My Plea to Cleveland Sports Fans

[Huber.]

It's not setting yourself up for disappointment when the only expectation is that, if he leaves, he doesn't do it via a selfish, self-centered, self-promoting nationally televised special.

I hate it when people say it's how he left. We would have been mad either way.

 

[WellYouNeednt]

Many people's problem now is with the media coverage and the complete one sided bias from places like ESPN. ESPN continues to prove they don't actually report, they practice agenda driven biased non factual hype and propaganda. Virtually all the ESPN personalities have taken a pro LeBron/anti Cleveland approach from the beginning and failed to report or investigate all sides of this topic. It's just grown very old and many are sick and tired of the BS. These people tell us to "get over it" and "move on" but they take every opportunity to continue to bring it up and put down everyone and everything connected to the Cavaliers, their fans and Cleveland and NE Ohio.
I'll gladly move when they do and their shit stops.

I think it will be easier for individuals to move on within the framework of ESPN when they realize what the letters ESPN stand for: Entertainment.Sports.Network.

The key word is entertainment. This network is not the authority of sports. They specifically hire anchors and commentators based on a variety of personality traits to annoy, entertain and cause controversies. This is the sole purpose and drive behind their business model. It worked.

Simple solution: do not watch it (that is what i do). I feel the direction that media (twitter, facebook, youtube, RCF) has taken, provides us with enough sources to fulfill our breaking story needs.

 

[TitleTown]

It be a lot easier to get over this if this thread wasn't in Cavs Talk...

 

[MoFlo]

I hate it when people say it's how he left. We would have been mad either way.

You're insulting the intelligence of Cavs fans with this statement.

I know that most Cavs fans (including most here) who know basketball, would have been ok had he just left via Free Agency, as he was free to.

Would we have been upset & pissed on some level, because he didn't see it through here? Sure

Would it have escalated to an all-out, bash filled, hate for the guy that it has/had? Absolutely not.

It was the decision that dragged the hate up to its peak.

 

[Randolphkeys]

I hate it when people say it's how he left. We would have been mad either way.

I think there are degrees of anger.

Derek Anderson and Andre Miller told the Cavs that they wouldn't be resigning as free agents, and they did it the year before free agency. They were traded before their trade value plummeted and I lost a lot of respect for them.

Jim Thome said he was coming back, then he didn't. That led to one or two years of warranted bitterness, but time healed that wound.

Carlos Boozer purposefully lied about his intentions and left the Cavs a year before his contract was up with no compensation. He was vilified for stabbing a blind man in the back. He's garbage.

LeBron wasn't honest with himself about the reasons he wasn't winning championships in Cleveland. His ego was so big he didn't think of the impact this would have on his girlfriend and kids, let alone his entire home town, let alone the Cavs franchise. He's so self-centered Barry Bonds probably would tell him to tone it down. I think Cleveland had every right to say, "thanks for setting the franchise back three to five years and throwing our local economy under the bus on national television."

So, LeBron could have and should have handled it better, and if you have been following how free agency is handled in small markets, you would see the difference.





The rest is media-driven. Sports talk got two days of material out of Gilbert saying congratulations to the Heat without specifying LeBron. WTF?

 

[Huber.]

You're insulting the intelligence of Cavs fans with this statement.

I know that most Cavs fans (including most here) who know basketball, would have been ok had he just left via Free Agency, as he was free to.

Would we have been upset & pissed on some level, because he didn't see it through here? Sure

Would it have escalated to an all-out, bash filled, hate for the guy that it has/had? Absolutely not.

It was the decision that dragged the hate up to its peak.

I still think people would have burnt is jersey, rioted and what not if he just said he was leaving through a statement. Most of the old Cavs fans (the fans that were never really Cavs fans) aren't smart like the members on here. They were on the bandwagon because it was the cool thing to do in Cleveland.

 

[Steve_424]

I still think people would have burnt is jersey, rioted and what not if he just said he was leaving through a statement. Most of the old Cavs fans (the fans that were never really Cavs fans) aren't smart like the members on here. They were on the bandwagon because it was the cool thing to do in Cleveland.

I just don't agree. Did we burn Thome, Belle, Ramirez, Sabathia, Lee, or Boozer jerseys? As MoFlo said, history shows that how players have left Cleveland has absolutely mattered. "The Decision" brought out that anger because when he announced the special, nobody thought he'd actually have the audacity to leave Cleveland that way. When he did, there was a lot of anger - from fans, to players, to coaches, to our owner. Had he held a press conference to announce he was signing with Miami, there would have been some frustration and anger, but it wouldn't have reached the levels it did (burning jerseys, etc), and it wouldn't have lasted as long as it did and likely would have gone away for most over time.

 

[Steve_424]

It be a lot easier to get over this if this thread wasn't in Cavs Talk...

Let's bump it to "Off Topic" or "Around the NBA" then. That's obviously up to the moderators. My intent in posting this was to remind Cavaliers fan not to take the bait and they didn't. I'm proud of the way Cleveland has handled the situation and I'm ready to move on to Draft talk and discussion on how to bring a championship to Cleveland.

 

[wuck]

Let's bump it to "Off Topic" or "Around the NBA" then. That's obviously up to the moderators. My intent in posting this was to remind Cavaliers fan not to take the bait and they didn't.

I've been waiting until the time seemed right, and the thread had moved on to other concerns. Time seems right now.

 

[MoFlo]

I still think people would have burnt is jersey, rioted and what not if he just said he was leaving through a statement. Most of the old Cavs fans (the fans that were never really Cavs fans) aren't smart like the members on here. They were on the bandwagon because it was the cool thing to do in Cleveland.

Well, if we're talking about how Cavs fans reacted negatively to LeBron leaving, then they weren't bandwagoners, right? They're obviously Cavs fans, since they reacted so negatively to him leaving & are still the fans that we're discussing now, yes?

We're not talking about bandwagoners here. Those fans obviously weren't Cavs fans, just LeBron fans. So, once his decision was made, they're no longer constituted as Cavs fans by association, they're Heat fans by association..

I just don't agree. Did we burn Thome, Belle, Ramirez, Sabathia, Lee, or Boozer jerseys? As MoFlo said, history shows that how players have left Cleveland has absolutely mattered. "The Decision" brought out that anger because when he announced the special, nobody thought he'd actually have the audacity to leave Cleveland that way. When he did, there was a lot of anger - from fans, to players, to coaches, to our owner. Had he held a press conference to announce he was signing with Miami, there would have been some frustration and anger, but it wouldn't have reached the levels it did (burning jerseys, etc), and it wouldn't have lasted as long as it did and likely would have gone away for most over time.

Exactly. As Keys stated as well, Boozer left in controversial fashion & has been vilified for years. Thome left in somewhat controversial fashion, and was hated for a while. Belle never said he would stay, stayed quiet & just went for the $$, and he wasn't boo'd relentlessly like Boozer or Thome was.

 

[Huber.]

Exactly. As Keys stated as well, Boozer left in controversial fashion & he's vilified for years. Thome left in somewhat controversial fashion, and was hated for a while. Belle never said he would stay, stayed quiet & just went for the $$, and he wasn't boo'd relentlessly like Boozer or Thome was.

Didn't they threw fake money at him the next year? :chuckles:

 

[Randolphkeys]

Didn't they threw fake money at him the next year? :chuckles:

Wasn't he also the first major free agent to leave Cleveland in his prime? I think we all learned that it's part of the game since then.

 

[MoFlo]

Didn't they threw fake money at him the next year? :chuckles:

OK, and did it happen again the following year?

Both Thome & Boozer were boo'd relentlessly for at least a couple years after they left (Boozer longer than Thome)..

 

[Huber.]

Wasn't he also the first major free agent to leave Cleveland in his prime? I think we all learned that it's part of the game since then.

Yes but I was just correcting him that we did boo Belle back then.

 

[MoFlo]

Yes but I was just correcting him that we did boo Belle back then.

I never said we didn't boo him. I said he wasn't boo'd relentlessly like Thome & Boozer were.. Big difference.