Cleveland can’t take the ‘Heat’; fans overreact
LeBron James announced on Thursday night on a live ESPN special that he has decided to join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami to play basketball for the next several seasons.
Then, all hell was unleashed in Cleveland, Ohio.
As soon as the announcement was made, the collective breath of Cleveland fans was knocked out of them, they feel, as if their “King” walked up to each one of them and sucker-punched them one by one.
Fans were burning and tearing up jerseys and T-shirts of James in the streets, and lashing out on the evening news. Facebook lit up with a littany of Cavs fans that are outraged and hurt by James’ “Decision” not to return to the Cavs next season. That worse than the decision to leave was how he went about it.
He went on national television and announced his decision, slapping Cleveland fans in the face and disgracing the city, they proclaim.
Really, Cleveland? Looks like you are just as classless as he is.
While I agree that when I heard about this TV show to announce his plans, I was disgusted in the way that not even Michael Jordan, the greatest of all time would have done such a thing, and in the way that it took an extremely large ego to go this way about it, and it was classless and unprofessional not to inform the Cavs of the decision before telling the world, I can’t understand why Cleveland – including the Owner Dan Gilbert (who wrote a strongly worded letter to Cavs fans on the team’s website tearing James apart) - are taking this personally.
It’s simple. The man was a free agent. He did not belong to the Cavs and he certainly didn’t belong to the city or it’s fans. He belongs to himself. He chose a better opportunity elsewhere, and guess what C-Town fans: that’s okay. You are overreacting.
Want proof? On the local Cleveland news, they are comparing his decision to sign with another team, even as a free agent, with Art Modell’s decision to move the Cleveland Browns organization to Baltimore.
Again I ask: Really, Cleveland? It’s the same thing to announce on TV that you’ve decided to sign with a team other than the one you’ve played for previously, as it is to move an entire storied franchise out of a city it’s been in since it’s inception?
I think not. Clearly Cleveland disagrees with me.
Cavs fans should be mad ownership for not putting a championship team around Lebron. He was given nothing but bums to play with.
Agreed. They screwed that up. Boozer didn’t help by leaving last minute for the Jazz. Not sure if that was ownerships fault or Boozer just making that decision on his own. If he goes to cleveland I think they may of beat the lakers and celtics and orlando.
Yes, ownership refused to put a good team around him, instead holding on to the mediocre players they have. If I were the owner, I would have pulled as many strings as I could to get him to stay. An old, washed up Shaq isn’t good enough.