I wonder how much money you could have made had you bet that a kid born to a single, impoverished mother on Dec. 30, 1984, at Summa’s Akron City Hospital would wind up pictured on a four-story mural on the side of a building in Shanghai, China — 7,244 miles from Akron.
A bit unlikely, to say the least.
Everything about LeBron James has been unlikely. Even if you buy into the rubbish that Mouth-Guard Guy is the best player in the NBA, LeBron is at worst the second-best basketball player among the 6 billion people on planet Earth.
Fittingly, he is known worldwide. Ever since I wrote about a Kent man who on vacation met a bar-owner in Barcelona who had never heard of James, readers have testified to LeBron’s presence in far-flung places — such as the accompanying photo taken by Charlie Bender of Copley Township.
A little while ago we printed a photo of a big drawing of LeBron in a highway tunnel in Verona, Italy.
Now, a few more stories.
Marcia McCormick of North Hill was in Paris last summer with her daughter and her daughter’s friend when they walked into a crêperie.
A man in front of them was ordering. After a bit, he turned and asked whether they were Americans. McCormick said yes and asked — based on his accent — whether he was English.
He feigned anger: “The first thing out of your mouth is an insult?”
He laughed. Turns out he was Australian.
They kept chatting and she learned that he was a big fan of the NBA.
McCormick said, “Guess where I’m from.” He asked, and, hearing the response, lit up.
“LeBron James is my guy!” he exclaimed.
They all sat down together and ate.
“We were best friends after that,” she says.
McCormick can bear witness to another foreign tie. She hosted a Chinese exchange student in 2010 who eventually became her son. He knew all about LeBron before he even touched down in the States.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
This from David V. Halpern of Akron:
“A few years ago I was talking to a Dell computer tech in the Philippines while he was remotely fixing my computer.
“We were on the phone for about two hours, so we began to talk about things other than computers. He told me where he was, and I told him I was in Akron, Ohio.
“He said, ‘Isn’t that where LeBron James is from?’ I was floored.
“I said, ‘You’ve heard of LeBron James?’
“He said, ‘Oh yeah, basketball is a big thing here. We don’t have any tall players, but it’s a big sport here.’
“Today I’m talking to a Time Warner tech (female), also in the Philippines. I tell her that story and she laughs and verifies that basketball is THE sport in her homeland. She and her friends have been watching the NBA games diligently. And, yes, she knew all about LeBron, too.”
TICKET TURMOIL
But enough about basketball. It’s also baseball season. And on Wednesday, Wayne Darlington finally scored a pair of tickets he had been hoping to get for 393 days.
Way back on May 19, 2015 — the first day the Akron RubberDucks put tickets on sale for the 2016 Eastern League All-Star Game on July 13 at Canal Park — the Akron resident broke out his credit card and bought two.
In September, he called the team and asked why he hadn’t received his tickets. He was told that because the event was special, the club wanted to print the tickets on fancy, custom ticket stock, rather than the standard stock.
In November, hoping to put the tickets under his Christmas tree, Darlington emailed the team and asked for an update. Still no go.
He wrote again in February, March, April, May and June — nine emails in all. By then he was steamed, threatening via Twitter to call in the Ohio Attorney General.
No, you can’t go to a game any sooner than the date it is played, regardless of when you receive your tickets. But for Darlington, a business consultant who ran unsuccessfully for Akron City Council last year, the matter had turned into a crusade.
Early this week he finally was told All-Star ducats would be available Wednesday at the box office. He was the first one there.
So, do you like the look of the tickets?
“Very much so,” he said seconds after grabbing them.
“I just wish they had told me we would be waiting until less than 30 days before the game to actually get them in our hands.”
RubberDucks spokesman Adam Liberman says the team rushed to put tickets on sale “as soon as we were awarded the game, so our fans in Akron would have a chance right off the bat to get the best seats.”
He said the team needed time to design the look and theme for the All-Star festivities, and then make the tickets reflect the chosen look.
After that, Liberman says, “it was a matter of waiting on the supplier’s schedule. The ticket stock was donated by the company, so they likely put it behind a few others on the slate.”
All of the others, apparently.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com. He also is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bob.dyer.31