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!

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!