<p>I dunno, I think Jesse has a point. Gilbert certainly writes as if he thinks James had obligations to him and to the city beyond simply fulfilling the terms of his contract. Maybe calling this “slave master mentality” is a stretch, but it’s not a huge stretch.</p>
<p>Yes, I see where comparisons between a slave owner/slave can be drawn, but it is a bit ridiculous and it sort of drags race into all of this. It wouldn’t matter if Lebron was white, Asian, or purple, Gilbert still would have wrote the letter, everyone in Cleveland would still be burning his jersey, joining the facebook groups, etc…</p>
<p>FYI - Dan Gilbert owns Fathead, thus (perhaps) the 1741 price.</p>
<p>[LeBron</a> James Fathead Price Cut Is Sparked by Birthyear of Benedict Arnold - Bloomberg](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>
<p>Yeah its true. Pretty funny. I hope Gilbert isn’t done.</p>
<p>Make no mistake…Jesse is looking for an angle. It’s pretty silly, given the wealth of NBA players. And where was Jesse during the real hard work of sports, when players were fighting for free agency and related issues? Nowhere to be seen because they have always avoided him and his issues like the plague. Just as he has avoided some real hard issues. Except for fatherng children out of wedlock, of course.</p>
<p>Thanks for that important contribution, LW. Jackson’s sexual peccadilloes are indeed of striking relevance to the issue at hand. I know, for myself, when someone has fathered an illegitimate child, I basically stop listening to anything he has to say on any subject. Killed Benjamin Franklin for me, for instance.</p>
<p>You guys in support of Jackson’s comments are joking, right? My history may be off, but I don’t remember slaves being treated quite so well, with such a HUGE salary, with the freedom and ability to leave the current “slave owner” when their “contract” was up, with the freedom and ability to make a choice as to where to work for the deal that works best for them. What a slap in the face to the real slaves in history.</p>
<p>LeBron didn’t even have the humility to thank Cleveland and its fans for the years of support and adoration. I heard a sound bite yesterday when someone asked why he hadn’t said anything to Cleveland prior to the announcement and his answer was (paraphrasing) “because I wanted it to be all about me. I didn’t want any other voices in my head”. Tells you all you need to know.</p>
<p>Jackson didn’t say that LeBron had been treated like a slave. He said (more or less) that Gilbert’s comments suggested that Gilbert thought of him as one. The first statement would indeed be ridiculous; the second, not so much.</p>
<p>But Jackson is such a lightning rod that once he has entered the conversation, reason and common sense fly out the window. This is partly his fault, but only partly.</p>
<p>EDIT: about LeBron’s humility or lack thereof–this is not a zero-sum game. Just because James is a jerk, that doesn’t mean Gilbert can’t be one too.</p>