It was hard to say whether the whole disgusting production left me angrier with James or ESPN. From Stuart Scott continually referring to James as The King to the perfectly placed Vitamin Water reach-in cooler behind James in the gym from which he crushed the collective heart of Cleveland, it was appalling. The very fact that LeBron and his entourage went to ESPN and engineered airing the whole thing on a special entitled The Decision is beyond disgusting. It's what 17 year old high school kids do to announce what college they're attending, not what 25 year old "men" do when hopping on the first train out of a town that worshiped them. Not to mention the fact that I view his decision as a cop out. Unlike Jordan, Kobe, Magic, and Bird, he couldn't get it done on his own. So he's taking his ball, his ego, and his sycophant posse to South Beach. Perhaps the most annoying part of his announcement was the fact that I think he's lying about when he actually made his decision. I don't believe for a second that he made his final decision this morning. I think he's known it for at least a week and probably for longer than that. Otherwise, I don't think Chris Bosh would have already committed to the Heat. For LeBron to actively play a role in building the whole situation up just so he could maximize the shock value of his decision strikes me as petty and obnoxious.
It works out great for me, though. LeBron has taken a huge step towards joining two former stars for whom my hatred ran deep- Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas. That might just be enough to get me back into the NBA again (at least until the inevitable strike next summer). If I can get the image of Linda Cohn and the voice of Stuart Scott out of my head before my nightly dreams kick in, the hour I spent forcing myself to watch The Decision may have been well worth it.
LeBron says goodbye to Cleveland, and I say hello to my new least favorite player.
I too watched the entire "Decision" (much to Dorsey's dismay), and have been following the lead up to it fairly closely. A couple of lingering thoughts...
ReplyDeleteWhile a ridiculously overhyped event with completely manufactured drama, it did apparently raise a shit-ton of money for Boys and Girls Club. Although it was an interesting moment, when the dude from University of Pheonix donated the 500K G's, and I just kept waiting for LeBron to say how much we was donating...I expected a matching gift or something...but just stood there. Weird.
The reaction from the owner in Cleveland has been nothing short of the Section 8 ward. That dude needs to get a grip...if the entire city of Cleveland is going to crumble b/c of this "betrayal", I think that says more about the crappy state of that town than it does about any character flaws of a 25-year old basketball player.
LeBron just signed away any chance of being being considered "the greatest" basketball player ever. I'm not even sure Miami will be the best team in the East, let alone in the NBA. In college, a great starting 5 can take you far. In the NBA, you have to have a bench...and right now the Heat don't have anything worthwhile, literally, beyond those three guys. A long season and a long playoffs will catch up to this team, and in the end the "big 3" will be left scratching their heads wondering why this didn't work.
I don't hate LeBron, but I think he made a really poor "basketball" move. I hope he has fun in South Beach, and that he has a really good security company working his house in OH, cause that crib is a serious fire-bomb target right now!
Agree on the LeBron thing - the only way that horrid "Decision" special could have been worse was if he handed out roses. The only way it could have been possibly saved was if he announced that he was standing by Cleveland and going nowhere.
ReplyDeleteHe must have been really pissed at the Cavs (or whoever was sleeping with his mom) to publicly screw them like that. All hype, no class. OK maybe a little skill too but I'm with ya - looking forward to rooting against the Heat now. Bosh is a chump as well by the way...
Handing out roses- that is awesome. I can't believe his handlers didn't think of that. Make the coach of the four final teams stand there and then give a rose to Erik Spoelstra from the Heat.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to hate LeBron too much while Kobe Bryant is still in the league. Go Any Team from the East!
ReplyDeleteI guess everyone else already knew of your Jordan hatred, hence it is not being mentioned.. But news to me, and I'm fairly stunned. You realize it is un-American to hate Michael Jordan, right? Just checking. re: controversial players, I have a love/hate with Kobe, like Barkley, but the players I hate I think are pretty indisputable (Malone, Barry Bonds, most anyone from that Other school in Durham that isn't Grant Hill). I understand none of this was the point, per se, of this post. But I'm kinda whatevs about LeBron, so I chose to comment in my own direction.
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