The Decision, Part II

At first, I compared the Kevin Durant to the Golden State Warriors move to LeBron James' move to the Miami Heat in 2010. Upon further review, I think the Durant move is far worse.

The only thing that would have made it even worse was to go to a Boys and Girls Club in Connecticut with ESPN cameras in tow and reveal to the national audience he was breaking OKC's heart by "taking his talents to the Bay Area."

When LeBron joined the Heat, they were decent, but not great. They had Dwayne Wade and nothing else. When Chris Bosh decided he wanted no part of Cleveland and chose Miami, it opened the door for the "SuperFriends" to align together. And, it worked -- four straight NBA Finals, two championships sandwiched in between, a couple of colossal chokes to start and finish.

When LeBron decided to "come home" to Cleveland, the Cavs were in far worse shape than Miami was 4 years ago. But thanks to some "lucky" (wink-wink) ping-pong balls, the team was armed with some up-and-coming players and some great assets that allowed LeBron and the Cavs to remake the franchise literally overnight. In one season, they were in the NBA Finals, coming two wins away from that elusive championship. In two seasons, they were champions.

Kevin Durant has none of this. He's joining a team that's already "loaded" that has one NBA championship under its belt and had just choked away a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals after a record-setting 73-win season. He's just another spoke in the wheel. He's not off to transform anything. He's just trying to shortcut his way to a championship, and that's sad.

Durant weathered a move from Seattle to help turn the Thunder into one of the NBA's most respected franchises. They built from the ground up, and Durant was the biggest piece of that puzzle. they reached the NBA Finals once (choked away to the Heat), but that was it. And let's not forget that choke job this year, blowing a 3-1 lead to the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.

If you can't beat em, join em.

After LeBron left in 2010, I felt that Durant would be the next superstar to leave a small market for a bigger one. So, I'm not entirely surprised he left OKC. However, the move to the Warriors just reeks. Fans of the NBA have a right to be upset. It's the return of the "SuperTeam," and the league is stacking the deck for a few markets. Surprisingly, Cleveland is one of them (and I'm not complaining about that).

Remember when the NBA Lockout was all about preventing teams from "stacking the deck?" How's that working out, Adam Silver? Not so good. The salary cap is a giant joke, with so many loopholes and exceptions to allow teams to go over. The Cavs benefited from this system greatly, and now have to pay a $54 million luxury tax to the NBA (and I'm sure Dan Gilbert is writing that check while staring into that Larry O'Brien Trophy in his office, knowing that it was so worth it). However, now they are hamstrung into keeping what they have without being able to add any quality assets. Hence, why they weren't involved in the Durant sweepstakes.

Fans have a right to be pissed. Sure, we're a little unhappy in Cleveland, because it's a blatant move to stick it up our asses as the Cavs try to repeat as NBA champions. But it's not just here -- it's league-wide. If you don't live in Oakland or San Francisco or San Jose or anywhere in Northern California (or aren't a front-runner), you're not happy about this! Why, because it's NO FUN!

We might as well fast forward to next June already for Cavs-Warriors III in the NBA Finals, because -- barring serious injury or stunning upset or a page torn out of the script -- this will happen again. The NBA made a ton of money on this year's postseason, and the Cavs winning was the feel-good story that captured the nation's heart (well, most of it). The rubber match, part three of the triumverate, will shatter TV records.

It's just a shame that it's effectively made every other team irrelevant. Sure, the Knicks and Celtics made some moves, as did the Hawks, but does anyone really think those will be enough to take down the Cavs? Demar DeRozen decided to stay in Toronto -- good for him, but does anyone think the Raptors can take down the Cavs?

Kevin Durant was once known as one of the best up-and-coming talents in the NBA. Today, he's just another guy and showed his true colors.

I hope the Cavs kick their ass one more time! Don't sing it, bring it!

Until next time, remember that Cleveland not only Rocks, but are also Champions!

Homecoming King

"Before anyone ever cared where I would play basketball, I was a kid from Northeast Ohio. It’s where I walked. It’s where I ran. It’s where I cried. It’s where I bled. It holds a special place in my heart. People there have seen me grow up. I sometimes feel like I’m their son. Their passion can be overwhelming. But it drives me. I want to give them hope when I can. I want to inspire them when I can. My relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball. I didn't realize that four years ago. I do now."

-- 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.

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!

Moving on ...

So, in case you were asleep in a cave, or deliberately blocked sports programming and sports feedback from entering your Facebook or Twitter universes this past week, you may not have realized that Cleveland's Public Enemy No. 2 got himself a championship.

Sorry, LeBron, but Art Modell will always -- even after he dies -- be Public Enemy No. 1. Then again, after the disgraceful way you left, "No. 2" just seems like a fitting description.

Joe Cleveland knew it was coming. I could see it in the way games in the NBA Finals were officiated, and I could see the way Oklahoma City was playing, that Game 5 was going to end with a Miami win. Fortunately, I had plans.

Myself, one of my best friends, and his girlfriend attended a fantastic concert in beautiful Downtown Cleveland. I deliberately did not check my phone, only focusing on the fantastic music I was watching being performed and on the awesome company I had.

I also took notice of the fact that the concert venue was right along the Cuyahoga River, a much-maligned symbol of Cleveland's national jokes. I could see the Terminal Tower all lit up, thought about the Horseshoe Casino opening up and the Medical Mart being constructed to the north of it and thought, "This is a fucking great town!"

Pardon my French, but it's true.

LeBron James may have decided he couldn't win one as a leader here, or never liked Cleveland to begin with, or the national media could add another punchline to a growing number of punchlines about Cleveland and its sports teams, but on this night, one that many in the outside media had believed would be a bleak one for the North Coast, I, Joe Cleveland, decided I was going to have a good time.

And, I did, all night long.

Finally, at about 1 a.m., I broke down and checked my phone for the score. There it was -- Heat 121, Thunder 106. It was over.

I took a deep breath, put my phone back in my pocket, and jumped behind the drum kit at a local establishment's jam night and played my heart out.

Who says music can't be theraputic?

Honestly, at the time, my feeling was indifference. It was as inevitable as a cliff-hanger ending in a soap opera, so I wasn't surprised. I had been bracing myself for the disappointment, so when it happened, I honestly didn't care.

I harckened back to watching the Baltimore Thieving Bastards win the Super Bowl in early 2001 (and we remember what a terrible year 2001 was, and it began with Judas hoisting up the Lombardi Trophy with that shit-eating sneer on his face). It broke my heart. But, the gods were kind to me that night. I won the jackpot in the "squares" at the Super Bowl party I was attending, and I promptly spent it all at the bar that night.

I had to get good and schnockered. I wanted the pain to go away -- and it did, for one night.

Sorry, LeBron, but your win was NOTHING compared to that.

Hell, even watching some of the Steelers' recent Super Bowl wins were harder to swallow than this. Bill Belichick's three Super Bowl wins in four years were worse.

There's been a few others that come close, like Manny Ramirez winning two World Series titles with the Red Sox, watching the Indians' back-to-back Cy Young Award winners Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia face off in Game 1 of the 2009 World Series, heck even seeing Jhonny Peralta have an All-Star season with Detroit after watching him stumble, bumble and sulk with the Indians for a few years. LeBron, your win was worse than those, so I'll give you that.

There's two things about the Cleveland sports fan base. On one hand, you have a bunch of die-hard, true-blood fans who bleed and sweat with their Browns, Indians and Cavs (and Ohio State Buckeyes). They may not be fans of all of them, but the ones they root for, they root for with a passion that just doesn't exist in many places.

On the other hand, you have a bunch of Cleveland self-haters. The guys who like to rub your nose in it at the office or at the factory or at the bar or on Facebook or Twitter when a Cleveland sports team fails, even though they themselves have lived in Cleveland (or Ohio) their entire lives. They are the people who don Steelers jersies because the Steelers are winning while the Browns are not. They are the closet Michigan fans who suddenly came roaring back after the Wolverines took advantage of Jim Tressel's demise this year and actually beat Ohio State at football for once. They are the ones with Yankees or Tigers hats.

And, they are the ones who suddenly, almost overnight, became LeBron James and Miami Heat fans.

My fear now is we'll suddenly see a lot more Miami "JAMES/6" jersies in public than we did two years ago or last year. Remember when that douchebag went to an Indians game wearing LeBron's jersey and got booed right out of Progressive Field? That will never happen again, I'm afraid.

The closet James fans could only recoil when their beloved turncoat failed to deliver on his promise of a championship last season, when he shrunk in the moment during the NBA Finals and the Dallas Mavericks slapped that snicker right off of his and Dwayne Wade's faces with a six-game beatdown that had everyone in Cleveland celebrating.

Folks want to say we're a bunch of "haters" -- which is funny, because those same people are Cleveland sports "haters" but don't see it that way. The ESPN's of the world, the same so-called Worldwide Leader of Sports, want to point their fingers down at you and me and say that it's time for us to "get over it."

I've been hearing that a lot from the clueless ones from Bristol, who are the very definition of frontrunners.

They didn't give two shits about the Miami Heat until LeBron went on their network and said that's where he was going (after they speculated for three straight years about LeBron joining the New York Knicks). Suddenly, they launched a Web page called the "Heat Index," complete with one of the Cavs' old beat writers, and had reporters stationed in Miami from the very first moment James, Wade and Chris Bosh reported to training camp all the way until the bitter end.

Sure, ESPN also kept the pressure on James with their scrutiny about "can he win the big one," or, "will he be the best player to never win a title?" Heck, even James' fans were starting to come up with excuses when the Heat fell behind, 3-2, to the aging Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Funny what six wins can do do those people.

James supposedly didn't have enough support around him to win a title last year or get to the Finals this year, just like he supposedly lacked with the Cavs. But, as soon as he won, those people forgot about those comments and could only fall down on their knees in front of their supposed, self-proclaimed "King" and worship to him to no end. They wanted to feel his "salvation" all over their faces.

These people make me sick.

Now, the national media feels that this win "validates" his decision to leave the Cavs and sign with Miami. Really? So his "Dream Team" could take two years to finally win won NBA Title, and have to win that NBA Title in a lockout-shortened season and after falling behind to both the Indiana Pacers and the Boston Celtics (and even the Thunder) in this year's playoffs?

I thought LeBron was going to win "not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven" NBA titles. It took him two seasons with two other All-Stars to finally win ONE.

When Kevin Durant and Ray Allen signed with Boston to join Paul Pierce, the Celtics won the NBA title in their FIRST YEAR together. They haven't won one since, but you get the point. And these guys were all in the tail-ends of their respective careers.

LeBron, Wade and Bosh were all in the so-called "primes" of their careers. The fact is, it took falling behind 3-2 to the aging Celtics for some switch to go off in LeBron's head.

He stopped deferring to Wade, who did not play great in this postseason, and started carrying the team himself.

This is what LeBron did in 2007 with the Cavs. That performance in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals was one that still gives me chills, and I hate the bastard now!

Of course, he disappeared in Game 6 at home, but a rookie named Boobie Gibson caught fire from beyond the 3-point arc and gave the Cavs their first NBA Finals berth ever.

In Game 5 of this NBA Finals, LeBron had a triple-double, but it was the kind of empty triple-double that he had in Game 6 of the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Celtics, right before he ripped his Cavs jersey off and then ripped the hearts out of the fans who supported him through his seven-year career.

Like Gibson, it was Mike Miller who caught fire from beyond the 3-point arc and lifted the Heat to the win. Even in Game 4, when LeBron suddenly got "cramps" (perhaps they were menstral), it was Mario Chalmers who stepped up and capped a ferocious comeback to put the Thunder on the brink of elimination.

ESPN and all the national pundits of the world want you to "get over it" already. But Joe Cleveland lives here, is one of you, and I say, NO, YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO SQUAT!

If you want to get over it, great. If you still have feelings of anger and resentment, so be it. LeBron James didn't leave ESPN in the lurch. He left CLEVELAND in the lurch.

He embarassed this town, his old team and, quite frankly, himself when he did his special in July of 2010. He didn't have to do that. He didn't have to rub our noses in it.

He didn't have to preen and shuck and jive with his buddies Wade and Bosh the following night in Miami, promising a slew of championships that he found out just aren't that easy to win, even if you've supposedly "beat the odds" in doing it.

He didn't have to comment that all the folks who rooted against him could go back to their pathetic lives after his team lost Game 6 to the Mavericks last year.

He didn't have to film that ridiculous "What should I do?" commercial for Nike, which didn't help his image in the slightest.

And, he didn't have to toy with Cleveland's emotions midway through this season when he said he'd be open to coming back and playing with the Cavs.

LeBron James showed just how self-absorbed he really is when he called winning the NBA Championship "the best day of his life." Glad to know LeBron Jr. and Bryce Maximus or their mother that you finally got engaged to, Savannah, really don't matter that much to you, "champ."

Funny that LeBron's old high school coaches Keith Dambrot and Dru Joyce celebrated that title. However, LeBron didn't throw the love back at them in his postgame comments.

Funny that LeBron didn't even have any comments directed at Cleveland, although he couldn't resist taking a shot at Cavs owner Dan Gilbert when he said, "I have never, in life, taken any shortcuts."

Did those jersies you received as a "gift" from the sporting goods store, which cost your high school team an undefeated season, count as a shortcut?

Did that Hummer your mom "purchased" for you in high school, which had you investigated by the OHSAA, count as a shortcut?

Did skipping college to go straight to the NBA count as a shortcut?

How about getting all of your cronies hired to the Cavs? Did that count as a shortcut?

That three-year contract you signed with a player-option for a fourth (that you were never going to exorcise) after 2007, did that not count as a shortcut?

Convincing the Cavs to abandon all long-term planning and go for short-term success, like signing Shaq and squandering draft picks, did that not count as a shortcut?

And, as you realized that you couldn't deliver a championship to Cleveland, as you promised, you decided to tuck tail and sign with another team with two other All-Stars in the hopes that it would make you a champion.

That, by any definition, is a shortcut.

Dan Gilbert was right in calling you out. Unfortunately, he made some dumb comments (guaranteeing the Cavs would win a title before LeBron would was ridiculous, and, I'm sure, had ESPN piling on after LeBron won) that has cost him.

In a way, I'm relieved he won. It was tiring rooting for someone to fail so hard and so strong. The albatross is gone.

Sometimes, the best way to make something go away is to ignore it. I'm ready to ignore LeBron James and focus my energies on the teams and athletes we have here in town.

Teams like the Browns, who drafted two exciting offensive playmakers in Trent Richardson and Brandon Weeden, and have several players who are staying true to Cleveland, like Josh Cribbs and Joe Haden.

Teams like the Cavs, who drafted an exciting point guard in Kyrie Irving and are poised to add another exciting player with the fourth pick of Thursday's NBA Draft -- whether they move up or down or package picks or whatever.

Teams like the Indians, who, defying all logical belief, are still somehow in first place in the AL Central Division and are in position to be movers and shakers in a month at the trading deadline.

Teams like Ohio State, who brought in Urban Meyer to be the new head football coach and has immediately hit the ground running with a great recruiting class and some tough love (enjoy that one-game winning streak, Michigan). And their basketball team, that reached the Final Four again under Thad Matta and continually bring top hoops recruits to Columbus and succeed.

And, teams like Cleveland State, who are poised to become a mid-major breakout team after Butler left the Horizon League for the Atlantic-10. Gary Waters keeps bringing in talent that thrives in his system. The Butler roadblock to the NCAA Tournament has been lifted, and the Vikings are ready to kick down the door.

Let's not forget teams like Kent State baseball, that became the first team from the state of Ohio since Mike Schmidt's Ohio U. team in 1970 to reach the College World Series, and then sent No. 1-ranked Florida packing in a thrilling elimination game. Yes, a warm-weather sport like collegiate baseball can be successful in Northeast Ohio.

Congratulations, LeBron. You won a championship. So, when does Browns training camp open up?

Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!

Coincidence? The NBA wants you to think so

David Stern became the Commissioner of the National Basketball Association in 1984, at the heyday of Lakers-Celtics/Magic-Bird rivalry that helped transform the league into what it is today.

Since Stern took over, only EIGHT NBA franchises have won the Larry O'Brien Trophy, given to the champions of the league. Of those eight, seven are in what are deemed to be "major TV markets."

The list is:

Los Angeles Lakers (8 titles, 13 appearances)
Chicago Bulls (6 titles, 6 appearances)
San Antonio Spurs (4 titles, 4 appearances)
Boston Celtics (3 titles, 6 appearances)
Detroit Pistons (3 titles, 5 appearances)
Houston Rockets (2 titles, 4 appearances)
Miami Heat (1 title, 3 appearances)
Dallas Mavericks (1 title, 2 appearances)

Going back to 1979-80, when Magic Johnson entered the league, the list only bumps up to NINE franchises (Philadelphia 76ers in 1983). The Lakers have won the title 10 times since 1980, while the Celtics have won it four times.

Coincidence?

Even Major League Baseball, which operates without a salary cap and allows the larger market teams to outspend the smaller market ones, has more parity than this. And, the NBA has had a salary cap, although that cap is rife with loopholes and other exceptions that basically make it a "salary cap" in theory.

Nine championship franchises in 32 years? Eight of which are in major markets, and all of which had some sort of gimmick going for them (a superstar player, a team nickname, etc.)?

Throw in the list of teams that reached the NBA Finals during that span and lost, that number expands to just 18 different franchises. 18 franchises in a 30-team league.

The franchises that have thrown the "olive branch" include:

Portland Trail Blazers (2 appearances)
Utah Jazz (2 appearances)
New York Knicks (2 appearances)
New Jersey Nets (2 appearances)
Orlando Magic (2 appearances)
Phoenix Suns (1 appearance)
Indiana Pacers (1 appearance)
Seattle SuperSonics (1 appearance)
Cleveland Cavaliers (1 appearance)
Oklahoma City Thunder (1 appearance)
Philadelphia 76ers (1 appearance)

None of these franchises made the NBA Finals until 1990. From 1980-89, the finals were dominated by just five teams -- the Lakers (5 titles, 8 apperances), the Celtics (3 titles, 5 appearances), the 76ers (1 title, 3 appearances), the Rockets (2 appearances) and the Pistons (1 title, 2 apperances). All of the 76ers appearances came from 1980-83, which was before Stern took over. The Sixers have only made it back once during the David Stern era.

Stern also ushered in the era of the NBA Draft Lottery, which began following the 1984-85 season. Stern's reasoning behind the lottery was because there was a belief that the Houston Rockets and other teams were "tanking" games in order to land the No. 1 overall draft choice in 1984 (which was Hakeem Olajuwon; Michael Jordan wound going third to the Chicago Bulls after Portland selected Sam Bowie).

For the first two years, all of the non-playoff teams had an equal chance of getting the top pick. From 1987-89, only the top three picks were "randomly" selected out of a hopper -- the remaining teams filled out the fourth pick on down based on their win-loss records.

In 1990, they changed it to "weighted" system, so that the team with the worst record had the most chances of landing the top pick on down. However, after the Orlando Magic wound up with the top pick in the 1993 draft despite only having one chance to land it, the NBA tinkered with their theory again.

From 1994 through now, the NBA uses 14 numbered ping-pong balls and assigns a certain number of four-digit combinations to the non-playoff teams. The worst team has the highest number of combinations, on down. The NBA draws three four-digit combinations, and the teams with those combinations land the top three draft picks. Picks four on down are assigned based on record.

Only twice has the team with the worst record in the NBA won the lottery and gotten the top pick -- 1990 (New Jersey Nets; Derrick Coleman) and 2004 (Orlando Magic; Dwight Howard). The Cavs were tied with Denver for the worst record in 2003, but yet won the lottery and selected LeBron James.

The team that has won the draft lottery the most since 1985 is the Los Angeles Clippers. Twice, they traded that top pick, and both times, that top pick wound up in the Cavs' hands -- 1986 (Brad Daugherty) and 2011 (Kyrie Irving).

The first draft lottery is the most suspicious of them all. With Patrick Ewing being the projected top choice, and the Knicks struggling in the top-media market, it seems pretty coincidental that the Knicks landed the top spot.

First, before the envelopes were placed in the hopper, the deputy commissoner banged one envelope on to a counter-top. Just one envelope. That gave that envelope a bent corner. Then, Stern drew out three envelopes at once, fumbled around a bit, and dropped the other two back in the hopper. The envelope he kept had the bent corner. That envelope had the Knicks logo on it.

Only 16 different NBA franchises have landed the top pick in the draft lottery. A lot of them seem too coincidental to be true.

The Magic got back-to-back top picks in 1992 and 93, which they selected Shaquille O'Neal and Chris Webber, who was promptly traded for Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway. O'Neal and Hardaway helped the Magic reach the NBA Finals once (losing to the Rockets) before Shaq bolted for the bigger L.A. market, joining the Lakers. The NBA really wanted basketball to take off in Florida, and the Magic reaped the early rewards.

The San Antonio Spurs had become a good franchise once David Robinson was able to report following two years of Naval service duty. But, Robinson was injured and missed most of the 1997 season. That enabled the Spurs to finish with the third-worst record in the league, and they won the right to pick Tim Duncan, one of the most dominant big men coming out of college the NBA has seen in a while. Duncan and Robinson immediately transformed the Spurs into a franchise that would win four NBA titles.

In 2003, an Akron high school athlete had NBA scouts drooling. The Cavs were slagging in attendance after a few miserable seasons plagued by miserable roster decisions. Akron is only 30 miles south of Cleveland. Coincidence? Why not put the local phenom on the local team to inject life into a franchise that had just built a new downtown arena. For 7 years, it worked until that local phenom decided to sign with the Miami Heat as a free agent, who he's helped get to back-to-back NBA Finals berths.

In 2008, there was a Chicago high school phenom who went to Memphis for a year and entered into the draft. The Bulls had been struggling after Michael Jordan retired and needed a shot in the arm. What better way than to follow the LeBron-Cavs method. It's worked.

Before 1993, the once-proud 76ers had fallen on hard times, finishing with just 18 wins. What better way than to enliven one of the NBA's foundation markets by giving them the top pick, which turned out to Allen Iverson. Iverson was controvercial, but he turned the Sixers into must-see TV for a long time, even getting them to an NBA Finals.

In each of the last two seasons, two franchises lost two superstar players and then struggled in their wake. Both franchises wound up with the top-overall selection in the two most recent draft lotteries -- the Cavs (who lost LeBron) and the New Orleans Hornets (who lost Chris Paul and were owned by the NBA when Paul was traded).

Coincidence?

So, what does all of this mean, the stats on the lack of diversity atop the NBA's championship ranks and the holes in the draft lottery?

It basicially means that David Stern is the Vince McMahon of sports commissioners.

It means that the NBA is scripted and rigged.

Watching the most recent NBA Farce ... errr ... Finals between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder has conspiracy theorists, such as Joe Cleveland, beating their chests about how the NBA is rigged. The foul disparity between the two teams has been glaring. The referees are calling a lot more questionable fouls on the Thunder than on the Heat. There have been a few glaring no-calls, such as one on LeBron on a shot from Kevin Durant that could have tied Game 2 in the waning moments.

Tim Donaghy, a disgraced former NBA official who was busted betting on games he officiated, basically let the cat out of the bag in his book, "Personal Foul." I highly recommend any sports fan to pick up this book and give it a read.

Donaghy talks about how refs look the other way when superstars are involved, how certain refs will start calling fouls in favor of the losing team when a team opens up a big lead to try and make the games more competitive in the end, how violations like travelling, up-and-down, defensive three-seconds, and others get ignored, especially when superstar athletes are involved, and how sometimes, they'll nail a superstar with a call just to make a point.

He talked about how some refs would fraternize with the players. This was exposed during Michael Jordan's gambling bust, when it was revealed that he was hanging out with NBA ref Ed Rush Jr.

Basketball is one of the easiest sports to rig. Why do you think there are so many point-shaving scandals? Sure, teams have to make their shots, and sometimes, the ball just doesn't go into the little round cylander. But, refs can directly impact the flow of the game by their foul calls, or their non-foul calls.

All during the playoffs, there have been a lot cries from opposing fans and media about the seemingly preferrential treatment the Heat have gotten from the officiating crews during the postseason. This, on the heels of the draft lottery that seemed so obviously rigged that David Stern was outright asked about it on a national radio show (Stern embarassed himself by not denying it, but instead asking a rhetorical question about the radio host beating his wife), and the consipracy theorists are out in full force.

The Heat making the NBA Finals in back-to-back years is generating a lot of money for the league, the networks (specifically ESPN) and the sponsors, namely Nike.

Did you know that if LeBron James wins a championship, which could very well happen tomorrow night, it will generate $4 billion for Nike? Check out this link below:

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/05/19/lebrons-4-billion-ring/

Stern knows the networks love it when a major market is playing in the finals, or a team with a major superstar. One of the lowest-rated NBA Finals was the 2007 finals when the Cavs were swept by the San Antonio Spurs. Does it not seem surprising that the wheels began to churn in motion at that point for what transpired in July of 2010 and beyond?

In 2009, Nike would have loved an NBA Finals featuring Kobe Bryant's Lakers and LeBron James' Cavs. They even engineered a marketing campaign around it using puppets. Of course, the Orlando Magic had other plans and denied that from happening. Perhaps, at that point, Nike knew the NBA would never solidly get behind the Cavs and their championship dreams.

LeBron leaving the Cavs to sign with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh reeks of something right out of a professional wrestling script. Remember Hulk Hogan aligning with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to form the New World Order (nWo) in 1996, and how much money pro wrestling generated from that maneuver through the early 2000s? This was LeBron's heel turn.

LeBron got the proverbial "chair shot to the head" last year when Dallas (led by one of the loudest consipracy theorists of them all in owner Mark Cuban) upset his "dream team" in the NBA Finals last year. This year, however, it appears to be time for the nWo to figuratively spray paint all over the NBA trophy.

Sure, a longer series might generate more dollars. However, a dominating Heat win reveals two things:

1. Super teams, regardless of their lack of chemistry and puppet head coaches, will always succeed in the modern NBA.

2. A superstar playing for a middling market may find it best to jump to a bigger lake when the time comes, because rarely does a middling market (such as Oklahoma City) get a moment of glory.

ESPN will start speculating on Kevin Durant's next move immediately after Game 5 ends (and the Heat win, although I'm praying for a miracle to happen) and won't let up until his contract expires or he demands a trade.

That's the way that it goes, unfortunately, and, as long as fans watch, Stern and his cronies will continue to get away with it.

One last thought: The NBA lockout cost every team 16 games of the regular season. That is the exact number of games that the Heat needed to win their "long awaited" NBA title. With those additional 16 games, Miami fell two wins short last season.

Coincidence?

This is why I love hockey and college basketball. This is also why, when I cover high school hoops, players get whistled for travelling one out of every five offensive possessions, and the players look to the refs and wonder why.

Screw you, LeBron James!

Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!

Thanks, LeBron, but no thanks

So, LeBron James made his lone appearance of the regular season back to the place he stabbed in the back almost two years ago this past week, and had to put himself back in the spotlight and open up some old wounds in the process.


LeBron, the attention whore that he is (thanks, Kendrick Perkins), couldn't stand turning on ESPN -- you know, the network that televised his "Decision" special and then created a special Web page devoted to his new "super team" called the "Heat Index" -- and seeing some undrafted guard named Jeremy Lin dominate SportsCenter. So, he decided -- in typical LeBron fashion -- to put himself squarely in the spotlight again, simply by opening his mouth.

Rumors of LeBron having an interest in opting out of his Heat contract after 2014 and potentially showing an interest in returning to Cleveland have been circulating since the lockout. Fox Sports Ohio's Sam Amico quoted several sources on this subject a month ago for a blog. So, naturally, in his first meeting with Cleveland reporters the day before his Miami individuals met the Cavs, it was asked if it was true.

LeBron responded by saying that he would like to eventually return to Cleveland, that he had fond memories of playing at Quicken Loans Arena and playing in front of the fans, that he was hurt by the reaction but understood the passion of Cleveland fans, that he doesn't hold a grudge against Cavs owner Dan Gilbert anymore for his remarks, admitted his "Decision" was the wrong move and apologized for it, and said that it wouldn't bother him to play for a Gilbert-owned team again and that "Dan's not the coach, and I can play for any coach."

His quote was: "I think it would be great. It would be fun to play in front of these fans again. I had a lot fun times in my seven years here. … I’m here as a Miami Heat player, and I’m happy where I am now, but I don’t rule that out in no sense.

“And if I decide to come back, hopefully the fans will accept me.”

Sports talk stations blew up with this little announcement, and every Cleveland news station led with this little nugget of information. And yes, ESPN made it one of their top stories, temporarily shelving their "Lin-sanity," if only for one day.

Twitter and Facebook blew up with the fans weighing in on whether or not they'd welcome him back. People imagined a lineup of LeBron with Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson and whoever they draft in next year's draft, if they were to get a lottery pick again, and how that team should be an instant championship contender.

Blah, blah, blah ...

That next night, LeBron -- playing in front of mostly boos but also some scattered cheers from the sold-out crowd at The Q -- had a game like he did the first time he came back here last season, and his Heat blew out the Cavs in a lackluster effort eerily reminiscent of that one back on Dec. 5, 2010.

Whether or not LeBron was serious, his comments did their job. It temporarily disarmed the Cavs and Cavs fans, and the Heat finshed their series with the Cavs at 3-0, after two close wins at home earlier this year.

Joe Cleveland certainly doesn't speak for all Cleveland sports fans, but he likes to think that his opinions are the ones that most Cleveland sports fans have. At any rate, he has two words for LeBron James:

HELL NO!!

Do you think that I would welcome you back with open arms should you decided to waltz back into our lives, after the way you spit on Cleveland with your "Decision?" The way you embarassed us? The way you added another Cleveland punchline to the many, many Cleveland punchlines that are out there? We're lucky Johnny Carson is dead, or else he would have had a field day with that one.

LeBron didn't make his decision based on money. The Cavs could have guaranteed him more money and more years, even with the sign-and-trade agreement they came to with Miami after the fact. He made his decision because he didn't want to play for Cleveland, simple as that.

All LeBron did was make excuses. The Cavs were one of the best regular season teams in both 2009 and 2010. Both times, they suffered colossal chokes in the playoffs and didn't even get to the NBA Finals like they did in 2007.

In 2010, the Cavs didn't even get the chance to play in the Eastern Conference Finals. That's because LeBron quit on his team during the series with the Celtics.

Even with the obvious tank job, Cleveland was willing to take you back. We came up with stupid, sappy song parodies to lure you back. Gilbert commissioned a Family Guy-esque cartoon made about you in their pitch to keep you aboard. Gilbert hired members of your entourage to the front office, and no move the Cavs made from 2006-2010 wasn't made without your consent.

The signing of Larry Hughes? LeBron stamp of approval.

The trade for Delonte West, Ben Wallace and Wally Szczerbiak? LeBron stamp of approval.

The trade for Mo Williams? LeBron stamp of approval.

The trade for Shaquille O'Neal? LeBron stamp of approval.

The trade of Zydrunas Ilgauskas for Antawn Jamison, and the subsequent re-signing of 'Z'? LeBron stamp of approval.

LeBron claims he couldn't win a title all by himself. That's great. But you signed off on all the help that Gilbert and Danny Ferry tried to give you.

You had a coach in Mike Brown you used like a puppet. You loved him when things went well, but then blasted him and turned on him in the playoffs when he dared try to stand up to you. Now, you have a similar coach in Erik Spoelstra, except he's got a boss with a backbone behind him in Pat Riley. Riley is nobody's puppet. You don't like that very much.

You said you couldn't win a title all by yourself, so you teamed up with your superstar friends Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh to try to win, oh, how did you put it, "Not one ... not two ... not three ... not four ... not five ..." You get the picture.

How many did you win last season? Wasn't it ZERO?!?

It was LeBron's cronie, Brian Windhorst, who went on to Cleveland radio and opened up this Pandora's Box by discussing LeBron's wish to return to Cleveland at some point. Windhorst, who began covering LeBron when he played in high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary and then followed him as Cavs beat reporter for two of the largest newspapers in Northeast Ohio before following him down to Miami with ESPN's "Heat Index," claimed that Cleveland would embrace him when, and if, he returned.

"The Cleveland fans gave Jim Thome a standing ovation when he came back," he said, presumably believing that they'd do the same thing for his old buddy LeBron.

There's a big difference between Jim Thome and LeBron James. In fact, there's a big difference between every free agent the Indians lost from those 1990s powerhouse teams and LeBron James.

Jim Thome, Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez all left because of the money. The Indians wouldn't break the bank for any of them, so they left for greener pastures. Perhaps Belle would have left anyway because he was sullen and just a complete jerk. But Thome and Manny left because there were teams that were willing to give them exhorbitant amounts of money -- money that the tight-fisted Indians could not afford.

Sure, fan reaction from Cleveland was anti-Thome and anti-Manny for many years. However, most fans realized that there no such thing as a "hometown discount," and, had the Dolans ponied up an additional year or two, perhaps both players would have stayed put. Both made it known they wanted to return. When Thome did, fans were ready to embrace him.

When Manny decided he wanted to come back to baseball this season, SportsTime Ohio (the Dolans' own network) polled callers on whether or not they'd welcome him back to the Indians. Overwhelmingly, there was support among Cleveland fans to have Manny Ramirez back in a Tribe uniform, even with a steroid suspension looming.

Cleveland fans (and Joe Cleveland is one of them) are great at holding grudges. We booed Carlos Boozer every time he came back, although that has softened since LeBron did what he did. We booed Gerard Warren at a Patriots game last year, even though he hadn't played for the Browns in almost six years. Heck, some of us still boo Bill Belichick, even though he hasn't coached in Cleveland since 1995.

But, LeBron's act of betrayal only ranks him below Art Modell on the Cleveland public enemy scale. All Modell did was move the Cleveland Browns out of town and lie about it every step of the way. He hasn't returned to Northeast Ohio since 1995, and that's because he fears for his life.

LeBron still returns to Akron, but I believe he's starting to realize just how good he had it in Cleveland. He was the undisputed "King James" in these parts. Ownership and coahces cow-towed to him. His under-tipping became a stuff of urban legend around these parts, but people accepted it. Fans bought his jersies in droves. They believed he would bring a championship to Cleveland.

But he didn't, and he left when he couldn't do it. And the fans responded with anger, hurt, vitrol ... all things that have supposedly stunned and hurt LeBron.

Yahoo! Sports has added fuel to this fire when they quoted various sources as saying that LeBron sent emissaries to Dan Gilbert during the summer proclaiming his desire to return to Cleveland and that he would be open to it. Gilbert never responded, and has not responded publicly to LeBron's recent comments that all but confirm this notion.

Nor will he, due to NBA tampering rules. Sure, that didn't stop Pat Riley from doing the same thing in 2009, but whatever.

Speaking of Riley, he is livid that LeBron would openly flirt back with Cleveland like he has, especially in the middle of a season. They stood by him through his struggles last season to fit in and through his collapse in the NBA Finals with Dallas. LeBron has two-and-a-half more years left in Miami, and they are incredulous that he's already plotting his escape.

Sounds a little familiar, no? Didn't we, as Cleveland fans and the Cavs organizaion, go through that same song and dance for the three seasons after LeBron signed his contract extension? The same exact contract extention that Wade and Bosh agreed to shortly after LeBron agreed to his?

Would Gilbert stick by his principles, or would he put things aside for the betterment of his business? Sure, there would be a reaction from either side of the fense if LeBron were to re-sign with the Cavs for 2014-15. Or, would he sell his team before he would even think of bringing him back?

If the shoe were on the other foot, wouldn't Gilbert enjoy telling LeBron what LeBron essentially told the world back in July of 2010?

Instead of Cleveland not being worthy of LeBron, perhaps it would be LeBron who is not worthy for Cleveland.

Mrs. Joe Cleveland (yes, there is a Mrs.) came up with a list of things that LeBron should have to do if he wanted to come back. One of those was that he had to sit in every single seat in The Q -- all 20,562 of them -- for a minute each to put himself in the shoes of the fans he betrayed. Another was to take a bottle of his VitaminWater, dump it out, refill it with water straight from the Cuyahoga River, and drink it, so that he could physically feel what the fans felt like when he said he was "taking his talents to South Beach."

What would it take for you to welcome him back? Or, are you like Joe Cleveland and have this response for him?

Thanks, LeBron, but no thanks.

Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!