Friday, February 17, 2012
No, We Will Not Stop Hating LeBron, Thank You
Posted by Peter Rogie on Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 4:01 PM
If there’s one thing this town hates, it’s a loser. If you don’t believe me, google “Factory of Sadness.”
If there’s anything we hate more than a loser, however, it’s a person who collectively wrongs us. From the obvious big names like John Elway and Jose Mesa to smaller national media personalities, we loathe anyone who either ruins our season or speaks ill of our beloved home.
Or at least we used to.
Maybe I’m not gauging the situation right, but the majority of people in this town have stopped hating LeBron James. With LeBron himself acknowledging “it would be fun to play in front of these fans again,” and the avalanche of stories cascading from the media room at The Q about a possible (ha!) return to Cleveland, there's something that needs to be said.
The Mavericks’ victory in the Finals softened things a lot. Since we never have ticker-tape parades of our own, we instead celebrated that night with spiteful laughter and mocking taunts. We cheered every time he passed the ball away and yelled “Karma” every time a shot clanged off the rim. At local establishments, I’m sure the orders for rounds of shots toasting the King were coming just as fast as Chris Bosh’s tears.
A lot of pent-up worry over Miami winning a title was released as we realized ESPN would no longer be able to pin LeBron’s losing on Cleveland, but rather on himself.
Then came the NBA lockout. Losing the opportunity to see Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson meant very little to us (although, you really should see them). Instead, we dreamed of losing the entire campaign. How great would it be if LeBron lost another year off his prime with nary a championship ring in sight?
Finally, we’ve stopped caring about the NBA as a whole. Overpaid prima-donnas request going to the major markets now, foregoing their superstar status to team up with their friends. Think Magic Johnson would have ever taken less money to play in Boston with Bird? We always liked to pretend players “really didn’t care for each other,” but now it’s obvious there’s no real rivalries anymore. Exhibit A: the circle-jerking handshakes and hugs after every final whistle.
Including the one between Cleveland and its “native son.” Debate all you want whether LeBron truly recognized the link between Akron and Cleveland, but he certainly took advantage of all the perks that went with it while he was here. We were humiliated as a community as his pompous infomercial prompted us to construct signs, write songs, and post YouTube videos begging him to stay.
You really don’t think someone who would be so conniving as to make a spectacle of the entire region that supported him since his SVSM days wouldn’t sit back and laugh about how great all that attention was, do you?
So when he says, “it would be fun to play in front of these fans again,” I fire right back, I get angrier. Then why did you leave in the first place? If it would be so much fun the second time around, why did you initially abandon us, leave us for down and out, and piss on our faces?
Sorry, I forgot. LeBron thinks that we all are supposed to love him, no matter what. And he's scared and unprepared for the bad-guy role. A WWE heal he could never be.
He’s been told how great he is by all the AAU players and coaches, all the media members, and average fans like me and you for the majority of his life. And now that he’s encountered some difficulty, he wants to mend fences and come cozying back over while we’re still vulnerable.
Cleveland, remember: Payback is still demanded.
Now, I’m not suggesting we go Shylock on LeBron and demand a pound of flesh, but I do hope Clevelanders start to rustle up those dying embers and set a fresh log on the fire. Don’t let his comments on how he is done “being the villain” make you feel sorry for him. Don’t be reminded of the good times we used to have when he says “it would be a great story” if he came back to Cleveland someday.
Don’t think back on how happy you were when he single-handedly beat the Detroit Pistons; remember instead his cocky smile and camera posturing before he announced where he was taking his talents.
Did you forget the Jim Gray questions?
Did you forget the Miami’s circus entrance, the prancing, and careening around the stage?
Did you forget the guarantees of six, seven, eight championships?
This is your wake-up call Cleveland. And you better answer it quick.
Clevelanders don’t tolerate losers; we give the hate back to the people who hate on us. LeBron chose to make his home where there were warmer temperatures and an easier way to a championship. But he’s coming back here tonight. Not to his home; to our home.
When you listen to his empty, self-serving comments, when you see him in that Heat jersey, remember where you’re from.
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Comments (11)
Showing 1-11 of 11
I shall never ever forget what this pompous jackass loser did to us! He should die of the gonorrhea which wont be to hard to catch cuz his mama is festering with it!
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I have no issues about what he did. We all have the option to go where we want to and work where the money is. What I do not like is how he did it and that is what I cannot forgive. NO, I will never embrace LeBron in a Cavs uniform or any other uniform, or suit, or swim trunks, or whatever. If he is that ignorant to believe that the city will fall in love with him all over again then he even more stupid and delusional that we all assumed.
Wrong, wrong, wrong: As a newcomer to Cleveland, I watched the worst in Clevelander behavior come out in the LeBron fiasco. Any other city would have let it go, but there is a childish, petulant behavior that came out. I thought it was only boorish sports fans but lifelong residents told me its typical Cleveland defensive reinforcement to cover up age-old insecurities about being the Joke City of America -where even the waterways catch fire. I personally like Cleveland, it has loads of potential but not until the mentality of its natives mature and reaches a level on par with the rest of the nation.
Ti Jones Your opinion in this matter does not count. You are an outsider not a born and bred Clevelander so you do not understand our feelings on this matter. You have no idea why we feel the way we do so for you to make comments on this is wrong. You should probably go back to where ever it is that you come from since you feel the way you do about us!!!
TiJones: I agree with you and I was born and raised in Cleveland. Paul Brown and Jimmy Brown; the 1948 Indians and other great teams have not been seen by the younger Clevelanders and they have never seen a decent team which was not taken from them in one way or another. Forgive them and my sons their childishness, and their choice to hate an athlete or a sports owner more than any other human being. It is a psycological complex which has been kept on fire by a media and a sub-culture. When Cleveland and Ohio see that they have far more to identify with than silly sports teams they will start to get real and see the true heros of Ohio...Like John Glenn who just turned ninety as we celebrate fifty years of space travel.
YOU KNOW THE EXPRESSION OF YOUR PARTNER IS WATCHING YOUR BACK. IT AINT THERE WITH LEBRON JAMES. HIS LAST ACT TO THE FOOLS THAT SUPPORTED HIM WAS TO DISRESPECT AND ABANDEN FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN HIS NEED TO FEED HIS GREED. FANS NEED MORE THAN THAT. A FEW BICYCLES SOME KIDDY TOYS TO HIS HOME TOWN DOESN'T MEAN SQUAT TO THE CLEVELANDERS THAT PUT THEIR HEARTS ON THEIR SLEEVE TO FIND OUT HE TOO WAS A SLEEZE. HE CAN SMILE IN YOUR FACE ALL HE WANTS BUT FANS WILL REMEMBER HE WAS A BACK STABBER.
HEY KING JAMES, COFFERS FILLED WITH GOLD,
MAKE THE CAVS AN OFFER TO MAKE YOU LOOK BOLD,
PLAY FOR A CONTRACT FOR 3 OR FIVE YEARS
AND PLAY FOR A SALARY THAT WILL BRING YOU TO TEARS.
SHOW ALL OF THE PEOPLE AND ALL OF THE FANS
YOU WILL WORK ALL YOUR MAGIC FOR A MEAR HUNDRED GRAND.
I READ ALL SEVEN. TJJONES. I'M NOT A SPORTS FAN LET ALONE SOMEONE WHO IDOLIZED L.B.J.
I AM FROM CLEVELAND AND A SHORT TIME OF MY LIFE FROM THE BRONX.
THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE JUST PASSIONATE ABOUT SPORTS AND THE PLAYER PARTICIPANTS. THEY ALSO ADMIRE THE MORALS AND ETHICS OF THE PLAYERS AND TEAM. THERE HAVE BEEN MANY PLAYERS THAT HAVE LEFT CLEVELAND THAT SHOWED THEIR LOVE AND RESPECT FOR THEIR FANS AND WHEN EVER THEY CAME "HOME " TO PLAY THEIR BEST AGAINST CLEVELAND, THEY STILL WERE SHOWED LOVE AND RESPECTED TO THOSE EX- CLEVELAND PLAYERS.
YOU CAN CALL CLEVELANDERS ANYTHING YOU WANT AND WE WILL TAKE IT WITH A GRAIN OF SALT BUT WHAT WE HAVE ATTEMPTED TO EXPLAIN IS THAT WE WON'T STAND FOR BEING DISRESPECTED AND DISGARDED ESPECIALLY BECAUSE OF THE NEED TO GET A PIECE OF BLING TO PUT ON YOUR FINGER. THE CITY, THE FANS, THE OWNERS RAISED HIM TO A PEDISTAL AND TREATED HIM WITH GREAT RESPECT IN PART FOR WHAT HE MADE US BELIEVE ABOUT HIMSELF. ..... AND HE CONNED US ALL AND RUBBED ALL OF THE NOSES OF ALL OF THESE FANS AND THEIR LOVE FOR THIS YOUNG KID IN HIS FLATULENT LIES AND CRAP. and i'm not more than an observer tj.
A SAYING FROM SOME ONE I KNOW WELL ONCE SAID BEFORE YOU SHOOT OFF YOUR MOUTH, MAKE SURE YOUR BRAINS ARE LOADED. oh i guess that was me that said it. AKA SHAKESPEARE
Considering Johnson signed a 25-year guaranteed contract and the Lakers were stacked, I'm not sure how rhetorically asking if Johnson would have taken less money to play with Bird is a relevant question. But if Johnson had suffered for years with Danny Ferry as his idiot GM, you bet your ass he'd have demanded a trade.
No... We DO NOT want that Classless hack and his psycho mom anymore...They're miami's headache now...
Funny how all the stories of how bad a tipper, team member, driver ect he is now that he prances around the sunshine state...
Good riddance...
I will never, ever welcome LeBron back to Cleveland. I don't care if its after his retirement, I don't care if it's tomorrow. The manner that he left and all the little jabs he got in on the city are things I will never forget. LeBron knew he was leaving and he decided to make it hurt as much as possible to right some perceived wrongs. Well, he had his fun, and now he is paying the price for it.
LeBron basically beat up the city on camera and then posted it on youtube for the world to see. Now, after 500 million views with everyone universally calling him a piece of garbage, he turns to us and says "i'm different now, baby, I want to be with you again." You know that idiot girl that takes the same asshole back time after time after time? And each time she takes him back, he uses her, has his fun, throws her to the side, and then comes back in a few months with the same "I'm sorry, I'm different now" story? Well that's what's happening here. Don't be an idiot Cleveland. See straight through his BS and call him on it.
