The End of the Page

Stay Classy, Cleveland.

I make so much money now, I bought myself this invisible throne. Dope, right?

Cheers and tears dominated sports bars all over the country last night as the self-proclaimed ‘king’ of basketball made known his long awaited decision of where he would be playing next year. If the NBA was a calm and still pond, LeBron James and his free agent move this summer is the softball-sized rock thrown gloriously into the middle. In fact, maybe it wasn’t thrown, it was shot out of a cannon with fireworks and a five-piece trumpet band.

The fanfare and attention given to this one player and his choice of new uniform is unlike anything we have seen in modern sports history, possibly of all time. Some will argue it was too much, while some might argue it is well deserved, but for me, I honestly don’t care if he needed to take out an hour on ESPN live to announce his decision. What I liked was all the money that came in for advertising during that hour went straight to the Boys & Girls Club where he held the intimate press conference. Love him or hate him, that was a stand up move.

Speaking of those who hate him, none seem to be more vocal about it right now than the depressed and dejected owner of the Cavaliers team, Dan Gilbert. I get it, really I do, your superstar franchise player just walked away from his hometown and home team, where he built his NBA career over the last seven years. He walked away to a team in South Beach, Miami where he will join with two of the other modern day basketball legends and form a dominant trio that many seem to think will automatically destroy the Eastern Conference, if not the NBA as a whole (I’m sure Kobe and Pau have a few things to say about that). James leaving knocks the Cavaliers down quite a few pegs in the predictions and will drain the already economically depressed area of much-needed tourism and marketing dollars, but all I can really say there is, “Cleveland, you had your chance.” Dan Gilbert doesn’t really see it that way.

The despondent owner unleashed a verbal tirade in an open letter to Cleveland and their fans, which detailed a literary temper tantrum the likes of which John McEnroe would be proud. I won’t write out the whole letter here, but for those who have not witnessed its furious glory, you can find it here. Yet, here are a couple of my favorite choice moments:

- “I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE” [all caps was actually his choice, not added by me]

- Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there. Sorry, but that’s simply not how it works.

I predict Mr. Gilbert will be eating these words in short time, but the first chosen quote will take at least a whole year to come back to haunt him. David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA, went on a tyrannical bend a few years back trying to clean up the sport and wipe out the violence and aggression from the players, but he clearly didn’t think to check into the attitudes and expletives of the owners. Mr. Gilbert should have taken the high road, thanked James for giving so much to his team and to his town. He should also have understood that after seven years and not one single championship ring, James had every right as a player to seek that illustrious fortune somewhere else.

Will Miami follow on the heels of the Celtics methodology, building a powerhouse trio and hoping some of the young blood pulled in at base salary can fill in the gaps? It certainly worked for Boston. Or could James have stayed in Cleveland and let the team continue to try and build around him until the perfect fit came to fruition? That certainly worked for the Los Angeles Lakers when Kobe was threatening to bail. No one really knows until we see the logos emblazoned on the jerseys next year as the confetti rains down from the rafters. Yet, whichever way it works out, the only thing truly lost here is the dignity of Mr. Gilbert and the Cavaliers organization.

What did you think of the letter? Was Gilbert justified in his reaction? Was James justified in his hype?