In the days following the news that Irving wants to bail on Cleveland and move across this flat earth to greener pastures in San Antonio or Minnesota or wherever, the fandom has been all over Irving.
And now local media is getting in on the action, too.
Fox 8 dropped a new ad on Monday morning aimed squarely at Kyrie and his desire to leave.
The opening salvo takes an unintentionally funny tough guy approach: “This is Cleveland. You’re either with us or against us. You have to be tough to thrive here. And if you don’t want to be part of our story, that’s fine…”
Quoting one of President George W. Bush’s most infamous lines at a basketball player whose sin is wanting to go to another team? That hot take fire is right up there alongside Cleveland.com’s recent video that calls for literal fire to be used on Kyrie jerseys.
Which — surprise, surprise — people are actually doing.
It’s one thing for an embittered fan base to take out their frustrations on local athletes by ranting on 92.3 or posting terribly shot videos on social media. But this lunacy reaches another level when the news media is also getting in on the act.
Cleveland is a tough city filled with tough, sturdy people who are among the most loyal sports fans in the world, especially with what they’ve been through over the years. Any sports fan in the city over the age of 65 should receive a medal of honor for their fandom.
But come on, Cleveland. You have to be the bigger person here. And that starts with your front-line media folks. Sure, maybe it’s all in good fun, but the whole “Eh, it’s cool if you don’t wanna be here” aesthetic is lost the moment you have to say it.
It’s like no one remembers having to dust the ash off their half-burnt LeBron jerseys a few years ago. And, now, the team at least has a title! Cleveland fans have survived worse than this before and will survive worse again (like, say, next year when LeBron takes his talents to Long Beach).
The odds of Kyrie and LeBron making up and moving on are pretty slim, especially after that video of Kyrie and Steph started making the rounds this weekend.
But do we really need to shove him out the door when he’s already packing his bags? If he’s packing his bags?
It’s hard enough convincing players to come spend the winter in the Midwest; there’s no reason for half-baked snarky media content to give them more reasons to head to the coasts. Or, ya know, Miami.
Just chill, guys, and save the media barbs. That’s totally an East Coast thing anyway.
This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 1, 2017.
Amen!
Welcome to the fake news universe we live in — gin up a ridiculous story-line and pound away for days, weeks, months……meanwhile, actual serious issues get buried, if mentioned at all.
A good kid. Never in any trouble. Who has one of the if not the greatest moment in our city sports history. And the second he says something everyone just flips a switch.
It’s emberassing.
I wish him the best. Here or elsewhere.
He helped bring a championship here.
He’s the guy who should never have to buy a drink again in this city.
A good kid with a pea brain.
Look, part of the reason these guys make the money they do is because of the hype and the spotlight. I personally don’t care what he does, but he went about it in a manner that is completely selfish and unprofessional. And, when you do things that are selfish and unprofessional while in the spotlight, this is what you get — LeBron knows this all too well. Although, in LeBron’s case, the team around him was terrible and he was at the end of his contract. Even though his methods were ridiculous, you really couldn’t blame him for leaving. Irving has 2 seasons to go on a max contract, has been to the NBA finals 3 years running, has a ring and, in all likelihood, would be there again. His only complaint is that he’s not “the man.” Well, kid… them’s the breaks. Work harder, get better and become the man.
LOL at Shawn Brewster. Dude makes millions playing a game for a living and people should by him drinks? Typical Cavs jock sniffer.