But then, who are we to tell people they must now swoon at the sight of the Heat the way they did over Michael Jordan’s Bulls? As Arison surely knows after years of employing Pat Riley and more recently James, antiheroes do a pretty fair business, too.

James’s remaining detractors may harrumph and say that he has never won a title after a full regular season, or beaten an experienced team in the finals, or was spared a deflating Game 2 defeat in Oklahoma City when his obvious fouling of Kevin Durant was not called and the Heat escaped with a series-turning victory.

Some will scoff at the claiming of one measly title after James promised, “Not one, not two,” and dared count into high single digits at the aforementioned preening festival in the aftermath of exchanging multiple championship vows with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

Here is where the news media can do the world a favor and not turn a silly moment of public hubris into a continuing, cheesy narrative that, as Arison said, was more the fault of the front office and not an impressionable 25-year-old (at the time).

Some context is in order. If James is to be derided for promising to out-title everyone but Bill Russell, who handed him his finals Most Valuable Player trophy Thursday night, why not castigate Derek Jeter for saying he expects the Yankees to win the World Series every season?

“In between credit and criticism is fame, and what happens with fame comes position and power,” Riley said. “And if you try to get too much position, too much power, you say stupid things like I said in 1988.”