Reputation,
reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the
immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial. ~ William
Shakespeare, Othello
I
swear I've heard this story before. Oh, that's right, I have – 4
years ago. I'm sure, if you're a follower of professional
sports, you recall LeBron James spitting in the eye of Cleveland
Cavalier fans with his drawn-out self-promoting nonsense that ended
with him going to Miami. You know, there was “The Decision” on
ESPN, one of the most pathetic pieces of programming brought on by
Mr. James keeping his fans hanging onto their pitiful hopes that he
would stay in Cleveland, only to announce that he was going to Miami.
Cleveland
fans did not take it well.
So
anyway, here it is four years later and guess who suddenly tanks in
the playoffs. The phenomenal cramps were a clever touch; at least
this time he didn't claim he was going to need surgery in the
off-season (in 2010 it was a mysterious elbow injury, which equally
mysteriously didn't need surgery after all). Then, amazingly he opts
out of his remaining contract with the Heat. After flirting with
this and that team (and Carmelo Anthony), he suddenly announces via
SI.com that he's coming back to Cleveland.
At
least this time, he told Miami management about the Decision
beforehand. To make up for this, he didn't tell Cleveland's
management that he was coming.
Now,
we all had to put up with constant LeBron updates through all of this
on ESPN. Once he made his decision, they ramped it up to analyze it,
I guess. I don't know for sure, because I didn't watch any of it, but
there was lots of SportsCenter discussion to the extent that they
rescheduled FIFA World Cup and softball World Cup coverage around it.
Anyhoo, LeBron announces he wants to be a “mentor” to the team
and blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile, articles are coming out (there was
one in the local paper from USA Today for example) talking about how
good for Cleveland, nay, all of Ohio it is that the great LeBron is
returning to the state.
I wasn't planning to write about this, since the glorification of LeBron was everywhere and why add to it, even with criticism? But, then
came the funny bit. Cleveland offers a four-year contract, but
LeBron takes only a two-year deal – with an opt-out provision after
one year.
So
Cleveland is going to get one year of his “mentoring” and he's
going to be off again, presumably to the Knicks, since they re-signed
Carmelo after LeBron made his announcement.
What's
going on here? Well, evidently fans have short memories. Like the
deal with Wade and Bosh at Miami, LeBron now wanted to play with
Anthony. For whatever reason, no one with a chance for the playoffs
wanted to foot the bill for both of them. So, LeBron decides to take
a year off fooling Cavaliers fans into thinking he gives a crap about
them. At the end of the season, having given New York time to clear
some salary cap space, he will, of course, opt-out and start the
whole stupid circus again.
What
else would be the purpose of turning down a four-year contract? In
fact, what would be the purpose of opting out of a contract with a
team that made the NBA finals four years in a row and won two of
them?
Meanwhile
Miami fans are burning LeBron jerseys and defacing LeBron posters.
This had a faintly familiar ring to it. Oh, year, Cleveland fans did
the same thing in 2010.
Guess
what they're likely to be doing in 2015?
