When LeBron James opted to make the move from high school to the NBA, he opened a can of worms.
The talking heads started making noises about how important it was for him to get the college experience. Ms. “L” chimed in with her two cents worth. As a 33-year veteran of the education system, she maintained that school was the right choice for him. That came as no surprise, because she is still ticked off that Moses Malone skipped college and went straight to the NBA. I tried to explain that there was no course taught that made you $5 million immediately. I was wasting my time, and it didn’t help that he passed on Maryland, her alma mater.
Basketball is a team sport, but that is lost when the talking heads are blaming a franchise player for not putting the guys on his back and leading them to the promised land. If you listened to the media, LeBron should have won a championship every year despite the fact that they couldn’t name the other four starters on his team without a program.
When LeBron got sick of the media and tired of losing, he packed his bags and moved to Florida. Some of the TV people made so much noise, you would have thought somebody dropped a grenade in their shorts. I gave a little thought to this myself. The thought of another winter in Cleveland fighting frostbite and yet another failed season, versus a cruise along South Beach with the chicks with the smoking tans and long legs, and my conclusion came in the form of a question, “What the problem is?” Remember the girl from Ipanema—tall and tan and young and lovely? Well they stopped singing about her in Brazil, because she moved to South Beach.
If you have a TV, I am sure you heard the comments of Cavs owner Dan Gilbert following LeBron’s departure. He did everything but talk about LeBron’s momma. Most notable was his prediction that LeBron would never win a championship with the Miami Heat. Wrong!!! The Quicken Loans billionaire could never shake the bad taste he got in his mouth when LeBron’s name was mentioned.
For another act in this sideshow, King James joined the U.S. Olympic team with a roster full of stars. When it seemed the guys were standing around trying to figure things out, “J” bounced a ball that almost reached the rafters, ran under it and finished with a monster dunk. The ice was broken and a leader emerged.
Gilbert was lukewarm, but Cleveland wanted LeBron back and he was willing. With General Manager David Griffin and a staff of players who know their way up and down the hardwood, LeBron put a championship trophy in Dan Gilbert’s case in 2016. But in spite of winning the championship trophy in 2016, Gilbert recently rewarded Griffin with a ticket and directions to the bus station.
LeBron has showed signs of the spoiled kid on occasion, and his behavior has kind of turned me off. When Steph Curry last year won MVP honors, James never came out and voiced his displeasure, but it was written all over him when the opportunity arose.
Now that the Warriors whipped the Cavs a second time, and Gilbert has put Griffin on the bus, LeBron is packing his bags again. Can you say Los Angeles?
I guess I will have to revamp my opinion of the King. When he sulks, I kick him to the curb. When he does it like he is supposed to, I am a fan. I just can’t make up my mind.
