Chandler Parsons mocked LeBron James for throwing a temper tantrum at the referees, and it set Shannon Sharpe off.
James was hacked by Jayson Tatum in the final seconds of Saturday night’s Los Angeles Lakers game against the Boston Celtics, but no foul was called, costing the Lakers an opportunity to win the game in regulation. The no call was egregious, but James’ over-the-top reaction drew just as much attention. And during FanDuel TV’s Run It Back, Parsons hit James with an even more over-the-top analogy.
“I can watch my French Bulldog get ran over by the Mailman right now, and I would not react like that” 🤦😂@ChandlerParsons on LeBron’s dramatic reaction to controversial no-call at end of Celtics vs Lakers game #RunItBack with @bansky @ShamsCharania & @MichelleDBeadle pic.twitter.com/idUym6sKld
— FanDuel TV (@FanDuelTV) January 30, 2023
“I can watch my French bulldog get ran over by the mailman right now, and I would not react like that. I swear to God,” Parsons told co-hosts Michelle Beadle, Eddie Gonzalez and Shams Charania. “That was one of the crazier reactions.”
PETA has let that one slide so far, but Shannon Sharpe won’t. Tuesday morning on FS1’s Undisputed, Sharpe sounded off on Parsons, and it was hard to tell whether he was more bothered by the former NBA player for insulting his Bulldog or mocking LeBron.
“The analogy tells me everything I need to know,” Sharpe said. “Anybody that has a pet, you know what it’s like if you lose said pet. Can you imagine losing said pet in the horrible manner in which he describes? I’ve had dogs for the last 30 years, and every time I have to put one down, a part of me dies along with said dog. My sisters say, ‘Shannon, why do you keep putting yourself through that?’ Because the love that I get from these dogs is worth more than the pain of losing them.
“For him to say that – He went to that analogy!” Sharpe said with disgust. “You know why, Chandler? Because you never invested in your career like LeBron James did.”
.@ShannonSharpe reacts to Chandler Parsons criticizing LeBron’s reaction to missed foul call: pic.twitter.com/416o9LoDgd
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) January 31, 2023
“For Chandler Parsons to be so cavalier…it seems to me, he’s like, ‘what kind of analogy, can I say about the reaction that LeBron James had.’ So he thought about this one Skip, this was some plotting and planning. That’s not something that just comes to the front of your head,” Sharpe ranted. “He got specific. A specific type of dog that he had, so he had to think about this!”
Can anyone think of another sports host who may have preplanned a hot take or outrageous analogy with the sole goal of getting a reaction from their audience? Maybe the person who sits across from Shannon every morning on Undisputed?
The bulldog analogy was dumb and cruel for any dog lover to sit through. But Parsons did end up turning it into a bit of a compliment for James.
“It’s so impressive that he cares that much on a regular season game that he’s doing that,” Parson said, which kind of made Sharpe’s larger point before Sharpe even made his larger point on Undisputed.
So which is worse; Parsons for making his cringey bulldog analogy? Or Sharpe, for roasting Parsons without acknowledging the fact that he also credited James for being so invested in a regular season game at the age of 38. I still lean toward the cringey bulldog analogy being worse.
