Note: This blog was the brainchild of one of my best friends, who told me that text messages and tweets weren't doing justice to my feelings on this subject. Be prepared. I have a feeling this is going to be a long, long rant. Don't blame me. Blame Kyle.
Really, LeBron? Really? I hope when the smoke clears and all is said and done, you will be able to live with the decision you made this week. I really do.
LeBron James, perhaps the biggest superstar in the NBA, decided to leave the Cleveland Cavs this week to join the Miami Heat. On the surface, this isn't that big of a deal. Players change teams all the time. Heck, even superstars change teams sometimes. Only, this is a big deal. It's a really big deal.
For the record, I have no ties to Cleveland, but I certainly have felt like a Clevelander this week. I wasn't a Cav fan before LeBron James, and I'm not a Cav fan today. Unfortunately, though, I'm no longer a LeBron James fan either, and I feel as though I've wasted a decade of my life with this guy.
Unlike Cavs fans, this isn't about my team. It's not about my city, my region or my state. But, like them, it is personal to me, just for a completely different reason. You see, I've invested a decade of my life being a fan of LeBron James. A decade. Gone. In the blink of the eye. Well, a little longer than that, but just long enough for James to utter the words: "I'm taking my talents to South Beach."
You see, I've been on the LeBron James train longer than anyone I know. Before he was "The Chosen One," as he was dubbed by Sports Illusrated. Before he was "King James," as he was dubbed by, well, himself. Before LeBron James became LeBron James and won the hearts of millions of fans, he won me as a fan.
I first heard about LeBron during the summer after his sophomore year in high school, which was in 2001. I'd just completed my sophomore year of college. LeBron had just led his high school to its second straight state title and had won the first of three state Ohio player of the year awards. He was tearing up the summer AAU circuit and was quickly developing a reputation as the best high school player in the country -- not in his age group, but out of all high school players. It wasn't long before James cemented that reputation, earning his first of two straight national player of the year awards the next year. All of that to say this: Before LeBron was starring on national TV, before many people knew who he was, I was beginning to believe. I was beginning to believe in LeBron James, in his potential greatness, in his ability to amaze, in the chance that he could become the greatest player in basketball history.
Unfortunately, I've lost that belief. I've never forget when it happened, exactly when LeBron uttered those now infamous words about taking his talents to South Beach. At that precise moment, LeBron quit. He gave up. No longer will he ever be considered the greatest basketball player ever, something I convinced myself over the past 10 years was destined to happen.
I refuse to say I bought into his hype. Hype is manufactured. LeBron's basketball talent is real. Very real. No one has possessed his physical gifts: a power forward's body at 6-8 and 250-plus pounds with a point guard's game. The only player before him was a man named Magic, but Earvin Johnson wasn't nearly as explosive as James. LeBron's physical gifts are truly amazing, but until this week I've conditioned myself to look past all of his flaws because I wanted to believe in LeBron's greatness. I can't kid myself anymore.
When LeBron decided to leave Cleveland, his hometown team where he was the savior of the franchise for the past seven years, for Miami, he gave up on being a leader. He decided to be a follower. He followed Chris Bosh to join up with Dwyane Wade with the Heat. Once he puts on that uniform, he'll follow D-Wade. Miami is D-Wade's team. Just like Cleveland was LeBron's. You can't have two alpha male leaders. Inevitably, one will rise and the other will shrink. LeBron's decision is essentially his saying that he's willing to shrink.
On the surface, I should be cheering an athlete who's willing to put his ego to the side, who's willing to take less money in the pursuit of the ultimate goal of winning. I get that argument. I understand the people who are making that argument. It's not my argument to make. LeBron is taking the easy way out. He's admitting he wasn't good enough to lift the Cavs to any championships, and it was time to run away. And because he ran, he's giving up any hope of ever being considered an all-time great. He's no MJ, no Bird, no Magic, no Kobe. His physical gifts will allow him to be considered one of the top 10 or 15 players ever, but he's missing some inner drive to be the best. And that's why he tucked tail and ran to Miami.
All of a sudden, it was like a light that was flipped, and the blinders were taken off of my eyes. I'd made excuses for LeBron over the past few years. About how his teammates were good enough. About how he had to be perfect nearly every game for the Cavs to win. About how his willingness to pass up the final shot for an open teammate was in the best interest of the team, not because he lacked a killer instinct to be a great closer. About how he was a good guy that didn't have a huge ego. All of those things were wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.
LeBron had many choices during this free agency debacle. He could've stayed at home and continued to be Cleveland's savior. He could've answered the call of the Big Apple and teamed with Amar'e Stoudemire with the Knicks. He could've gone to Chicago, where he would've played in MJ's shadow, but teamed with D-Rose and Boozer. All of those were legitimate options where he could have remained the alpha dog and continued moving his legacy forward to becoming one of all-time greats, if not the best player ever. But he chose the one move, Miami, where he didn't have to be the guy, where he didn't have to shoulder all of he burden, where it would be easy to just chase rings, something he's said for years he didn't want to do. He wanted to build something. He failed.
He also failed with the method in which he delivered the news. Who goes on national TV, with a one-hour special no less, to rip the heart out of a city that has been devastated for years by its sports teams? Who does that to his hometown, his home state? Someone who's all about me. Someone like LeBron James. Unfortunately, LeBron totally miscalculated what's about to happen next. He thinks he's going to head to South Beach, have some parties, live it up with Bosh and D-Wade, and win title after title. And all of that might be true. But he's also going to be hated, despised. He's now a villain.
LeBron always has wanted to be beloved. He's always been beloved. He's the hometown hero. The savior. Worshiped. Idolized. At least he was, up until he uttered those seven words. The stage was set. News had leaked he was heading to Miami. A big party had been set up on South Beach. ESPN spent all day talking about the pending decision and how much of an effect it would have on Cleveland. LeBron could've swept in and become an even bigger savior than he was before. But he didn't. Instead, he publicly mocked his hometown, told his fans they were lucky to know him but that they were totally unimportant. He's bigger than Cleveland. He's better than Cleveland. He doesn't need them.
And now they hate him. Now he's not welcome in his own home. He has no clue what awaits him when the Heat travel to Cleveland. The vitriol will be on a level we may have never seen before. But it goes well beyond Ohio. LeBron has been villified nationally. He's now worshiped in Miami and hated everywhere else. His decision to join with Wade and Bosh to create some superteam has made the Heat the most hated franchise in the NBA. Just like that, overnight, Miami has replaced New York, Boston and the Lakers as the team to hate by everyone else in the nation. LeBron doesn't understand what he's done. But he will find out soon. Very soon.
