Dubbed King James before even receiving a high school diploma, it’s no wonder that LeBron James, the biggest name to hit free agency in the modern era of sports, has acted as if America is the land of peasants hanging on his every word, his every tweet.

The truth is, sadly, we are.

As much as LeBron has been bashed for announcing that he’ll make his announcement during a one hour live special on ESPN Thursday, we’ll all tune in. Is it because we think of this as the Jersey Shore of NBA free agency — the train wreck we can’t turn away from? Or, is it because we really care about what he has to say and don’t want to be the only ones to miss out on the historic announcement.

And, make no mistakes, this is historic. History will look back at this as the first time a free agent held a national prime time television special to announce his intentions. And, LeBron will add to the circus. This won’t be your run-of-the-mill announcement. Plus, you’ll likely see a reality TV series come out later this summer that documents the LBJ Derby.

Expect graphics and slideshows explaining why he’s chosen his city. Expect the actors from Miami Vice or The Drew Carey Show in studio performing a live skit showing us why the city the chosen one has chosen should get down on their hands and knees and buy LeBron merchandise from Lebronjames.com yesterday.

Will leBron James be tearing the Cavs jerseys off of the nation's kids tomorrow? Only time will tell if the NBA will see a spike in Cavs or Heat jerseys.

LeBron’s gone about this free agency period unlike anyone else because he wanted to do the best for his brand identity. Creating suspense will create greater opportunities to pump up his bank account and ego. How else do you explain ESPN telling us sources say LBJ will announce his playing destination on ESPN?

However, this has backfired and King James’ image will take a knock in the eyes of most Americans. He’s already become a laughingstock on Twitter. Respected NBA Blogs such as InsideHoops.com have tweeted that James “just got up and ate breakfast.” Once King James launched his Twitter account, he had hundreds of thousands of followers before a single tweet. He even dubbed himself “King of Akron.”

He quickly became a trending topic on Twitter as people cracked jokes about what his first tweet would be. He ended up saying hello and thanking Chris Paul for getting him to join the Twitterverse.

But, it’s so much more than that. He’s acted like he’s entitled and made no bones about it. Consider:

• James made the Knicks, Nets, Bulls, Cavs, Heat and Clippers go to Cleveland to make their pitch at the base of his throne. He was concerned with what the teams could do for him. He didn’t care about the facilities or environment/team culture. You can only get a true sense of that when meeting in a team’s facilities. Sure. he plays in each city every year, but it’s different when you’re just visiting. Wade and Bosh followed James’ example.
• LBJ has acted like the GM of each team. Now, it’s not his fault teams like the Knicks say “what you want, we’ll do. You pick your supporting cast.” However, that’s the perception people have gained. Seriously, this era of free agency is making GMs look as pertinent to NBA teams as cashiers in a self-checkout lane at the supermarket.
• Bron Bron relaunching his web site during all the attention.
• Rumors circulating about when and how he;s announce the Decision Heard Round the World.
• The ESPN prime time special announcement.

LeBron has used this free agency period to enhance his brand identity. The end result may be that he's hurt it more than helped it.

LeBron has become an mass media attention whore. The only people that can truly enjoy and appreciate the James’ circus are BP Oil and Brett Favre. The media attention James has received has pushed those two into the rearview mirror. It’s pretty sad when an NBA free agent racks up more time in the public conscience than a national environmental disaster.

People are sick of LeBron and the way he’s carried out the process in a way that makes him look like the self-serving, narcissistic youth of today. Even Buzz Bissinger, the author of his book, has ripped Lebron on Twitter. Bissinger says he was duped and that he doesn’t even know the man now.

Is it LeBron’s fault? No. It’s ours for pumping his head with hot air from the time he was in high school with things such as ESPN broadcasts during his senior year.

Still, LeBron has had no issues with taking every opportunity to make this period about himself. For that, his image in the present has suffered.

Of course, actually winning a championship will cure everything.