LeBron James Trash Talked Dabo Swinney After Ohio State Thrashed Clemson In The College Football Playoff

The third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes will play for a national championship after going to war with the second-ranked Clemson Tigers in the Sugar Bowl on Friday night and coming out on top emphatically. The Buckeyes picked up a 49-28 win over the Tigers, earning a spot in the national title game against No. 1 Alabama next week.

It was a particularly sweet win for the Buckeyes for a few reasons. One is they lost to Clemson in the semifinal last year in a very close game. Another is that Tigers coach Dabo Swinney rubbed some Ohio State fans the wrong way in the lead-up to the game, ranking them 11th in the Coaches’ Poll and citing the fact that they only played six games this season, which he swears he did on principle due to the number of games and not because of the caliber of the opponent.

Still, the Buckeye faithful latched onto that, including one particular fan of the scarlet and gray who is based out of Los Angeles. LeBron James watched as his college football team came out on top after the Lakers picked up a 109-103 win over the San Antonio Spurs and was satisfied that Ohio State got some payback.

He was particularly impressed by the play of Buckeye quarterback Justin Fields, who out-dueled Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and torched the revered Tiger defense for a Sugar Bowl record six touchdowns.

And then, there was Swinney. While Clemson’s coach has never shied away from poking the bear — something he can do because his team is really good and backs up what it says off the field with results on it — Ohio State topped his team, and Buckeye fans loved it. In the stadium, a loud, prolonged “DAAAAAAABO!” chant came through the television, and elsewhere in the United States, James thought it would be fun to chirp at Swinney. He brought up that Coaches’ Poll ranking, and after that, he dove into a stash of The Last Dance memes.

We don’t always see the sports fan side of LeBron. It’s something that comes out when the Buckeyes win big games, when the Cleveland Browns win big games, and when Liverpool wins championships. But with all due respect to the Browns and the Reds, this one seemed to be particularly sweet for the reigning NBA Finals MVP.