LeBron grew up in Akron, not in Cleveland.
You’re missing the point. The Heat dominating basketball for the next decade would be bad for the NBA, hence why people root against them and want to watch them lose. If they won this year and the next and the next you would see ratings crater.
Yeah, if we know anything about the NBA, it’s that basketball fans hate dynasties and tune out when they win. Fans ignored Kobe’s Lakers, Jordan’s Bulls, the Shaq-Kobe Lakers, Bird’s Celtics, Magic’s Showtime teams…
So what; is this your first time paying attention to sports? People hate athletes that never committed crimes more than those that did all the time. If you were to make up a list of the most hated athletes of the last decade it would probably be littered with names like John Rocker, Terrel Owens, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Tiger Woods, Brett Favre, Roger Clemens, Bill Belichick, Manny Ramirez, and Derek Jeter. None of those guys are exactly hardcore criminals. People hated John Stockton; what did he ever do wrong? Lebron is hated more by the general public than Kidd because he is an arrogant asshole. Kidd may have done worse acts, but Lebron has a more hated personality.
So when Cleveland won the draft lottery in 2003 and Lebron James held a press conference at his high school and announced, “I’m staying in Cleveland, and I’m real excited”, what do you think he meant by that? Could it possibly be that Akron is a part of the greater Cleveland area or Cleveland metropolitan area or however you want to refer to it?
Edit to respondto a few posts up: Akron is part of the whole Northeast Ohio thing, people would consider him to effectively be from Cleveland. Northeast Ohio is actually a pretty big and interesting place with a lot of diversity and about a billion more cities than other metropolitan areas.
That’s a good point and I don’t think people outside of Cleveland really understand how much he meant. Cleveland sports have been a pit of failure for decades and yet the fans have been dedicated and awesome - although they don’t reach the downright fanatical levels they do for football. People really get into their sports in Cleveland far more than the success of the teams would dictate.
And they were lucky enough to win the lottery the year the Akron boy wonder was entering the draft - it was almost like destiny. People were hoping for years that they’d find a way to let him stay home. He was going to be the savior of the Cavs and the man who finally broke the unending pain and suffering of the Cleveland sports experience. It was a perfect fit, and a player has probably never meant so much and had so much connection with the particular city/fanbase he played in.
So for him to bail like that - and not only bail but flaunt it and fucking build a monument to it - is far more devastating to a city and fanbase than pretty much any other athlete/team combo in the entire world. Free agents leave their teams all the time, but I’m not sure they’ve ever before taken a piece of the soul of that city with them.
Agree with that. He should have stayed.
Wayne Gretzky.
Cleveland Cavaliers fans are going to burn the city down if the Mavs win it all!
Uh, not exactly the same thing. Gretzky was traded; he didn’t leave as a free agent. Also, I’d say his quote of “I’m still proud to be a Canadian. I didn’t desert my country. I moved because I was traded and that’s where my job is. But I’m Canadian to the core. I hope Canadians understand that.” is a little different than "I have chosen to take my talents to South Beach.” and “I wanted to do what’s best for LeBron James and what would have made LeBron James happy.”
Good game so far. Dallas stepping up despite Nowitzki’s slumping.
One more quarter. Come on Mavs, you can do it! One more quarter and the whole Lebron shit of the last year comes back to bite him in the ass
I’ll be the first to say “Gratz! Mavs”
And Gratz Cleveland.
Good.
I’m so glad the Heat did not get to win this year. I assume they will pull it off some other year.
“This team never gave up in the face of adversity.” --Jason Terry.
That’s never been said before.
So, what, Miami gave up in the face of adversity?
Yeah; pretty much.
This was an awesome prediction.
Woo hoo! Great series, and the Mavs definitely proved that they deserved to win the championship.
If possible, Dio gets more wrong in his sports predictions than in his opinions on other things.
If it was made after game 3 in 2006, then it was utter genious.