On the Eve of Their Worst Nightmare, a Little Advice for Cleveland Fans

     For Cavaliers fans, basketball armaggedon has arrived at their doorstep.  Once prodigal son LeBron James and his Miami Heat teammates sit just a single win away from the title.  Reading blogs and listening to talk shows today, the consensus is very clear.  It's over for the Thunder.  Trailing 3-1 (no team has ever come back in an NBA Finals facing such a deficit) in the series, the Heat appear to be too good, too lucky, too battle tested, however you want to describe it.  The Thunder's chances have been tossed aside, chalked up to being too inexperienced, facing too big a stage, even with a 1-2 punch that can get them back into this series in a hurry.  Not this time.  There will be others, but in the eyes of the professionals, it's Miami's time.  Enter Cleveland sports fan.

     Should Miami win and close things out, James will surely be named the Finals MVP.  Transformation complete.  He'll once again be on the path to the greatest player of all time.  The parade will be huge, every news outlet in the country will be covering, and it'll be plastered all over every channel.  There will no doubt be news casters looking for a reaction from Cavs fans.  Heck, ESPN will probably have crews here tonight, hoping to capture a few idiots in the waking moments after a Heat victory.  The picture will be painted as Cleveland fans being bitter, knuckle-dragging neanderthals that didn't even deserve James' services to begin with.  After all, we'll be reminded that he gave us 7 great years, and it was ownership's fault that he left because they didn't surround him with enough talent to get over the hump.

     In Cleveland, during LeBron's tenure, it was always about more than basketball.  It was about the renaissance of the team, a new owner, chinese partnership, a revamped arena, new uniforms, local businesses, that huge Witness banner, televised games every Thursday night on TNT.  The city was alive.  I remember, in 2007, moments after the Cavaliers had clinched the Eastern Conference title with their fourth straight win over the Detroit Pistons, I received a text from my brother that said "fuck yeah".  My brother, who doesn't care about any sport unless it involves speeds over 150 mph, was all in with LeBron.  That's what he did for our city.  He was so far removed from us, that he couldn't possibly understand how going on national television and kicking this city in the groin after he had lifted it up off the mat would anger us so deeply.

     We'll bounce back from this.  We've been through worse.  We've endured buzzer beaters, red right 88, John Elway, and the Curse of Rocky Colavito.  Sure, Dan Gilbert will catch some heat (no pun intended) for his childish reaction after LeBron left town.  James isn't absolved from those childish moments, either.  He's had plenty of them during the last three years.  What's important is that we represent ourselves professionally.  Don't give the national media another reason to bag on Cleveland and say "and they wonder why no one wants to play there".  It'll be hard, heck, I probably won't even watch the game, but that doesn't mean I'd give a sound bite to the first microphone shoved in my face.

     For LeBron, he'll feel something to I imagine after winning his first title.  Relief will be the immediate emotion.  No more silly questions about his legacy being defined by winning a championship; those questions will be replaced by "when will you win another one or two?".  The stakes will only go up from here for him.  After all the confetti falls, and the reporters file out of the interview room, and the parade stops, they'll be another emotion that sets in for LeBron.  Even he will tell you now that he wishes he handled things differently upon leaving Cleveland, and that he hasn't ruled out playing for the Cavaliers again one day.  There will be a feeling of emptiness, because as great as his coronation will feel.  It'll always compare to what it would have been had he gotten it done in Cleveland.  You can say that's just a desperate Cleveland fans perspective (and maybe it is), but everyone loves a story now a days, and that would have been a great one.

TR