Xavier sophomore Jordan Crawford has become a household name, not for one of the usual reasons – getting embroiled in an academic scandal, say – but for something completely weird and awesome and apparently unprecedented in the history of the world:  dunking on LeBron James.

It happened at a skills academy sponsored by Nike and hosted by James, who sometimes goes by the nickname The Chosen One.  Crawford himself described the magical moment:

I was on the right wing and I drove down the middle past Danny Green and LeBron was waiting under the rim.  I jumped and I really don’t think [LeBron] thought I was going to dunk and he jumped late but I was already up there and then I dunked it.

What an amazing moment that must’ve been for Mr. Crawford, throwing one down on the great LeBron James aka The King.  I’ve got to hit YouTube and find some video of that so I can enjoy it too.

What’s that you say?  There’s no video of the dunk on YouTube…or anywhere else on the internet?  You mean I won’t be able to link to the video on Twitter and share it with all my tweeps?  I won’t be able to embed it on my blog and make snide remarks about it?

It’s hard to believe, but sadly true – Jordan Crawford’s moment in the sun will not be coming to a website near you.  This despite the fact that at least one person got the dunk on video.

Unfortunately – and this is really amazing – the guy who captured the dunk was immediately set upon by LeBron’s Nike stooges and ordered to hand over the tape.  Witnesses say LeBron himself ordered the Nike people to seize the evidence.  LeBron James will not be embarrassed by any mere college sophomore.  LeBron James will not be shown up at his own skills camp.

LeBron James is becoming a bit of a prick.

I don’t know when the first chink appeared – maybe it was when he got “Chosen 1″ tattooed across his back – but there’s no question that, by now, that armor is filled with more holes than the plot of a Hollywood blockbuster.  The gaping one opened back at the end of the Cavs‘ playoff run, when LeBron walked off the court without shaking with the Magic players, then blew off the media like a petulant jerk.

LeBron supporters bent over backward to defend his behavior then, saying he was frustrated, saying it’s not that big a deal to not shake hands.  And they’ll no doubt twist themselves into similar pretzel shapes on his behalf after this latest transgression.

I’m not sure how you defend this one though.  “Well, it was his skills academy, so he can do whatever he wants.”  Maybe.  But sending your corporate lapdogs off to intimidate the cameraman and confiscate the evidence?  That makes him look like more than just an oversensitive guy – it makes him seem creepy.  It puts him in the same realm as these narcissistic movie stars who only do interviews with a publicist standing there to approve or disapprove the questions.  It places him on the same level as Hollywood jerks who get mad at the paparazzi and send their bodyguards over to kick their asses.

It makes him look like Tiger Woods when someone clicks their camera at the wrong moment, and he sics Stevie Williams on them.

Trust me, LeBron James supporters – you don’t want your guy being compared to Tiger Woods.  There is no more smug, entitled-seeming athlete on earth than Tiger.  Tiger is so stuck on himself, I’m shocked he doesn’t have children in white robes throwing rose petals at his feet everywhere he goes.

It’s one thing to be image-conscious, quite another to be so full of yourself that you actually think it’s okay to actively suppress an embarrassing video.  Clearly, LeBron has been paying close attention in the kiss-ass Nike meetings, which are all about how great LeBron is, and how he’s a global brand, and how Michael Jordan is going to look like small potatoes by the time they’re done.

At this point, LeBron James is less a basketball player than a corporate android with a jump shot.  You can say that’s all Jordan was too at some point, but the difference was, Jordan never gave you the feeling he actually bought all his own hype.  If Jordan had been dunked on by some kid at a clinic?  He would’ve laughed about it, and made some remark about how the kid would never do that to him again.

LeBron evidently doesn’t have that kind of a sense of humor about himself.  Which is odd because I thought he was supposed to be such a fun-loving guy.  I guess that’s all just image too.  It makes you wonder what’s real with this guy and what’s contrived.

If he can get his stooges to hide the dunk from the world, what else can he get them to cover up?