LeBron James Caught Going 101 MPH

LeBron James turned 23 on December 30th, and as you may have heard, he celebrated in style: he was in Las Vegas attending the grand opening of Jay-Z's 40/40 club at the Palazzo Hotel -- the picture on the right is from the red carpet of that event.

But what you probably didn't know until today was how LeBron kicked off his birthday: with flashing lights in his rearview mirror. I have no idea how or why this got buried for two weeks, but it turns out that LeBron was ticketed for speeding back in Ohio after getting caught going 101 mph in a 65 mph zone at 2:43 am.

Now, if you or I got caught pulled over doing almost 40 over that late in the morning on our birthday, chances are we'd be given a breathalyzer, right? So did the police officer stopping LeBron test his sobriety, or did Akron's favorite son get a free pass because of his celebrity? Right now we have no idea: aside from how fast James was going, all we're told is that "other details about the traffic stop were not immediately available." (While I'm just curious what happened, some frequent King James apologists are drawing their own conclusions ...)

According to the Akron Beacon Journal, one of James' attorneys filed a not guilty plea last Tuesday and a hearing is scheduled for Feb. 11 ... the same day the Cavs are in Orlando playing the Magic. Count on LBJ's lawyers standing in for him.

What I found interesting (though admittedly not particularly relevant) is that speeding is a common offense in James' entourage:

James' lawyer, Fred Nance, has been in traffic court recently dealing with tickets. James' manager and CEO of his LRMR Marketing company, Maverick Carter, had Nance defend him in Middleburg Heights in July after Carter got his 19th speeding ticket since 1998.

19 tickets in less than 10 years? Well that answers why LBJ didn't just have one of his friends drive.