Lebron James has been all over sportscenter talking about how being booed motivates him and he's looking forward to December 2 when he returns to Cleveland to play the Cavaliers. I've heard people ask me "Why do you hate him? He has a right to leave?" Lebron decided to take Jesse Jackson's approach and pull the race card. Well, let me explain it objectively since not all problems people have with Lebron are legit.
First off, it has nothing to do with race. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Dewayne Wade, Charles Barkely, etc. etc. are mostly beloved by people and they are black. Lebron James was vey popular the last seven year when he was in Cleveland...and he was black then too. Jesse Jackson can call Dan Gilbert a "Slaveowner" all he wants, doesn't change the fact he's full of shit. First off, Lebron James was paid by the Cleveland Cavaliers, slaves weren't. Slaves were physically punished when they disobeyed, Lebron never was. Slaves can be sold by their masters, Lebron chose to go (though you can say when players are traded, this is slave mentality but Jesse misses this obvious condemnation of all sports). So, by no stretch of the imagination can the race card be pulled.
Why then does Cleveland hate Lebron? Yes, the one hour special to announce his decision was extremely arrogant. In fact, the only way it's legitimate is if he stays in Cleveland. Yes, you have a lot of suitors but if he said that his loyalty is to the Cavs, the pain on the suitors is minimal so it would have been okay if it was that. It bothers me how after the special, New Yorkers said, "He dissed New York" NY didn't get dissed so they should stop complaining. Going to any other team, be it the Knicks, Nets, Bulls, Clippers, etc. it would have been just as bad as joining Miami because he is admitting he can't win by himself and needs help of two of the top 10 NBA players. The reason why I hate him is because he lied and didn't show any remorse for it. For seven years this man promised us a championship and always failed. Mo Williams and Zyldrunas Illgauskas were all stars so shut up about him not having help. Yes, Shaq was a shell of himself, but he was good for 20 minutes of evey game he played. The only reason we didn't win a championship is because of horrible coaching, that Lebron recruited. Anyway, I digress. If he would have said something like "You know, I'm sorry to the people of Cleveland, I tried bringing a championship here, but we fell short. Right now, I've been given the opportunity to increase my chances of winning by joining Miami. As anyone who's followed my career knows, winning a championship is the most important thing to me, which is why I've decided to join Miami" Now, when he did this, it's through Twitter or a press release or something NOT a one hour special. Instead we get "I'm taking my talents to Southbeach" and not one word or remorse for breaking his promise after Cleveland had supported him against all his critics, even boycotting Pappa Johns pizza because they made fun of Lebron. What did we get for that loyalty?....a complete remorseless 1 hour statement to shove it in our faces. If you say no athlete shows humility and apologises for not winning, I'll point to Tracy McGrady who despite leading the NBA in scoring during his teams' playoff runs, every time they were eliminated he said, "It's on me" and lowered his head and apologized to the fans because he promised more and didn't deliver. That's why we hate Lebron, he doesn't do this. It is never his fault, it's always the "supporting cast." He's the coach and captain so it's on him.
Some say he's a Cleveland product, so he should have loyalty to his home town. Lebron addressed this and he's right. Cleveland and Akron are not the same city. Not even close. Cleveland loves to claim all of northeast Ohio for themselves, they pretend Cedar Point is part of Cleveland when it's 45 minutes away. Now that Akron raised Lebron, suddenly one hour away is the same city. He's not a Cleveland guy so that needs to be disqualified.
I think the Heat do have a chance to win the championship but I do not support them. All I hope is 2004 happens again. The Lakers had Kobe, Shaq, Karl Malone and Gary Payton, all four are cinch hall of a famers and they choked in the playoffs. Not once during the season did I doubt that team would win the championship, but they lost the championship in a five game series (the one they won went to overtime) to a team who, at the time, had no transcendant star, the Detroit Pistons. The only hope I have for this happening this year is that the "THrete" is dumb enough to not let Pat Reilly coach this team. We'll see if 2004 happens this year. But Lebron, you deserve to be hated for your remorseless farewell.
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