Let me start off by saying congratulations to the city of Cleveland. As the MTAF staff has documented, Lebron James has come home, and all is well. With him back in the fold, Cleveland is ready to celebrate their first major professional title since the Cleveland Browns won their last NFL title in 1964.
I’ve spent a long time thinking about what it must be like to be a fan in Cleveland, and to never seem to catch a break. The amount of disappointment that the city has had to endure with regard to its favorite teams is beyond what most rationale people can endure, and I say this as a life-long fan of the Boston Red Sox since well before their 2004 title run.
I’ll grant, it’s not the same thing as 50 years without a title as a city, but in some ways it felt like it. Until the Sox won in ’04, I had never met a single person who had seen the Sox win a title. The current generation that has been born since about the year 2000 has no concept of what it means to follow a loser.
So with 50 years of losing as a backdrop, I tried to consider what depths I would be willing to sink to, and I thought back to what I had wrote in December, the gist of which was there was pretty much nothing that I wouldn’t do as a fan to ensure a title for a favorite team.
When I wrote that article, though, I never considered a ridiculous plot line as Lebron-back-to-Cleveland. That wasn’t on my radar at all. I take great solace in the fact that Ryan Isley is the only person I am aware of that had considered that possibility. If I had considered Ryan’s words back in December, I would have included the Meatloaf-like proviso I would do anything for a Championship “But I won’t do that.” No way, no how, would I want Lebron, or any other superstar who had abandoned my favorite team in the manner he did.
Heck, I would boo Jacoby Ellsbury if tried to sneak back to the Red Sox, and he won titles with the Red Sox. He also didn’t host a national press conference on a different 4 letter network and deliver a Cleveland Steamer on the fan base.
Then again, Ellsbury is not a *superstar* in any way, shape, or form the same caliber as James is, even if he does have as many championship rings as James, without having to collude with his boys to make it happen.
The thing about James’ return to Cleveland is it’s not about the city, it’s not about fans, and it surely isn’t about the Cavaliers. As has always been the case throughout his career, this is about doing what’s best for himself and his brand.
As successful as he was in Miami, James was a failure by his own predictions. He along with his SuperFriends were supposed to win “not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven”…Championships. They went two for four, which isn’t shabby, but it’s not even a 3-peat like MJ accomplished (twice), and it certainly isn’t Bill Russell’s Celtics, who won 11 Championships in 13 seasons (including 8 straight.) If the Heat had been a ragtag bunch of players that the organization had drafted and put together, it would have been a greater accomplishment.
However, when you get your best buddies together, and your only alleged goal is to win Championships, 50% is a failure, especially considering their performance in this year’s Championship series, a brutal 4 games to 1 drubbing at the hands of the ageless San Antonio Spurs.
I believe that the lopsideness of the defeat may have been what pushed Lebron to come on back to Cleveland. If the Heat had won, there is NO WAY in the world that Lebron leaves Miami and comes back to Cleveland, not with a chance to win 4 Championships in a row hanging in the balance. Heck, if the Heat had even been competitive, I think he remains in Miami and tries to fulfill his promise of winning more titles in a career than MJ.
Because of that loss, he reflected on what he could possibly do in order to guarantee his place in the annals of the greats, and the one challenge that was on the landscape was to return home and bring at least one Championship to Cleveland. It was seal his legacy as perhaps the greatest player in the history of the game, which is the only reason he came back.
Lebron treated Cleveland like a cuckholded husband who watched his wife go off to some exotic location in search of a more exciting lover, only to return 4 years later with a self-satisfied grin on her face, with declarations of true love on her tongue.
And you, Cleveland, I’m sorry to say, completely bought every single last word he uttered. All was forgiven, because he was the man that was going to bring you to the Promised Land. He is the once and future king, and now that he is yours again, you’ll hear nothing against him. That’s your right, as a fan, and as a city.
It just seems unnecessary, and it also seems like it will take a little of the shine off of any Championship that may be won while Lebron is suiting up for the Cavs. With him, it always has been, and always will be about the name on the back of the jersey, not the front.
[matt]