second athlete in two weeks to use “Tiger Woods” as a synonym for a violent, embarrassing cheating-related incident. (Shaq used Tiger’s name in the same context in alleged emails leaked by the Miami New Times.) That can’t be good for Woods.

TWEET OF THE DAY

That is all that really needs to be said, isn’t it?