Lebron responds to Zlatan criticism

Lebron James, responding to criticism from soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, vowed to continue to use his platform to speak on off-court issues he’s passionate about.

“I would never shut up about things that are wrong,” James said Friday after the Lakers snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over Portland.

Ibrahimovic, who recently played in L.A. with the Galaxy before returning to Europe, echoed previous criticism of James for not speaking solely about basketball.

“He is phenomenal at what he’s doing, but I don’t like when people have some kind of status, they go and do politics at the same time,” Ibrahimovic said in an interview. “Do what you’re good at. Do the category you do. I play football because I’m the best at playing football. I don’t do politics. If I would be a political politician, I would do politics.

“That is the first mistake people do when they become famous and they become in a certain status. Stay out of it. Just do what you do best because it doesn’t look good.”

Asked if he had any response to Ibrahimovic, James said “nah” before responding.

“We’ve been hearing this for a long time. ‘You should feel privileged. You should be thankful to be able to dribble a ball or run a football or be able to do the 100yard dash or be able to swing a baseball bat and things of that nature. You shouldn’t be able to speak about anything else, no matter if it’s right or wrong, you should just do that,’ ” James said. “But that’s not the case. That’s not the case anymore.

“As long as I’m around, it won’t be the case for a long time.”

Trivia question

Happy birthday to former Bengals running back Ickey Woods, who turns 55 today. Woods, was a rookie sensation in 1988, gaining 1,066 yards and scoring 15 touchdowns, after which he would do his famous “Ickey Shuffle” dance. Who was the NFL rookie of the year that season?

They said it

• From Dwight Perry of The Seattle Times: “A stray dog who stole a player’s cleat and ran onto the field, interrupting a soccer match in Bolivia, has been adopted by Tigre player Raul Castro — the one who caught the dog and carried him off the field. In a related story, they’re still waiting for someone to step forward and claim the Super Bowl streaker.”

• From Jamison Hensley of ESPN.COM, after Ravens coach

John Harbaugh paid the entire $2,000-plus restaurant bill during a Baltimore charity event: “Harbaugh covered the spread.”

• From North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams, to reporters, on whether he had any regrets about scheduling Marquette after losing to the Golden Eagles: “We can’t operate in damn hindsight. … If you told me we were gonna lose, hell yeah, we wouldn’t have played the game. If you told me we were gonna beat the Lakers, I’d have scheduled them.”

Trivia answer

New England back John Stephens was the ROY, gaining 1,168 yards and scoring but four touchdowns. Woods got robbed, in OTW’S opinion. Woods averaged 5.3 yards per carry, while Stephens was at 3.9. And 15-4 touchdowns seems distancing. Woods even had more catches, 21-14, with a better average on his receptions.