This was the front page of the July 9th, 2010 Cleveland Plain Dealer. Gone. 7 years, $62 million dollars. No rings. Nothing else needed to be said. He was really leaving. I was speechless. There have been so many articles about the Summer of LeBron before and after "The Decision", and frankly, I think everyone is as sick of hearing about it. Nevertheless, I don't really care and I'm going to talk about it anyway. I remember when the Cavs drafted LeBron James out of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron. It was the Summer of 2003, and I was enjoying my time at camp. My mom sent me up the newspaper article with LeBron on the front, smiling next to David Stern, wearing a cream colored suit with a matching shirt and tie, and a wine colored Cavaliers hat. My parents also sent me up my first LeBron jersey a few weeks later. From then on, LeBron was my favorite player in the league, and in my mind, he could do no wrong. His enemies on the court were vehemently hated by me, and I would religiously follow all things Cavs. And then it all stopped.
Gone.
Once the Cavaliers exited the playoffs this year, I knew he was gone. I didn't want to admit it, but I just knew it. And frankly, so did he. There is no doubt in my mind that he quit in the playoffs, faked his elbow injury, and took the easy way out of town. To be honest, if he would've just had a press conference after the series and said he was unhappy and leaving Cleveland, would that have pissed off Cleveland fans? You're darn skippy it would've. But Would every basketball fan besides Heat fans despise him almost immediately? No way, Jose. But seriously, LeBron. Who is around you? Maverick Carter and Worldwide Wes are pointing you in the right direction. I'm not trying to be your therapist, but I just don't understand how someone could make such a stupid decision. People are saying, "Well, he didn't go to college", to which I say that defense is a load of you know what. Going on national television to destroy the future of the team you played for for the past seven years? Shielding yourself with your own group of interviewers, the interview questions, and hiding behind the boys and girls club of Greenwich, CT? Grow a pair. Don't tell me "I wanted to raise money from the commercials to donate to the organization". Cut them a check- I mean, I know you're taking a pay cut from Miami to play there, but I'm not exactly going to start walking around Akron collection tzedakah for you. I just don't understand how LeBron James could think that he could walk away from "The Decision" not looking like a villain. If I were living in my own world where everyone tells me I'm a god and I do whatever I want and I don't care about anyone but myself, I could see that being scenario. But I just can't believe that someone would be so narcissistic, to just not talk to the man who signed his paychecks between the time he quit in the playoffs and when he signed with Miami. That's disgusting. It's just plain wrong. Reading the recent issue of GQ with an interview with Prince James, I was even more nauseated.
Last year, I did a research project about LeBron James in comparison to Michael Jordan, and who was a better player. Ultimately, I concluded that LeBron fell short of Michael Jordan. And you know what, I always will come to that conclusion. Michael Jordan was/is a fierce competitor. He was willing to listen to coaches in order to become a better player. LeBron James is a coward, who just wants people to think that he's a good player. LeBron wants a championship ring. Michael wanted to be the best. And he was. He will always be, until we dub someone the next Michael Jordan, just as we did LeBron James. Man up, LeBron. You may a great basketball player, but you're not a good person. And I know that you'll never ever in a million years find this blog and read this about you, and I'm hoping you don't because I know that you said that you're taking mental notes of all the people taking swipes at you. But when you get off the planet that you're on, the one where you refer to yourself publicly in the third person and turn your back on the team that brought you into the league, I hope someday, you look back and realize that you made a huge mistake in the way you went about things. I don't care when it is. You're entitled to leave the team, that's not what bothers me. What bothers me is that you just don't care. And it irks me even more because I really want Zydrunas Ilgauskas to win a championship ring this year, and the catch 22 that I'm caught in is that you'd have to win one too, which is a scenario that I hope never materializes for you.
I have December 2nd flagged on my iCal, and that's the day that LeBron comes back to Quicken Loans Arena. This time, he'll be in the visitor's locker room. I'm scared for what's going to happen. I was at the Indians game where a fan was escorted out while just wearing a James Hear #6 jersey! I can only imagine what carnage is going to unfold at the Q that night. I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not going to care. But I will. Everyone will. I guess the only good thing that came out of this is that every basketball fan hates you. So thank you LeBron James- It is because of you, that the NBA has been forever tainted
And to think that I never thought that I'd be able to hate anyone in the NBA MORE than I hated Carlos Boozer...
