LeBron Once Smoked The Reefer, Ever-Discerning ESPN Informs Us

ZOMG! LeBron James is one of 97 million Americans to have smoked marijuana! This is news! Hannah Storm just told the world! It's on the front page of ESPN.com! Right below that unfortunate business with Ben Roethlisberger!

And, awesomely, Buzz Bissinger is involved. Reports the Associated Press:

LeBron James struggled with sudden fame after appearing on Sports Illustrated's cover as a 17-year-old and admits he smoked marijuana during his junior year in high school.

In "Shooting Stars," written by James and co-author Buzz Bissinger, James said the SI cover and the media attention he and his high school teammates received was difficult to handle.

"We had become big-headed jerks, me in particular," James said, "and we are to blame for that, but so are adults who treated us that way and then sat back and smugly watched the self-destruction."

James also revealed he and his teammates smoked marijuana one night after getting access to a hotel room in Akron.

It's a little parable, you see. He "struggled" with fame and as a result indulged in a harmless and all but legal drug that has been used by roughly a hundred million Americans. It'd be like saying LeBron struggled with fame and as a result indulged in a bacon cheeseburger, except that bacon cheeseburgers are not actually harmless. This is not a story. This wouldn't be a story if LeBron rolled a joint as big as a horse's leg and smoked all of Humboldt County out of business. Yet somehow this is deemed newsworthy, not just by the Associated Press, but by an organization so allegedly holy that it won't cover a woman's rape accusations against a famous NFL quarterback. This is yet more wincingly stupid news judgment, and once again we're all witnesses.

James admits pot use in book [ESPN]