Ahmad Rashad Mercilessly Grills Lebron James On Why He’s So Awesome

CLEVELAND, OH--TV personality Ahmad Rashad showed why he is known as “The Pit Bull” during an interview with Lebron James on Sunday in which he mercilessly grilled the young star on such challenging topics as why he is so awesome and what it’s like to be so spectacular. Though many viewers were stunned by the hard-hitting interrogation, Rashad downplayed it, saying that he was just doing his job.

“I don’t get paid to sit here and lob these guys softballs,” Rashad said afterward. “This isn’t a fluff piece. If athletes can’t handle this kind of scrutiny, they should try another line of work. My job as an interviewer is to ask penetrating, probing questions in order to provide fans with a telling glimpse into the psyche of my subjects. I think I accomplished that today. I’m sure Lebron is wondering what just hit him. All I can say is welcome to the NBA, pal.”

The interview, which was aired during halftime of Sunday’s Cavaliers-Lakers game, started off innocently enough with Rashad asking James about his childhood in Akron .

“I was trying to get him to relax,” recalled Rashad. “I wanted to gain his trust before I moved in for the kill. It’s an old technique and it worked like a charm. He had no idea I was about to ask him to bare his soul for the entire world to see. So out of the blue I just said ‘Lebron, what makes you so awesome?’”

James’ response was smooth and concise and displayed the youngster’s remarkable poise.

“Well that’s a tough question, Ahmad, but you’re just doing your job,” James began. “I guess what makes me so great is my hard work, athleticism and court vision. I can do it all, really, and when you are as versatile as me, you’re bound to be a success in the NBA. Whew. This is a tough line of questioning. Can I get a drink of water?”

But the questions were about to get tougher. Just when James thought he was out of the woods, he was blindsided once again.

“What is it like to be so spectacular and fantastic?” Rashad asked, a smug grin appearing on his face.

“Well, uh…that’s a hard one, Ahmad. Let me think for a minute,” James replied. “I guess I would say that it’s really cool to be so spectacular and awesome. You get lots of attention, money and girls, and can pretty much do whatever you want. Plus, people wait on you hand and foot. I guess the downside is having to endure these brutal, no-holds-barred interviews.”

The interview came to an end with one last hardball from Rashad:

“Lebron, how great would it be to win a championship for the city of Cleveland ?”

“Oh man, you’re in rare form today,” James joked, awkwardly trying to evade the biting query. “Uh, I guess I’d have to say that it would be…hmmm, let me think…. I guess it would be good. Yea, that’s it. It would be really good to bring a championship to the city of Cleveland . Is that it? Is the interview over, or would you like to know how I’m dealing with the pressures of fame at such a young age?”

Afterward, Rashad boasted that he “showed no mercy” in his questioning, a practice that is a dying art among today's journalists.

“I consider myself somewhat of a throwback to the days of Edward R. Murrow or Walter Cronkite,” said Rashad. “You see a lot of people today doing these interviews that are nothing but fluff pieces that serve to hype the athlete rather than get to know them as people. I’m sorry, but that’s not how I operate. I’m like an attack dog. Just ask Michael Jordan. He had to retire to get away from me.”

James later commended Rashad’s prowess as an interviewer, but seemed less impressed with his questioning than Rashad was himself.

“Yea, it was a good interview, I guess,” he said. “I was a little bit surprised how easy the questions were, though. Before the thing started he was like ‘I’m a bit of an attack dog, but I’m fair,’ so I expected him to ask me some real penetrating questions about my personal life, maybe even something about the child I just had with my girlfriend. But none of that happened. All I had to do was blurt out stock answers over and over again like so many interviews before. I did try to pretend I was confounded, though, just because I felt bad for him. I even gave him my cell number afterwards, although it wasn’t my main number, just the one I give to groupies.”