Lebron is the champion, but has anyone noticed how hypocritical the Cleveland fans are?

Shouldn't they be targeting their rage at OKC and their owner? OKC's owner did EXACTLY (some say its worse) what Art Modell did.
Instead of rooting for a nice Ohio boy to win it all, they acted like an ugly girl who got dumped for the prom queen (Miami).



"Insert witty quotation here"

The guy who moved OKC bought that franchise with the intent of moving it. No difference than if the NFL allows the guy who bought the Jaguars to come in and move them, or if the NHL allows whoever buys the Coyotes to move them (which unlike the NFL the NHL has stepped in a number of times to block opportunistic billionaires such as Jim Balsille from buying a team like the Penguins or Predators or Coyotes and moving them to Hamilton, Ontario). The blood in this case is on David Sterns' hands as much as anyone.

Art took a franchise that had history and fan support and moved them because of his personal financial troubles. It was his right to do that, but it was clearly the wrong thing to do. I do not know the circumstances of the Dodgers and Giants moving to California way back in the day, but since, Art's move is clearly the most reprehensible in all of professional sports.

Also keeping in mind that what rubs true Cleveland sports fans wrong is HOW he did it (the ESPN special on national TV). In an era of free agency, as much as we like to throw around the terms sheep here and yinzers in Pittsburgh, Cleveland's sheep or yinzers are mad that he left, but the actual true sports fans don't begrudge him for that as much as how he approached it and the childishness that has followed...

Agree... When he stated he was going to take his "talent" to Miami where he was going to win not one, not two, not three, not four, etc championships......

It's a store bought championship in my eyes...

I don't like LJ simply for the way he left his hometown team. He could of been bigger than Jordan......trust me the hate is not just from Cleveland ...it's nationwide.

Salt in the wound again for Cleveland. This is nice and subtle. They lose in ways that like to attack your emotions.

I love it.

No, not because of Cleveland--I think I actually LIKE King DumDum for this aspect of it--But because this guy is a f*ckin' Jordan WANNABE!!!!

I hate Jordan too--and anybody who knows anything about Jordan and still wants to be like him (off the court and in the lockerroom) has serious issues.

F*ck LaBron. I hope he loses his ring when he's fingering his boyfriend's *zzhole tonight. LOL




"So he got fired? Big deal. It's happened to the best of us. So he got kicked out of his house by his 400 lb'ed wife?!?!? That's probably better for him anyways."-OldSchooler on ChrisMBHater's absence

If he hadn't done that commercial...
I mean, if you leave your company and join a more successful company, good for you! So why does everybody think this guy is such a greedy asshat?
The commercial.
"He's just in it for the ring." Umm, yeah? Why is that a problem?

Mikey is cleverer than you think.

He would of gained more respect if he did it on his own.....like MJ....MJ was drafted by the bulls.....stuck it out thought good and bad....and it was bad in the beginning..... LJ looks and acts like typical representative of our society...that mentaility of I have to have it and I have to have it now.... Stick it out...work at it....earn it yourself.... You basically put together a dream team to get your ring.....

Plus this was your hometown team....it could of been special....he had the whole world pulling for him...now the world is against him. It's too bad his selfishness got in the way....his former HS teammates must be proud

TOBB,

What does get overlooked by some of the haters is the fact that he took less money to go to somewhere where he perceived to be a more likely place to win a championship. This worked out for him, of course (it doesn't always work that way...see Marian Hossa going from the 2008 Stanley Cup loser Pittsburgh Penguins to the 2008 winner Detroit Red Wings for a better shot at a title only to be again on the losing side in 2009 but this time wearing a Red Wings jersey watching his former teammates win it all). I don't begrudge him for that, just as I would never begrudge Hossa or anyone who left the Bungs and went to a real team like the Steelers or Patriots or Giants or Ravens for a better shot at winning. Again, I was HAPPY for Corey Dillon.

However, let's just get really hypothetical here. Let's say Chris Collinsworth's boy is the best receiving prospect ever in three years. The Bengals bottom out again (not a hypothetical reach, LOL) and have the first overall pick. They draft Collinsworth with that first pick, give him a record contract, and insert him as a starter immediately. He begins like Randy Moss and is INSTANTLY a top 5 receiver. The franchise also finally has success...Mikey has a stroke and somewhere in his living will it says that as long as he is alive Katie does not take over and a GM thus must be hired, so Roger Goodell appoints Brian Billick as GM, and Billick fires Marvin and names himself head coach, now retired Peyton Manning as offensive coordinator, and Jim Fassel as defensive coordinator. The Bungs are having their best franchise success ever, making the playoffs all but once, winning playoff games, even going to a Superbowl and losing to the 49ers again. By the final year of his contract he is already a one or two time MVP and he turns down an extension and goes to Washington because it was his dream to team-up with RG3, who already has one Superbowl title and an MVP or two himself. Now tell me, how p1ssed would most of you be?????

Take that hypothetical and add to it that he gets NBC to broadcast this 'decision' event with his dad and Bob Costas hosting and this all taking place at a national Girl Scouts' convention in Los Angeles. He makes that announcement there that "he is taking his talents to Washington Monument," gets a hug from his smug and grinning dad, who makes a wise crack about comatose Mike Brown and says that the only thing the Collinsworth family will miss about Cincy is the Graeters ice cream. Then, the next day, he is dancing with RG3 and now US President Ray Lewis in front of cheering Redskins fans and those annoying hog guys in front of the Lincolm Memorial. Take your anger from the above paragraph and multiply if by 17. THAT is the anger that he solicited from most Cavs fans!

Well that's a great explanation, but the analogy with the bungs doesn't really work. Only because, on the economy of scale of "bengal-dumb", that was Carson Palmer in terms of the ceiling he represented, even absent the accolades you describe. And I thought it was the greatest thing I ever saw when he said "I'm not doing it." In fact, I predicted it on this very board, although the circumstances with ownership are obviously not what you describe in your analogy.

Still, a thoughtful, and persuasive reply. I get it more better now, thank you.

Mikey is cleverer than you think.

I still think the move had more to do with Chris Bosh refusing to joing LeBron in Cleveland than almost anything else. That gets very little publicity, but Bosh basically said "no way" to joining Lebron in Cleveland.

The man wanted a ring. Cleveland COULD NOT give him the supporting cast to get it done.
He takes a less salary (and pays no state taxes) in Florida and wins one in 2 years.

I dont care that he did it on national tv. By doing so, Lebron was able to give a charity 2-3 million dollars. Selfish? Huh?

Dont get me wrong. I understand where you guys are coming from. I used to say the same thing. I just kept thinking about the issue.
The man played 7 years in Cleveland. He gave them success they hadnt seen in a looooong time. However, he wanted a championship. Dan Gilbert couldnt bring LeBron a Pippen or Horace Grant or even a Steve Kerr to help LeBron.

HEre is the starting lineup Dan Gilber put together for Lebron and the Cavs in 2010:
Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, LeBron, J.J. Hickson, and Anderson Varejao (and, at times, an old and delapidated Shaquille O Neal).

Are you kidding me?

"Insert witty quotation here"

"I dont care that he did it on national tv. By doing so, Lebron was able to give a charity 2-3 million dollars. Selfish? Huh?"

Maybe not selfish, but stupid and self-indulgent? Absolutely. If you told me you would donate $2-3 million if I humiliated my biggest fan (whoever that would be in this hypothetical scenario, I'm not claiming to have fans here) on national television, I wouldn't do it. And let's be real, he didn't need to do this for charity, There are a million things he could do to raise money for charity, or he could do nothing special at all and just cut a check. I don't really buy the charity thing at all, hold a freakin' golf tournament with all your rich buddies like everyone else if you are so concerned about charity! It was in poor taste and inexcusable imo. He has even said as much since then.

But I agree with you about Bosh. I do think he tried to convince him and he couldn't. I do think James thought about staying in Cleveland. I don't think he is a terrible person, and I don't "hate" him by any means. I thought he handled winning his first O'Brien Trophy pretty well, and was glad to see that.

But make no mistake, I do not root for him and probably never will, at least as long as he is wearing a Heat uniform. Not a big fan of championships bought and paid for by big markets, which is no surprise being a Cincinnati native. Also, never been much of a front runner (I became a Spurs fan well before they were contending for titles, for the record).

As for Cleveland, you're right that team was managed poorly during his tenure and they should have been able to do more in the 7 years he was there. That said, that 2010 team was awful in part because he wouldn't commit to staying there so it was basically impossible to get anyone to agree to go there in FA, since, you know, it's Cleveland. Ain't nobody choosing to live and work in Cleveland, especially with no LeBron, LOL.

"We do do, and we do it at a very, very high level," Lewis said.