#6's Return?

[GreasySpread36]

I think we need to be loud and clear to him that coming home will make things better for him and for us. Chanting "Come Home" is something NO other sports team has EVER done to a player in the HISTORY of SPORTS! Cleveland is too passionate of a city to sit here and let something like this not bother us. The departure of LeBron James was one of the worst things to happen in Sports history let alone Cleveland Sports.

A lot of Cleveland fans groveled and begged for LeBron to stay in 2010, even after he basically tanked a playoff series. How'd that work out?

Look, I would love for LeBron to come back. I think he should come back. But no way should the fans stoop to the level you're suggesting. Christ, people in this fanbase were burning his jersey in the streets of Cleveland three years ago, and now we should publicly beg him to return? No way.

As Frank Reynolds (I think) said upthread, this situation sells itself. Talented young core, top-10 teammate in Kyrie whose game meshes perfectly with his, tons of flexibility in terms of cap room and future draft picks, a realistic chance to win big and a golden opportunity to completely redeem his reputation in the eyes of his home region and the world at large. He already has the ring, so the pressure is off as far as that's concerned. I wanted him gone in 2010 and I wanted the Cavaliers to be out from under him. Now I think it's getting on time for a reconciliation.

But no way should any Cavaliers fan debase himself the way you're suggesting. I'm a big believer in winning uber alles, but you've got to at least have some dignity and self-respect.

[Zone]

Guys, lets be realistic. LeBron James will ALWAYS be LeBron James. You guys are STUCK in that same moment when he announced his decision. You can't seem to get over that hump.

LeBron is a freak of nature and since he is from Ohio, makes it all the better. As fans, I truly and honestly believe you need to swallow your pride and convince him that HE NEEDS to come back home and play with Uncle Drew. LeBron got us so close to a championship that we could taste it. We were so....fucking....close. Then he left. Now, there's speculation that he may come back and you guys want a damn verbal apology? Fuck the apology! If we ever get an apology it will be when he comes back and plays for us! I think we need to be loud and clear to him that coming home will make things better for him and for us. Chanting "Come Home" is something NO other sports team has EVER done to a player in the HISTORY of SPORTS! Cleveland is too passionate of a city to sit here and let something like this not bother us. The departure of LeBron James was one of the worst things to happen in Sports history let alone Cleveland Sports.

But, you know what? I'm a Cleveland fanatic. I'm not going to sit here and be quiet about LeBrons return. I don't care if the other teams and their fans make fun of us for chanting "come home" to the best player to ever play. I don't care if I have to swallow my pride and tell LeBron James we miss him and want him back in Cleveland. I don't care if people say I'm worshiping the man. I don't care if you other fans say it's ridiculous. Because I want a Championship. I want him to play with Kyrie and the rest of the squad. I want to see MY team win. I want to see the championship banner being raised at the Q. Right NOW the key to that is LeBron James-Kyrie Irving. While everyone is laughing at us and saying how ridiculous we are it won't even matter, fuck them, we'll be champions and WE will be the ones laughing at them.

You guys are saying we're "setting ourselves up for heartbreak." But isn't that the name of the damn game? I give all my heart to my team. I'm not cautious with it and never will be. That's what being a die hard fan means. If being passionate and wanting the best player in the NBA to come play with our All-Star PG, is ridiculous to you guys, then you need to GTFO. That egomaniac, self centered, ass hole was OUR EGOMANIAC SELF CENTERED ASSHOLE and if you didn't care about him in the slightest you wouldn't be here in this thread.

Some of you say he's immature, yet your the one calling him all of these names. Does that make you feel better about yourself? But, oh wait, if he comes back I think the name-calling would stop, which is such total bullshit. Grow up and then maybe, just maybe, the player you worship will grow up.

Seems like there's a lot of people still 'stuck'.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/stor...re-kobe-bryant

Another surprise is that LeBron James, whose image has undergone a revamp, saw his Q Score hold steady, despite winning a gold medal in the London Olympics and being the subject of an oft-aired Sprint commercial that shows him as a friend and father.

Last September, James' Q Score was a 17, and he registered a 17 again in January.

The article says that 16 is the average for an athlete

[atlbraves]

That's a pretty sad paragraph. Willing to throw away one's pride for a damn game?

A lot of people on here view wanting LeBron to come back as "throwing away your pride" or "selling your soul to the devil". I guess I just don't see it that way. I think it's all in fun. Now, as far as that "come back home" chant, I would definitely wait til next year, but I don't have a problem with it.

[KI4MVP]

A lot of Cleveland fans groveled and begged for LeBron to stay in 2010, even after he basically tanked a playoff series. How'd that work out?

Look, I would love for LeBron to come back. I think he should come back. But no way should the fans stoop to the level you're suggesting. Christ, people in this fanbase were burning his jersey in the streets of Cleveland three years ago, and now we should publicly beg him to return? No way.

As Frank Reynolds (I think) said upthread, this situation sells itself. Talented young core, top-10 teammate in Kyrie whose game meshes perfectly with his, tons of flexibility in terms of cap room and future draft picks, a realistic chance to win big and a golden opportunity to completely redeem his reputation in the eyes of his home region and the world at large. He already has the ring, so the pressure is off as far as that's concerned. I wanted him gone in 2010 and I wanted the Cavaliers to be out from under him. Now I think it's getting on time for a reconciliation.

But no way should any Cavaliers fan debase himself the way you're suggesting. I'm a big believer in winning uber alles, but you've got to at least have some dignity and self-respect.

Chanting "Come Home" and chanting "asshole" both show a lack of dignity and self-respect.

[Jon]

Yes, and if we didn't, we wouldn't care and wouldn't be fans.

Yes, sports evokes an emotional response, but that doesn't mean it can't be managed and compartmentalized. Even the most fervent fan tends to melt and turn in to a sycophant when they actually get to meet a great player they'd always hated rather than say shank them ...

albeit I used to worry about X ...

[Jack Brickman]

Chanting "Come Home" and chanting "asshole" both show a lack of dignity and self-respect.

What are your feelings on "fuck you, LeBron"?

[PATRICK EWING]

Yes, and if we didn't, we wouldn't care and wouldn't be fans.

oh okay.. well be consistent..

Rip Z a new one for leaving... Did he leave like bron ? No... Neither did Belle (still got batteries thrown at him)... Did Manny or Thome ? No... (got paper money thrown at them).... Yet Thome was cheered back in uniform...

Emotional and personal... Just stupid...

[Frank Reynolds]

What are your feelings on "fuck you, LeBron"?

I'm all for it. It's actually better and conveys the same message as "we love you LeBron" "come home to us" or some other lame shit.

By chanting "fuck you LeBron" that sick son of a bitch would probably know that we still care, if we didn't then we would just be quiet.

People are gonna love you, people are gonna hate you. If it's neither, then you're doing something wrong.

At least as fans, we have passion, unlike those transient bastards in Miami.

At least we don't yell "DOS" in our arena like there's a two minute warning or some shit.

[Frank Reynolds]

oh okay.. well be consistent..

Rip Z a new one for leaving... Did he leave like bron ? No... Neither did Belle (still got batteries thrown at him)... Did Manny or Thome ? No... (got paper money thrown at them).... Yet Thome was cheered back in uniform...

Emotional and personal... Just stupid...

Speaking of which, it would be more than cool if LeBron won a ring for big Zydrunas Ilgauskas after all. Only as a member of the front office.

LeBron was boys with big Z, there was no faking that relationship. It would be more than cool to see Zydrunas get a ring after all. I don't think Z would mind one bit that it wasn't as a player.

Z's home now, LeBron needs to come home too and finish what he set out to do.


Real interesting story right there. Z never "quit on the franchise" the way that LeBron James did. The franchise never quit on Z when he had all of his surgeries early in his career. The franchise never quit on LeBron either, they did everything in their power to appease the guy and ultimately their plan back-fired. It would be kind of cool to say that we still never quit on LeBron even after he shit on us, he'd have to respect that, I'm sure he still respects Gilbert as an owner. Dan Gilbert took on a huge financial burden and paid all kinds of luxury taxes and bloated contracts.

I don't think James has much resentment at all towards Gilbert. He HAS to respect the man as an owner who's willing to pay whatever price to contend. If James should be pissed at anyone in Cleveland it should be Danny Ferry and Jim Paxson. Ferry kept Mike Brown here two years too long. Ferry got Jamison the chucker, that was his answer, that's about the best he could do. A washed up Shaquille O'Neal when we should have been targeting Tyson Chandler for WHATEVER price that dude wanted. Chandler could have taken us past the Celtics, O'Neal was the wrong move.

I totally "get" why LeBron left, but he shouldn't be angry at Gilbert for anything other than that letter, and James knows full well why Dan G was so inflamed, he just lost a once in a generation talent after he did EVERYTHING for him and his crew. In hindsight, LeBron realized that was some ignorant shit to pull and he said that Gilbert only wrote that shit out of anger.

Dan Gilbert is a fantastic owner. Even James knows that Dan Gilbert will shell out whatever it takes to get the job done. That should never be in question. The front office and the coach were the two biggest reasons James left. I don't think James ever had a problem living and playing ball in Cleveland. It was home to him, but we didn't have the proper team constructed to beat a powerhouse Celtics team. It was a miracle we beat Detroit, then to have to deal with the next megatron in Boston, too much to handle for James and friends.

The Cavaliers team is totally disrespected, it was actually a really solid team, but they needed that key piece and I believe that was Tyson Chandler, maybe an Andre Igoudala or a Jason Kidd.

We got Damon Jones, Donyell Marshall, Larry Hughes, Antawn Chucker and a washed up Shaquille O'Neal. Never landed the piece in 7 years, unacceptable, but James made it worse by being non-committal.

He was non-committal because he was thinking about his Miami "out card" since the Olympics.

[Jon]

James committed. He committed to 4 years, and then to 3 more. Of course he arranged 2010 so he'd have as many options as possible. Certainly Dan Gilbert had no interest in trading him to a contender. 7 years, no rings, time to try something else.

[Prophet Named X]

Yes, sports evokes an emotional response, but that doesn't mean it can't be managed and compartmentalized. Even the most fervent fan tends to melt and turn in to a sycophant when they actually get to meet a great player they'd always hated rather than say shank them ...

albeit I used to worry about X ...

<3 Jon. I still can't believe you thought I was actually going to take out Rashard Lewis' knees. I'm nuts, but not that god damn crazy. The fact that I can joke about doing shit like that is what keeps me from becoming that insane.

[Jon]

<3 Jon. I still can't believe you thought I was actually going to take out Rashard Lewis' knees. I'm nuts, but not that god damn crazy. The fact that I can joke about doing shit like that is what keeps me from becoming that insane.

I didn't think you were going to do anything, but fuck if I was going to be the guy who said nothing while everyone else encouraged you assuming it was all a big joke. If I got any inclination you were serious I would have contacted authorities, but understand it's not just about you, there are also people lurking the board who might have been "encouraged" by your suggestion.

[Chris]

I can't believe we are having this conversation. Back to James ... please ...

[-Akronite-]

oh okay.. well be consistent..

Rip Z a new one for leaving... Did he leave like bron ? No... Neither did Belle (still got batteries thrown at him)... Did Manny or Thome ? No... (got paper money thrown at them).... Yet Thome was cheered back in uniform...

Emotional and personal... Just stupid...

How many of those guys were in Cleveland as long as Z? How many of those guys had experimental surgery on their feet to keep playing when they could've retired with millions? How many of those guys came back to Cleveland months after being traded? How many of those guys put out a page personal thank you in the Dealer (actually don't know the answer)? How many of those guys weren't offered a contract when they left (the Cavs basically released Z)?

You're comparing apples to oranges. Some people like to pretend to be loyal stars and then run off. Those people are assholes and LeBron is not an exception. Nobody has been as publicly hated as LeBron and for good reason. Cleveland has been pretty damn consistent if you ask me.

[Jon]

While I don't think Z has anything to do with anything here ... I'd like to clear up a couple of things:

1) Z was offered a player contract, but I think the organization hoped he'd just retire and kind of threw it out there at the last minute.

2) James tried to run an ad in the Plain Dealer and they turned it down.

Player & team loyalty for the most part is a bunch of BS. Fan loyalty isn't all that trustworthy either. At least if you can remember how the board exploded with fans wanting to see LeBron gone after W&G made his post claiming LeBron quit .vs. the Celtics.

The Cavs showed very little interest in re-signing Z way back on his previous contract ~2005 until at the last moment Brown & Gilbert intercepted him at the Airport on his way out of the country for a vacation - reportedly after Ferry was told by James that he wanted him back.