<p>This whole saga has just been sickening to me. I have hated turning on the news/visiting websites, etc. that make it seem as if this is the most important news story in the world (what, getting tired of covering the Gulf of Mexico disaster?) Talk about egos!</p>
<p>I kept praying that no one on CC would start a LeBron thread, and now here I am doing it, but this is hilarious… just found a link from the Cavs majority owner Dan Gilbert that says everything I’ve thought all week long.</p>
<p>What an immature response in that letter! It’s a business for crying out loud. LeBron was free to make his own decision. It’s his life to live and he has the right and freedom to decide which path to take on his life’s journey.</p>
<p>Yeah. He will probably regret the letter …but I’m sure it was fun to write!</p>
<p>As a believer in the “team” aspect of sports, and a critic of the “star” mentality, I’ll happily watch this trio of stars fail to deliver a championship to Miami. Can you imagine a worse coaching job to have?</p>
<p>Wow! I can’t believe an adult wrote that letter. </p>
<p>I didn’t watch the announcement last night and, being from Ohio, I am disappointed that he’s leaving. But who can blame him? Really. Think about it. Yes, loyalty and all that, but there is something that all competitive athletes want to do. WIN! He is an amazing player, but he can’t win a championship by himself. If the Cavaliers don’t have the coaching or the players to do that, he needs to go where that can happen (or where he thinks it can happen). I don’t think it’s a money issue.</p>
<p>Well, at least I can root for Cleveland again now!</p>
<p>LeBron started out as a “more mature for his age 18 yo”, he seemed to handle his fame and fortune quite well and with some humility, but now his ego has gotten to him. I don’t care to watch him anymore. Yes, he is an excellent and a dominating player, although now he is accumulating some baggage. He is free to choose the offer that best suits him, but the circus that surrounded this, culminating in the one hour televised announcement special (which I refused to watch) is far too over the top. He could have at least had the decency to notify Cleveland first.</p>
<p>I have to wonder how this will work out in Miami. That is (or was) Wade’s team. Now the dynamics may change. There are a lot of egos involved. We will have to see if they can all work together.</p>
<p>I got a kick out of the majority owner’s letter. Was it proper? No, but it was emotional and certainly addressed many of the issues the paying fans (those that support the team) may have. </p>
<p>The only thing I fault LeBron James for is rubbing salt in the wound by making a big production out of his announcement. That was tacky and classless. (Is that a word?)</p>
<p>I don’t follow this at all, and I couldn’t have even told you who LeBron James was before yesterday, but I don’t get why there is surprise that some pro sports player is following the money to a different town. Isn’t that just standard operating procedure? (And why shouldn’t they?) </p>
<p>I understand LeBron James grew up in Cleveland, but why does he owe Cleveland anything more than any pro sports player owes the town that he plays sports in – which is to say, nothing?</p>
<p>^He’s not necessarily following the money. He’s actually going to be paid less where he’s going than if he had stayed in Cleveland. He just wants to win, and it seems that moving to Miami would increase his chances of winning a championship than staying in Cleveland. I guess most people in Cleveland are just having a hard time letting go. He means a lot to the city, and to that region’s sports scene</p>
<p>The Cavaliers got him in the 2003 draft. I fail to see why he is somehow indebted to Cleveland just because they were smart enough to take him as a first-round draft pick. if the NBA worked like a free market in the first place, James would’ve had the opportunity to go to anything he wanted in 2003 instead of Cleveland.</p>
<p>I don’t think most people are reacting to a free agent leaving (though the way the bunch of them colluded to rig the deck seems to undermine the sport–but that’s basketball’s problem.) What I am amused/dismayed by is the clownish ego trip. I’ve always respected Lebron and admired his enormous talent, but that method of announcement was so over the top it was unbelievable. Obviously, his head has gotten so big, he could float to the baskets to dunk balls now.</p>
<p>Yup, free agents have the right to do what they want. And observers have the right to ridicule them.</p>
<p>Exactly. It was the way in which LeBron did it. It was the circus of the last week.</p>
<p>Also makes me wonder what words Gilbert would have had for him had he stayed - perhaps a moratorium on speaking to the media. What do they say? There’s no I in the word team.</p>
<p>I’m assuming that this guy found out on TV like everyone else. That would leave a bitter taste in my mouth, but, really, this guy needs to get a grip.</p>
<p>I should have prefaced my OP with the information that I live in the Chicago area (one of the teams that was courting him heavily), so I’ve had a tad bit more exposure than much of the U.S. of this drama. Literally, I can’t tell you how many times it was the lead news story in the last two weeks (yes, there was a countdown to last Thursday night when he became a free agent at midnight EST and 11PM CST).</p>
<p>First, Dan Gilbert needs to grow up and perhaps find some dignity instead of screwing up his face like a toddler whose lollipop has been taken away. I’m sorry you put all your eggs in one basket, Mr. Gilbert, but stop acting like a big baby. “This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown ‘chosen one’ sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn.” Really? REALLY? Did you REALLY just trot out the tired old “Won’t someone think of the CHILDREN?” line, Dan Gilbert? Somehow, I think the children will survive seeing a sports player move from one team to another team, even though such a thing has *never *happened before in the history of sports.</p>
<p>Second, everyone should go to You-Tube RIGHT NOW and look up “Cleveland tourism video”. </p>
<p>“Our economy’s based on Lebron James!” Poor Cleveland, not anymore.</p>