So Check it Out

Just a few words on this ridiculous, overblown and now completely over-covered, oversaturated (and over-everything else) LeBron James situation.

Pretty much everyone has weighed in on this by now, and LeBron is apparently a pariah of the worst kind in the state of Ohio (particularly in Cleveland). In less than 24 hours, he went from the most beloved savior the city of Cleveland has ever known (this is kind of sad to begin with, but it is what it is) to the most intensely hated individual as far as the eye can see.

I know this sounds as though it is being set up as a defense of King James, but that’s not totally accurate. The way in which he announced his departure from Cleveland so that he can ‘Take his Talents to South Beach’ to play with his ultra-talented buddies Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh (the latter of whom joined the Miami Heat just a couple days before LeBron’s ‘announcement’ Thursday night in a one-hour, live televised ESPN special) couldn’t have been less tactful or more heartbreaking to the Cleveland supporters. For that, Cavs fans have every right to resent LeBron James.

But the ‘aftermath’ stories I’ve read and news reports I’ve seen are a classic example of people going to extremes that can only be described as unhealthy. Burning jerseys in the streets and sending emails or calling into sports shows as if their lives are literally ruined are just a couple of examples. If the sun rises and sets in your world every day by the probability of whether your favorite professional sports team wins a championship, you need a change in perspective, as well as a few other things (and this is coming from one of the biggest sports nuts out there – ask anyone who knows me). Hey Cleveland fans - grow up and stop acting like LeBron just raped your mother and sister and then burned your house down. He’s a paid professional athlete that remained intensely loyal to your shitty team for 7 years. The Cavs’ franchise and ownership had plenty of chances to do a more adequate job of surrounding LeBron with an actual championship-caliber supporting cast. Failed. Cleveland always fails at this. They have a loser’s mentality. You don’t put all your hopes on one superstar and wait until he carries you to the promised land. You BUILD a championship around your best player or players. Look at the construction of any title-winning team over the past couple of decades for evidence of this.

Would the Patriots have won all those Super Bowls with Tom Brady and a bunch of scrubs? Would the Celtics have won two years ago without aggressively making their team better by adding the ‘New Big 3’ and a cast of solid role players? Can any championship-level team bring home the hardware with one superstar and a bunch of chicken-hearted ‘yes men’ teammates who can’t take over when the ‘superstar’ is having an off night? (I bet you can guess who I’m describing here). Sure there were times it seemed like LeBron’s heart wasn’t in it fully, and when it almost looked like he was mailing in those playoff performances in 2009 and 2010, but in some respects can you really blame him? Nobody else on that Cavs team ever showed the ability to step up. He reached the point where he just didn’t care any more. I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner, frankly.

For all his insane, inexplicable physical talents, LeBron still doesn’t have a ring. And if Cavs fans thought he was going to get it with their ‘good-but-not-great’ group of underachievers, then they were living in an unrealistic pipe dream world. It was a rude awakening, but it’s probably good that it happened so they can stop living in la-la land.

As for LeBron, he is also not blameless. Not by a long shot. Look, it’s clear that he shouldn’t have handled this the way he did. It became increasingly evident over the last few days that D. Wade, Bosh and LeBron had it planned out that they’d join forces somewhere (why not South Beach?). They all knew what they were doing but acted as though they were taking their time and testing the free agent waters so as not to appear so cold and callous. But we all know now what was going down. Why LeBron couldn’t have made it clear that he wasn’t returning to Cleveland days or weeks ago, while STILL not saying definitively where he WAS going, is still beyond me. Cleveland fans would have had more time to recover from the disappointment before his announcement, and he could have done this without the ‘public spectacle’ aspect of the whole thing. But if we know nothing else about him, we know that LeBron wants all eyes on him. Always. He wants to be the ‘Global Icon.’ He wanted the news of where he was going next to be THE NEWS. And guess what – it worked. But at what cost? A lot of people losing a lot of respect for him (including the entire state of Ohio). But he either didn’t foresee that consequence because of his youth and lack of maturity, or he just didn’t care.

As for Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert’s assertion that he vows that the Cavs will win a championship before LeBron does, I can only laugh my ass off at that one. Maybe Gilbert will try to sell me a bridge connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan too. I’m not saying that Miami is a lock to win a title with these 3 guys on the same team now – I still think Boston, Orlando and the Lakers (and maybe a couple others) are better overall teams at this moment, but Miami has gutted its roster (only 8 total players on the current team) in order to attempt to build the best supporting cast it possibly can around these 3 mega-stars. I know I’m only one of many when I say I can’t wait to see how next season is going to play out. And no matter how much you hate LeBron, you know damn well you feel the same way if you’re a basketball fan also.

Oh and for the record, I was wrong! I really thought Bron-Bron was either staying put or going to Chicago. I honestly think he would have had just as strong a chance in Chi-town to win titles as he does in Miami with Wade and Bosh.