And welcome to politics and prose. Im brad graham im the coowner of the bookstore along with my wife, melissa muscatine and were very pleased to be hosting a Jeff Benedict whos here to talk about his new book lebron jeffs had quite a varied career. He practiced for a while and was active in politics, even ran for congress and in connecticut a couple of decades ago and then worked to to limit gambling in that state. Hes been a journalist writing for such publications as Sports Illustrated and the Los Angeles Times. And along the way, hes authored coauthored more than a dozen works of nonfiction. But these have included bestselling books about tiger woods and the new England Patriots, as well as a legal thriller, pink house, about a landmark case on Eminent Domain and poisoned about the biggest Food Poisoning outbreak in the United States. Hes also had a hand in producing or movies based on some of his books. His new biography about lebron james is about someone who, of course, of many of us think we already know and about whom much has been. But jeff has produced what reviewers are calling the definitive of this successful sports and the book not just thorough and thoughtful but also written vividly and engagingly as the Los Angeles Times put it, the book, quote, doesnt miss a shot. So i expect were in for a very illuminating discussion this evening in conversation with jeff will be Timothy Bella was a staff writer editor at the Washington Post with the papers general assignment team, focusing on breaking news. A team actually helped research jeffs book early on and then went off to write a biography of his own about another nba legend, charles, which came out last year. Tim is currently working on a second book, this one about actor and filmmaker sylvester stallone. So, ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Jeff Benedict and tim beller. Thank you so much, guys. I really appreciate again and jeff, this is just incredible because we met how many years back, now its 2010. I think it was 2010 . Yeah. And i was in a rough spot. I had just no experience. I the industry was terrible and, yet i gravitated toward people like jeff who gave you a chance. And now im. Im stable, an unstable world. So thank you so much. And this is also just a really cool opportunity for me because in high school when lebron james was, a senior, i was a totally a junior and i would see this guy on, espn, and i always amazed i had never seen anything like him before. And the fact that hes lived up to those expectations and exceeded them, its incredible. And its all captured here in this book. Kids, an amazing book. I really urge anyone to. Hasnt gotten it to go check it out. So just kind of started off jeff i know youve done tiger woods youve done the two England Patriots and including tom brady that obviously so i guess what appealed to you so much to take on our biggest topic. Well right now the biggest athlete right now lebron james. Well, first of all, thank you for inviting us here to your store and to the audience for coming and spending hour with us. For me, to be honest lebron wasnt my idea. I wish i could take credit for it because it is a fantastic idea for a book and a biography. But both lebron and tiger woods were ideas that were brought to me by my publisher, my literary in between i did the patriots was my idea and something that i had wanted to do for a long time. But after doing tiger and the patriots, lebron to me was the only male athlete left in america, i think we could say, is in the conversation for greatest of all time in his sport right now. Think tiger fit that for golf. Tom brady fits that for football and lebron fits that for basketball. And i think probably serena is the one other person who that for tennis and so it just an opportunity that to me as soon as it was presented i thought this is its so obvious and sometimes the best ideas are right in front of us and we miss them. But the other thing about lebron that appealed to me right away was that hes so much more an athlete and theres so much more to him now that theres nothing wrong with only being a transcendent athlete. But in lebrons case, there is so much more to the man than the sport. The fact that he is involved has been involved in politics and social activism in Building School and forming a friendship with barack obama, getting involved in the arts and entertainment, building a production company. There were all these other things that to me is his entry into fashion world that i dont know that i would have been as if it was just going to be a basketball book about a great basketball player. But the fact that lebron had so much more texture to his life was exciting. There were so many things i enjoyed about this book, jeff and one of the big themes in this book was family. Whether it be the relationship with his mother, the ship with his wife his best friends, how he took them all and they made. Into 1,000,000,000 athlete and you also talk about the father figures in his life and how he not know who his by other is and he doesnt care by the along the way he found that male mentorship in so many different people in who into very different people. The first one is Warren Buffett and the second one is if youre jayz and and for her somewhat like that the basketball player still in his. Twenties how and did he gravitate toward someone like jayz or someone like Warren Buffett who were much older and had a lot of experience that he did. How did that happen . Well i think in the case of a case gravitating towards jayz, its just more of that when lebron is a you know, as a kid and a young teenager like a lot of his peers and friends, he loved his music and. Its very similar to why would he gravitate towards Michael Jordan . Because he idolized him and so what was unique was that as a he had the opportunity to meet, which most teenagers wouldnt have opportunity. Lebron had that opportunity solely because he was such an exceptionally talented at a young age that. Jayz took the time to come and watch, play live and remarkably he when when lebron goes straight from high school to professional basketball, he you know, he passes go and doesnt stop because he never everybody knew he would never go to college because he was too good and whats remarkable is that that summer between when he was drafted as, the number one pick, and when he played first game in the fall as a cleveland cavalier, he did something that would never happen today, which is he went and played on jayzs, you know, private team in new york city. They a league that jayz had a team in and they played for something the chip and these teams were basically loaded up by, you know, a lot of a lot local players in new york city that were playground legends. But back then, you know, jayz was trying to recruit some some real ringers and recruited lebron to come and play that summer on his team, new york, that kind of craziness would never work today with the way the nba controls. But that was the start of a genuine friendship, because that summer he hung out with lebron a lot i mean, with jayz a lot. And they actually a real relationship that wasnt just a famous kid athlete and a famous, you know, rapper, hip hop artist who were hanging around because famous people like to hang around with each other. They actually became truly friends. Warren buffett is a totally different thing. I mean, Warren Buffett isnt someone that lebron idolized as a teenager, but within very short time after signing a 90 Million Contract with nike, when he was 18 years old and, a massive contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers and other endorsement deals. Lebron was a lot smarter than most entertainers. Never mind athletes, all entertainers in trying to surround himself with advisors who are experts in things like how to invest money, how to protect your how to do things other just do endorsement deals which athletes do, but how do you actually do something besides that like maybe own a piece of the company and one of the people who is advising him very early was had a great relationship with buffett. Lebron wanted to meet him and. His advisor brokered that meeting and lebron took the initiative to to omaha to meet with him, you know, went to his office, spent a day with him and started a what grew into a legitimate friendship and lebron did all that when he was 20 years old. And so if you think i mean those us in the room who are a little older and you think back what were you thinking about doing when you were 18, 19 and 20 . Its fair to say he was more mature, i think, than a lot people his age. He certainly more mature at that age than i was at that age. I was terrible that age. Just for the record. Yeah. And the there is a third person he gravitates toward its as in obama and in center obama two and at that point lebron had not honed on his political voice he had really found it yet and yet he heres what obama says when he runs around oh wait and again in 2012 and in the ingrates him and opens up his mind a way he hadnt before and it was pretty this book its a reminder of how that relationship was so special, so important to him that age. Tell me, how did that influence him . It was actually it in terms of how he about politics that and social issues. So i think when you when you look at the the formation of lebrons relationship with barack obama, this actually takes us back to his relation with jayz. And it actually supports the idea that this wasnt what i said a minute ago celebrity famous people hanging around each other. What im about to say will sort of illustrate why relationship had real significance to it in the beginning of his basketball career, which when lebron becomes a pro, hes 18 years old. He is a teenager. Hes not knowledgeable in the area of politics hes never had a need to be like 18 year olds. Hes not really paying attention to that, particularly because his life at this point is so focused on the fact he is being compared to Michael Jordan. Hes got this mantle on his shoulders, which is Sports Illustrated has deemed him, the chosen one, the heir apparent to air jordan, the expectations that are on this kid are on in professional sports. Michael jordan didnt have those expectations on him when he joined the nba. Tom certainly didnt have them when. He came in. The closest thing was, maybe tiger woods who had those similar, but i would say not as much. No one was saying hes going to be the next Jack Nicklaus and so lebron was focused on that, rightly so. The first time he really encounters is in thousand six, when were now in the run up to the beijing olympics, which are going to take place in 2008. And in the run up to the beijing, there are groups that are meeting actually in this city, washington, d. C. , and theyre planning you could even say, plotting how they leverage the olympics to put pressure on china for human rights abuses in various parts of the world, one of those being sudan. And and so one of those groups that was very well organized and had good leaders, they actually connected with one member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, guy player i renewably, who was a bench player, a great guy, but was a bench player that most people wouldnt know by name unless you were diehard cavs fan at the time. Newby was very interested in civil rights and human rights and he signed on to help this organization put a spotlight on what was on in sudan and use olympics to do it. And so one of these groups helped ira craft a letter that he then asked all of his teammates on the Cleveland Cavaliers to sign. And the letter really kind of called out china because of what was going on in sudan to. Be honest, none of these players, including ira, knew anything. What was going on in sudan. Ira was educated by this group, but he was so struck by that. He said, yeah, ill write that letter and ill get my teammates to sign it. And this is where it starts to get dicey for lebron and is not a knock on i renewably. But when youre the 12th player on the bench and you have the largest shoe contract in sports its easier to sign up for Something Like this because what you say doesnt cause International News if lebron says something about this its similar if someone in the president S Administration nation says something about it, its going to be an international story. Lebron didnt know anything about sudan. He didnt know anything about chinas to it. In fact his friend Warren Buffett was asked about the same thing because Warren Buffetts company, berkshire hathaway, one of the companies they invested, was a Petro Company that was connected to this arms and going on in sudan and basically buffetts answer to all the shareholders, yeah, were not going change what we do. So unfortunate whats going on over there, but doesnt really affect us. And thats it. But lebron not to sign the letter he was and he and one other player on the team were the only two that didnt. And as soon as he that the New York Times covered it and every other newspaper in media outlet in the United States and became a problem for him because he was ripping to lee questioned about why he didnt sign it mind you this is going on in the middle of the nba playoffs that hes getting hit with this and then he has what some people would say is the greatest game. His career in the middle. All this against the detroit pistons. Lebron has the game his life where he literally is. Its like one of the few times where one man beats five. And it is a stunning performance that makes everybody about sudan and china for a season. Then the olympics come and when lebron actually goes to beijing it starts up all over again. And this time he basically takes the position he, says two things. First, he says, i dont know enough about this to talk about it, which, by the way, was true. And number two, you shouldnt mix sports and politics. Thats the more controversial statement where hes going to end up. So thats that. Now, heres the thing. Thats the summer 2008. Think about hes in beijing dealing with this think about whats happening in america in the summer of oh eight, barack obama is on a run to the house that looks like it might actually happen. And when lebron comes back from beijing with the gold, heres where jayz comes in. Jayz was very motivated to barack obama win and the white house. He talked too openly about the idea that a black man would occupy the white house would be unthinkable when he was a teenager. If someone had said that to him, then he would have thought, you were crazy. But here it looked. It could actually happen. And so he decided to do series of concerts in support of Barack Obamas in different cities right up before the election. The last one was in cleveland, and lebron agreed to go and participate in concert and speak to what would be essentially a sold out auditorium which just happened to be the same auditorium where the cavaliers their home games and thats the first time that lebron actually took a political on anything and he told the audience he was voting for barack he told the audience this was the most important election of their lifetime. Jayz said similar thing and lebron encouraged everyone there to get their arms, their uncles and their moms and their sisters and everybody to go out and vote that thats his entry point to, of course, obama does when he does capture the white house and then he does something that no american president had ever done before, was he then turns nba players not lebron, but a bunch of nba players, including retired players like Magic Johnson and seeks their help in some of his his his basically his domestic agenda one of which was health care and. He gets people like lebron to do Public Service announcements because they realize that one of the groups that was most and not participating in the website to sign up was the minority where lebron had influence. Thats why he did the the ad and this is a guy getting paid millions of dollars to commercials he did these commercials for free because this wasnt about money and the republicans like Mitch Mcconnell and some of the guys in the house they didnt like the fact that obama using these celebrity athletes to move the needle but thats over eight years that barack was in the white house. Lebron, i would say grew up and i say that in a complimentary way. Think about going to school with the president of the United States as a guy who could truthfully say in 27, i dont know enough to talk about this to to get a point eight years later where he is the lead voice on. I cant breathe on gun violence on talking about Police Brutality and minority communities but not in a way attacks the police. I that takes a lot of skill to to walk that line lebron james never attacked he never said defund them he never really criticized them he actually just talked about what its like to be in his community he did some what i would call very diplomatic that came in my at least from the benefit of watching one of the most skilled political weve had in the last 50 years. He watched him and he saw how a perfect example. I mean when Trayvon Martin was shot for wearing a hooded sweatshirt, the president didnt attack people. He just pointed out he had sons. They would look like. And of course, lebron is in a position where he does have sons and they do look like that. And so i that to me, one of the most remarkable things about the obama years was watching maturation of a young james who in my mind is he is an older lebron james and im not really about calendar years here im talking about how much he aged in terms of his political skills in diplomacy lebrons not a flamethrower there are certain celebrities who when they speak out