RF23 - Loyalty?! Please!

Written on July 8, 2010

I was going to let well enough alone, when I received an email about Cleveland Cavaliers owner, Dan Gilbert's open letter to his fans about the departure of Lebron James. Well, that's being nice, his cowardly letter to the ungrateful fans of Cleveland. Gilbert, instead of showing some type of class, stooped down to the level of some fans, who burned James' jersey and near rioted.



Let me get this out, ever since, I've been a conservative, and starting seeing a different perspective, I took some for defending different positions in regard to race related issues, and bringing different point of views. Were some of my views always right? No, but I gave them and I defended them. For instance, a former co-worker of mine, no matter what the situation blamed the white man for everything and despite my pointing out that things have gotten better, her daughter being accepted into Stanford based on her SAT and grades, for instance. She still blamed the white man. Well, I can't change her point of view. And I can't change this point of view of mine.



I believe that racism is rampant in sports, in regard to black athletes and journalists. And after tonight and incidents over the last week or so. I'm convinced.



Quick question, exactly what did Lebron James owe the state of Ohio, the City of Cleveland or it's fans. Let's see....NOTHING! he gave his all for seven years and lived, played every bit of the hype the MEDIA said he would be. In just his second or third year in the league, he led the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals, a place in the 90's, where Jordan slammed the door the shut on them. Although they lost to San Antonio, he continued to provide Cleveland and it's fans with winning seasons and exciting play offensively and defensively. And in turn, he was compensated as to his contributions to the team and both the Cavaliers and James benefitted with a full arena for forty one games.



So what did he owe? Loyalty. Please, if James had gone up for one of the spectacular dunks and Joe Theismann his leg, how loyal would be Cleveland be? How loyal would Dan Gilbert be? Cleveland fan? Ohio?





So what's next? Money, ahh the money, When Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh announced they would be returning and playing for Miami, neither one mentioned how much they were playing for. And when asked, Wade said that a paycut was going to be necessary, not for James, but for supporting players and guess who also echoed the same thing. James. So, it's not about the money.



What's next? Winning. James said his reason for going to Miami, was that it was his best chance to win not one, but multiple championships. Okay, Gilbert, if James saw that his former team was not going to win, how in the hell are you fixing your keyboard to post that you're going to win one now. In my opinion, it seems like you held out on Lebron.



Now before, James, Wade and Bosh made their decisions to play in Miami, Fox Sports Radio's Stephen A. Smith announced on his radio show, that according to his reliable sources, it was highly likely those three would be playing in South Beach. And of course the media ran with it, but with nasty ventriol such as ESPN's Bill Simmons reported tweet in regard to Smith's report of the trio going to Miami. Syndicated sports show host, Dan Patrick, who knows all about leaving and loyalty, made it a point to mock, Smith's use of "sources" and when the opportunity arosed, he would say, his sources to non breaking news stories. One no name host, who used to be on "blind date" called Smith a hack on KTLA and then was wrong on his pick that James was going to stay in Cleveland.



Who's the hack now?