Back in September, we reported that LeBron James took a huge image hit thanks to "The Decision," the ESPN broadcast of his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and go to the Miami Heat.
A poll of the general population by The Q Scores Companyrevealed that only 14 percent of people thought of James positively, while 39 percent of people thought of him negatively. Five months later, the Q Scores show that James has slowly bounced back, though not as much as we might have thought.
As of last month, 17 percent of people see him in a positive light (a 21% jump), while the number of people who view him as a negative character dropped six percentage (33 percent).
"There was a good drop in the negative number, but it's clearly not a quick fix," said Henry Schafer, executive vice president of the company. "I don't think he'll get back to the numbers that he was at before this year, although winning a NBA title would obviously help."
Winning seems to be important for redemption. LeBron's Heat, who are 48-22, haven't dominated as expected, just as Tiger Woods hasn't won since November 2009, just weeks before details of his infidelity led to his unraveling. Late last summer, 16 percent of people thought of Woods positively, according to the Q Scores, while an astounding 50 percent of people thought of him negatively. Schafer noted that, since he hasn’t won, Tiger’s Q Score has gone virtually unchanged.