-- LeBron James, the lead to his exclusive Sports Illustrated revelation that he was returning to the Cavaliers
Joe Cleveland's alarm went off at 1 p.m. and he woke up, oblivious to the fact that his hometown was in the process of losing its collective mind.
He turned on his cell phone, and it immediately buzzed with activity. Two voice mails, and both from the former Mrs. Joe Cleveland.
You know it's big (and positive) news when your ex-wife is calling you excitedly and encouraging you to jump on your computer.
As I'm listening to these voice mails and clearing the cobwebs from my head, the text message and Twitter feeds from my phone were scrolling across messages. One read, "Bron-Bron is coming home."
Most people who know me know I haven't exactly been shy about my disdain for LeBron James. Ever since he "decided" to leave the Cavaliers four years ago to take his "talents to South Beach" and play for the Heat, I've been one of his harshest critics.
When his Heat lost to Dallas that first year, I celebrated like the Cavs won the NBA championship. When the Heat won the NBA championship in the second year, I harped on the fact that the NBA season was shortened by 16 games and that it should have an asterisk next to it. When they beat the San Antonio Spurs the next year, I talked about how it was 8-on-5 due to the shady NBA officiating in Game 6.
But, this year, as the Spurs manhandled the Heat, I didn't seem to care one way or the other. Sure, I was rooting for San Antonio, but it wouldn't have depressed me if Miami won this time. By that point, I had washed my hands of the NBA. I didn't care about the league. I didn't care about the Cavs. I just didn't care.
Even as speculation grew that LeBron James would opt out of his contract following the 2014 season, I dismissed any notion that he would return to the Cavs. The wounds were still too fresh. Dan Gilbert still owned the team, and his infamous open letter to the "so-called King" was still up on the Cavaliers' Web page. I figured Gilbert would agree to bring him back -- he is a businessman, after all -- but I didn't think LeBron would want to play for him.
Cleveland fans jeered his successes and cheered for his failures. But that's what we do -- we root for the name on the front of the jersey. Sure, the name on the back may have belonged to the player who is, for all intents and purposes, the biggest star in the NBA, but he left us, damnit! Clips of a few fans burning his jersey were replayed by ESPN all the time, even Friday as he announced that he was returning.
So, I came out from the start of the year thinking one way and kept the same refrain going until the time I went to bed Thursday night/early Friday morning:
He's not coming back!
I shouted it from the rooftops. I put it on my Facebook page. I posted it to others' Facebook pages. I told that to people on the street when they asked my opinion. And, I will own it because that's what I believed.
I feared that all the Cleveland fans who were ready to jump back on the LeBron bandwagon were setting themselves up for more heartbreak when he decided to re-sign with the Heat or even sign with a team like the Rockets or Bulls or Clippers.
He's the best player in the NBA. There's NO WAY he's coming to play for the lowly Cavaliers.
The Cavs have been a mess since LeBron left. Sure, the NBA has tried to help by awarding the franchise three No. 1 overall picks in the last four years, five picks in the top four and seven first rounders as a whole. Other than Kyrie Irving, who hasn't been a pillar of health during his basketball career, none of those picks have really panned out. Dion Waiters has shown flashes, but his clashing with Irving last year derailed the 2013-14 season from really ever having success.
The Cavs fired Mike Brown and Danny Ferry in the wake of LeBron's first absence, then hired and fired Byron Scott as head coach and Chris Grant as GM and then re-hired and re-fired Brown as head coach. They had just promoted David Griffin to GM, a largely unknown commodity around the NBA, and went overseas to find David Blatt to be the new head coach. Blatt was known as the "Phil Jackson of Europe," but he's never coached stateside in his career.
The people who were claiming that LeBron James would come here to this, I thought, were on drugs. People were allowing their optimism to run rampant. People were quoting sources linked to sources on Twitter, and any little LeBron thing was re-Tweeted to the masses.
It was hysteria around Northeast Ohio this week, and I wasn't going to get caught up in it.
But, I did. With every public denial, privately, I began to find myself believing he could come back. I just didn't want to be taken for a ride like I did four years ago, when I was convinced that he'd never leave Cleveland.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
To paraphrase George W. Bush, I was not about to get fooled again. Miami could have him. He was going to re-up with his boys Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and try to win more championship rings in Miami. Trying to bring a championship ring to Cleveland, where he'd be the top dog trying to cultivate all of this young talent, would be too much work for LeBron James.
I think that's what made Friday seem so, dare I say it, fun. Because I allowed myself to be surprised, to be shocked, to be stunned. I didn't believe it until I heard it from the horse's mouth, and there it was, published to Sports Illustrated's Web site, "I'm Coming Home," by LeBron James.
After watching my phone go into seizures spewing out all of this social media news, I glanced out my front window. I expected to see either the apocalypse happening or a mass orgy in the streets. I saw neither, but Facebook and Twitter appeared to be engaging in both all day.
Sports talkers locally broke down and cried on air, crying tears of joy. Callers to those shows broke down.
Never before has a superstar in any sport signed with a Cleveland team in free agency. OK, maybe Roberto Alomar when he signed with the Indians, but his career was starting to go on the downside. LeCharles Bentley was a Pro Bowl center and Ohio State star (and Cleveland native) when he signed with the Browns, but he was A CENTER! Plus, he got injured in his first practice and never played a down in the NFL after that.
Andrew Bynum was an All-Star in the past with the Lakers before signing with the Cavs, but he came in as damaged goods and left as damaged goods, not even playing a full season in Cleveland.
If LeBron James wasn't from Akron, Cleveland would have never even been in the running. That's a fact. It would have been like Atlanta, Milwaukee or Sacramento, decent teams, but LeBron never gave those teams the time of day. And, it's a fact that LeBron mentions over and over during what some fans are calling The Essay.
"When I left Cleveland, I was on a mission. I was seeking championships, and we won two. But Miami already knew that feeling. Our city hasn’t had that feeling in a long, long, long time. My goal is still to win as many titles as possible, no question. But what’s most important for me is bringing one trophy back to Northeast Ohio.
"I always believed that I’d return to Cleveland and finish my career there. I just didn’t know when. After the season, free agency wasn’t even a thought. But I have two boys and my wife, Savannah, is pregnant with a girl. I started thinking about what it would be like to raise my family in my hometown. I looked at other teams, but I wasn’t going to leave Miami for anywhere except Cleveland. The more time passed, the more it felt right. This is what makes me happy.
"To make the move I needed the support of my wife and my mom, who can be very tough. The letter from Dan Gilbert, the booing of the Cleveland fans, the jerseys being burned -- seeing all that was hard for them. My emotions were more mixed. It was easy to say, “OK, I don’t want to deal with these people ever again.” But then you think about the other side. What if I were a kid who looked up to an athlete, and that athlete made me want to do better in my own life, and then he left? How would I react? I’ve met with Dan, face-to-face, man-to-man. We’ve talked it out. Everybody makes mistakes. I’ve made mistakes as well. Who am I to hold a grudge?"
Apparently, the much-publicized plane ride to South Florida by Gilbert on Sunday did happen, and Gilbert sat down with James, his agent, Rich Paul, and his business adviser Maverick Carter. The two men aired their grievances, apologized to each other, and sought to start anew.
LeBron wanted to come back to Cleveland. Gilbert wanted LeBron James on his team. It was just a matter of these two stubborn individuals seeing if they could let bygones be bygones and start over with a fresh slate.
Once that question was answered, LeBron met with Pat Riley in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Some wonder if he was giving Riley one last chance to sway him. Others think that it was LeBron's way of saying good-bye. Either way, that Wednesday meeting came and went, and there was no word of whether he was signing with the Cavs or staying with the Heat.
To LeBron's credit, he's not making bold statements about "Not 1, not 2, not 3 ..." championships. In fact, he doesn't even guarantee one, although Vegas immediately made the Cavs the favorites to win next year's NBA title at 3-1.
"I’m not promising a championship. I know how hard that is to deliver. We’re not ready right now. No way. Of course, I want to win next year, but I’m realistic. It will be a long process, much longer than it was in 2010. My patience will get tested. I know that. I’m going into a situation with a young team and a new coach. I will be the old head. But I get a thrill out of bringing a group together and helping them reach a place they didn’t know they could go. I see myself as a mentor now and I’m excited to lead some of these talented young guys. I think I can help Kyrie Irving become one of the best point guards in our league. I think I can help elevate Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters. And I can’t wait to reunite with Anderson Varejao, one of my favorite teammates.
"But this is not about the roster or the organization. I feel my calling here goes above basketball. I have a responsibility to lead, in more ways than one, and I take that very seriously. My presence can make a difference in Miami, but I think it can mean more where I’m from. I want kids in Northeast Ohio, like the hundreds of Akron third-graders I sponsor through my foundation, to realize that there’s no better place to grow up. Maybe some of them will come home after college and start a family or open a business. That would make me smile. Our community, which has struggled so much, needs all the talent it can get.
"In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have.
"I’m ready to accept the challenge. I’m coming home."
Anyone who has lived or does live in Northeast Ohio know that second-to-last paragraph is true. Only a person who lived here would understand that. LeBron, in leaving, appears to have discovered that.
The one thing that us, as Cleveland fans, cannot do is turn a blind eye to LeBron James if he screws up. We have to hold him accountable. We cannot coddle him like we did the last time. We were so paranoid that he was going to leave no one wanted to criticize him And, when he did leave, the three years of criticisms that never got aired came flowing all out of us at once, and didn't stop for roughly four years.
Cleveland wasn't shy about criticizing Irving when he messed up, to the point where some people were afraid that he wouldn't sign his max extension. But he did, which was the first piece of the puzzle. Ironically, because of the NBA's rules, Irving is poised to earn more money than James over the course of their respective deals.
We have to let James know that, if he's not giving forth the effort, we're not going to stand for it. While he didn't promise a championship, we all know he wants one as bad as we do.
Winning one championship in Cleveland would make those two he won in Miami almost irrelevant. Part of it, as LeBron said, is because Miami has won championships recently -- Cleveland hasn't won one in 50 years! Another part of it is the circumstances. LeBron won't have his buddies Wade and Bosh to take the slack off him this time. Now, it's an unproven, but intriguing, cast of young characters like Irving, Waiters, Thompson and Andrew Wiggins, if the Cavs hold on to all of them.
As James put it, coming back is about a lot more than basketball. It's about a lot more than sports. It's about civic pride. It's about the economy. Having James in a Cavs uniform the next five winters (at least) will make Downtown Cleveland a happening place during the cold months, like they were the seven years before he left. Bars and restaurants will do more business. Vendors will make money.
Perhaps free agents may want to come to Cleveland. There are already rumors that Kevin Love could be joining the Cavs, perhaps as soon as this year. Former Miami teammates Ray Allen and Mike Miller, while both aging, have expressed an interest in joining James with the Cavs, and their shooting abilities and mere veteran presences will be assets to this young bunch.
Perhaps free agents may want to come to Cleveland. There are already rumors that Kevin Love could be joining the Cavs, perhaps as soon as this year. Former Miami teammates Ray Allen and Mike Miller, while both aging, have expressed an interest in joining James with the Cavs, and their shooting abilities and mere veteran presences will be assets to this young bunch.
Cleveland already landed the Republican National Convention, which will be huge for this city. Revenue will be coming in like mad, and politicians and the national media will descend upon Cleveland to see a city revitalized. The Browns already seem to be benefiting from a resurgence due to some shrewd moves, but also because of the presence of Johnny Manziel (who may or may not start as a rookie, but is affiliated with LeBron's management group). The Indians have won three out of their last four games and began Friday night's game with a big welcome home message to James on their giant scoreboard.
Whether you are a LeBron James fan or not (and, even with the goodwill, put me in the not category at the moment), you can't argue the good feelings generated for this city. ESPN is suddenly forced to care about Cleveland sports again. With Manziel on the Browns and James on the Cavs, that's two franchises the four-letter network has kicked while they've been down for many years that will dominate the headlines for the foreseeable future.
Cleveland fans have always been "real fans." Sure, we can be fickle and we can be critical about our teams (just look at the Indians), but deep down, we always root for them. We wear Browns, Indians and Cavs gear with pride, almost like an act of defiance. "Yeah, I'm a Browns fan, what are you gonna do about it?" It's easy to root for a team that's won six Super Bowls. To be a Browns fan or an Indians fan or a Cavs fan, you've got to be tough.
Now, we've gotten the last laugh. There is a genuine sense of optimism about our teams. Fans aren't wondering IF the Cavs will win an NBA title, they're wondering WHEN. Fans are starting to believe in the Browns again after this offseason and are, deep down, hoping the Indians can make them believe they can follow up last year's wild-card berth.
Part of me will feel like we made a deal with the devil if the Cavs wind up winning a championship first. It won't feel as true because it took LeBron James -- a guy most of us hated for the last four years -- coming back to bring it here. But I'm going to root for the Cavs, like I always do, and I'm going to root for a championship.
I hope LeBron makes Cleveland fans forget about those four years in Miami. He was another in a long, long list of people who left Cleveland to win championships -- Art "Judas" Modell, Bill Belichick, Bernie Kosar, Earnest Byner, Bill Laimbeer, Chuck Daly, Bill Cowher, CC Sabathia, Graig Nettles, Roger Maris, Tommy Agee, Paul Warfield, Dennis Eckersley, just to name a few. A few on this list eventually came back, but none came back and won a championship. James is the first one to come back, in the prime of his career, with a legitimate chance to win that championship.
Will he do it? I'll say this -- anything less than one, and I will continue to be critical of LeBron James. However, the wounds have healed, because this time, he handled it the right way.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
