LeBron? (Cleveland, Akron, Beavercreek: camp, living in, move)
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I just hope that we in Cleveland behave ourselves and have a little pride in our city tonight and don't do something completely illogical and put us under anymore scrutiny than we already have. We have enough people constantly putting this city and region down. We don't need more running jokes about this region and it's great people! Boo him loudly! Chant what you want, but no altercations, and no violence! We might be tough, and gritty, but let's show the rest of the world that we are truly a classy city!
GO CAVS!
You know what I find interesting about this whole thing....
LeBron James grew up in Akron. He is from the NE Ohio region. Most people around the country feel for Cleveland and the Cavs. But it is the people out there like you say who are putting the organization and its fans down.
So if Lebron grew up in Fort Lauderdale, and played terrific highschool basketball there and left to play for the Miami Heat right out of highschool. He played for them 7 years, of which he became one of the greatest players to play the game, was liked to that of MJ. He made promises (which is hard in the sports world; I will give him that) to bring a NBA championship to Cleveland and get himself a ring. He even made some of these comments in April 2010... this year!
I don't want to hear anyone out there tell me Cleveland fans have no right to be pissed. Unless you had went through the 7 years that Cleveland went through with Lebron; with the guy growing up in your very own region. You have no room to criticize Cavs fans.
They made an hour long show "The Decision". Just think about how Lebron left. "I am taking my talents to South Beach." Really?!?! You can't just say I am taking my talents to Miami? Last I checked South Beach was in Miami Beach, a completely different city in itself. It is the way Lebron left. Don't criticize Cleveland fans until you were in THEIR shoes.
People are pissed because he took a crap on the city and his fans. I don't think anyone would have cared if he had left but done it in a civilized manner, instead of slamming Cleveland in front of a national audience.
I could care less about what the national media things and wants to generalize from a freaking basketball game and how sports fans act..
This quote by Scott Raab says it all....
"One thing I hate more than LeBron? Smug and lazy journo-punks.... I’m talking about all the schoolmarms telling Cleveland to behave itself tonight, lest it leave a bad impression on the pundits who have portrayed it as a sewer for 40 years. "
When LeBron was still playing for the Cavaliers, he said that he wouldn't play for another team, that he wanted to win a championship for Cleveland. If you say that sort of thing in front of sports reporters, you can't expect people not to be unhappy when you go back on your word.
LeBron could have pulled in more money in Cleveland. People idolized him here. It's been a long, long time since any big league team in Cleveland won a championship. Think of some of the seasons the Indians, browns and Cavs have had in our lifetimes. We could almost taste a championship, and then....
Then LeBron goes back on his word and feels important enough to make a television show out of it. Players have dumped their teams before, and players have dumped their hometown teams before, but nobody has made as much of a classless spectacle of himself before as this guy.
South Beach? It's not a city. It's not a team. It's a playground.
I'm not a rabid sports fan and I could care less what team Lebron is on, all I want as a Clevelander/NE Ohioan is a championship, whether it be with the Browns, Indians, or Cavs. I think this is also how most Cleveland sports fans feel. The national media showed a few drunk people burning Lebrons jersey on the day of "the decision" and try to portray all of NE Ohioans as if we all did that lol.
BUT, I don't agree with everything Lebron did and some of what he did was actually illegal. He talked to players and coaches about his decision before he was legally even allowed to discuss it. He already wanted to play with Dwyane Wade and spoke with him about this 6-7 years ago, he spoke with Chris Bosh beforehand. He told players that he liked on the Miami team to "stay put". The point is that he told people about his Dwyane and Miami decision either straight up or definitely implied it, which was wrong and even illegal in some instances.
Also, it's very evident that Lebron James never gave a damn about Cleveland. And when I say Cleveland I'm speaking on not only Cleveland city/metro but all of Northeast Ohio except the city of Akron. And he only cares about Akron because he's from there. Lebron even explained part of the reason why he disliked Cleveland so much after he left, growing up in Akron he developed an "inferiority" complex because Clevelanders were the "bigger city kids" and let it be known, he even said he still hates some of those people to this day. Think someone from Staten Island feeling inferior to people from Manhattan, same kind of thing. The Cavs are the team for all of Northeast Ohio, they used to play in the Richfield Coliseum which is actually in the middle of Cleveland and Akron in Summit County.
Lebron wants people to know what Akron is and that it's not exactly the same as Cleveland, but notice how he always try to act like it's a huge difference between the two, as if Akron was Pittsburgh or Columbus when they're actually in bordering counties. Not to mention Lebron was never a Cleveland sports fan, his favorite teams were the Chicago Bulls, New York Yankees, and the Dallas Cowboys. NE Ohioans wish Lebron grew up and is a Cleveland sports fan and really "repped" and cared about the whole region rather than just Akron, but the fact is that's not who he is and there's nothing we can do to change that. Lebron is simply a person who hates his "greater hometown" and his hometown teams.
You also have to recognize the fact that Lebron really did quit in the finals. For what reason? Probably the reason everyone thinks, to ease his decision to leave. I don't know if Lebron was already 100% on Miami at that point, but I know for a fact that he already knew he was gonna leave Cleveland whether it be NYK, NJ/BK, Chicago, or Miami. Then there was the Delonte West/Gloria James rumors which haven't been confirmed, but I'm sure something funny happened in that whole situation. Notice the change in Lebrons attitude, game, and his relationship with Delonte and his mom at that point. Something was definitely different.
It's not that he took a good offer (he actually took less money than he could have had in Cleveland), it's the way that he did it.
Give me a break. If he wouldn't have gone on TV, you'd be whining and crying about him doing it behind your back and not to your face on TV. The "way he did it" argument always brings the lulz, as if you people are really fooling anyone but yourselves. I'm from Ohio originally, and I couldn't be happier that Cleveland got their ass kicked tonight. It's just what the "fans" needed for acting like little children throughout this entire process. I don't watch basketball, but this game was personally satisfying to me. If you can dish it out, you can take it, and Cleveland sure did tonight.
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