OT: LeBron Opts Out of Contract
Prepare yourselves. Turn off ESPN (except for live sports programming), mute Twitter, and in general expect to be innundated with obscure, ridiculous, over the top media coverage.
LeBron has opted out of his heat contract. This may just be a way to restructure it to get the Heat more cap space, but he's now a free agent. With Carmelo Anthony opting out too this may just break the HOT TAKES engine.
I'm perfectly happy stringing this thing out.
Love,
LeBron
I would pay cash money for floor seats so I could hiss and boo as he ran by. He's going back to Oiho.
Worked for the Pretenders.
The Decision II. I don't care where he goes, or why. I just hope there is a big production about him making his decision. Another TV special, this time with voter participation (text STAY or GO to #555-5555). Fireworks, and live music from Jay-Z. 3-D broadcast. The whole she-bang.
And I like LeBron James. I just like a clown circus better.
I'm guessing that Lebron and "his people" won't make the same mistake twice. The second time around will probably be a little more subdued.
That's raisin.
Wow Experience.
Nice try, Dave Brandon.
I'm not Dave Brandon. And if I was, I certainly would not admit it here.
That stated, I also would like to see LeBron's decision announced in skywriting over NE Ohio and South Florida. Because, well ... obviously.
#winning
on the jumbo trons at the Penn State game at Half time. . .
should be held in Michigan Stadium. Bring in Beyonce to accompany Jay-Z. Have the Blue Angels do a fly-by. Have LeBron parasail down onto the 50, where he will deliver the Decision live. It'll be a ratings spectacular with a record crowd.
Sounds like a "wow" experience
I hope LeBron and Melo play together so I can just hate one nba team instead of two.
The funniest bit of speculation so far was stirred by the appearance of a tweet from James' wife which was a picture of the state of Ohio with Akron noted on it and some verbiage like "the countdown is real" and a vague hint about coming home. Obviously, there's nothing to show definitely that James would ever set foot in Cleveland again, but clearly it is a sign that LeBron will play tight end for the Zips this coming fall, right?
It's a good thing they're not on our schedule this year. If he were on their team last year, we would have lost.
Welp time to not watch ESPN..
I find myself barely watching ESPN except for live sports programming anyway, this just enforces that behavior to an extreme.
I used to watch SportsCenter every morning, but I just can't handle all the stupidity now. Ever since Disney took over, the anchors have been trying way too hard to be funny. I'm not sure why this is because they used to be much more subtle with their jokes and some of them were even good. Just show the damn highlights and get off my lawn.
ABC has had a stake in ESPN since 1984. I blame LeBron
1984? That makes more sense now. 2+2 = 5
Much of the nation (including me) is way ahead of you on that one. I find ESPN to be quite intolerable anymore.
Especially when it has anything to do with the NBA. I was a casual fan, but didn't even watch a single game of the playoffs this year. There is nothing left for me in the NBA and I don't miss it at all.
unless there's an actual game being broadcast by them.
Forget for a second my obvious bias here but did anybody else find Pat Riley's obvious hypocrisy on this issue hillarious? OK to leave Cleveland during "the Decision - Part I" but not ok to leave Miami?
Have fun Heat fans over the next several weeks while you wait to see what he does. I wonder if his wife's Instagram post was an actual foreshadowing of him wanting to come back here or something else altogether.
Cavs have the #1 pick, cap room up the wazoo and young talent. Lebron has two rings and still owns a house here in Bath, Ohio. Is he thinking of trying to do the impossible and bring Cleveland a championship?
Any other fan base would have reacted the same way.
Not all fan bases behave exactly the same way, and I'm not at all surprised that a fan base that overlaps as much as this one does with OSU fans is extreme in some ways.
i could imagine osu fans woulda done some evil shit had archie griffin transferred to uofm after his first heisman.
Here's the difference Turd and why there was SO much angst around here when it happened. Lebron was one of "us" and supposidly understood just how much pain this area has felt sport-wise from repeated agonizing failures to win it all. He was suppose to be the one to finally lead the city to the championship they've craved for so long and was obviously the best player in the world.
Then the 2010 season rolled around and while Lebron wouldnt talk about his contract during the season he did lead the Cavs to the best record in the NBA and a #1 seed in the playoffs. Then, in game 5 of the series against Boston, he basically quit on the floor (I was there and seated a couple of rows from his mom Gloria) and watched it first-hand. It was like he was in a complete and utter fog the whole game and we lost that game and then the series in game 6.
Then "the Decision" happens at the last possible moment for free agency boxing the Cavs into not being able to sign anybody else and have to hope he would stay at home cause there was no way for a Plan B. By waiting until he did he pinned the Cavs down from making any other moves that couldve kept them competitive in 2011 so we waited and we hoped.
When it was announced he was making his decision on live TV we were just SURE he was staying put. No way would a kid from Northern Ohio go on national TV and humiliate the city by announcing he was leaving. So we held our breath and when he said "I'm taking my talents to South Beach" the area melted down emotionally knowing that the team was screwed and wondering did he tank game against Boston (yes I know the rumors about Gloria and Delonte West) to lose on purpose? It was like getting kicked in the balls in front of the entire world and it hurt like hell.
The best analogy I can think of would be if at a wedding the best man took the mike and in front of everyone got down on his knee in front of his long-time girlfriend and said "now's as good of a time as any to say this.....I'M BREAKING UP WITH YOU...HA HA HA HA."
So yeah, I DO think just about any other city given the background, the circmustances and how it was done would react the same. And I really, really, really hope he comes back in spite of it all.
" Lebron was one of "us" and supposidly understood just how much pain this area has felt sport-wise from repeated agonizing failures to win it all."
That incorrect belief explains, but doesn't justify, their reaction.
And I really, really, really hope he comes back in spite of it all.
So pathetic. You and Cleveland fans have no principles. It's all about that missing sports tile you need to verify your dreary collective existence.
No, not every city would have reacted the same way. Why? Because not everyone clings for life to a "you're one of US" mentality. Cleveland does because they have an insanely sensitive inferiority complex. Don't put these despicable provincial values on others and don't act like there is a shred of dignity in begging someone to come back (and let me save you the false hope - HE WON'T) after he was already declared persona non grata by the vast majority of your awful city.
If Dan Gilbert hadn't written that absurd open letter in comic sans, I'd be all for him going back. Comic sans is the worst.
Apples to Oranges, Turd.
Sanders retired. It wasn't like he went and played for Chicago for less money.
A-rod Signed the biggest contract in baseball history when he left Seattle.
None of these where covered like Lebron leaving Cleveland.
It's extremely hard to find a legit comparrison when talking about Lebron's decision. Where ever Lebron goes is a contender for a national championship.
The burning of jerseys was one thing, but Dan Gilbert must have spent the last 4 years groveling in the mud Joliet Jake style if he expects Lebron to ever play for him again. Lest we forget the pseudo-slave-owner language that Gilbert used when scorned by Lebron 4 years ago, I can't imagine Lebron wants to go back to that. Plus, they just hired a previously unheard of (if very successful) Euro-League coach who Lebron was reportedly not impressed with.
None taken. I just had a short debate with a couple of people in my office who were saying they werent quite sure if they wanted to win a championship "that way" if it meant Lebron coming back to the Cavs after the way he left.
I reminded them that this city HASNT WON A FUCKING THING SINCE 1964.
I was one of the most vocal "haters" you will ever find but I'd take him back in a New York second if he'll come. He's the best basketball player on the planet and I'm sorry but our chances to win jump exponentially if he's here and I love the Cavs more than I hate Lebron.
All that being said I do wonder if this isnt just another chance to troll the fans here again what with his wife's Instagram post and now this. Talk about a place losing its collective mind if that happens.......
I hope for the opposite. Cleveland gets LeBron back and has to come to terms with the idiocy of previous behavior. Except they won't. The way that euphoric love shifted to vitriolic hate, only to go back to love again would be spectacular.
At this point, Lebron has his two rings and four "The Finals" (TM) appearances in a row. Wade is breaking down, looking like Melo to Chicago. Does Bron's guilt/hubris/irrational desire to be loved by "everyone" think that to cement his "legacy" as the all-time great he can go to Cleveland and try to break a long standing curse by winning a championship with the Cavs? Or 2? Or 3? or 4? (oh stop me now...). I've always been hesitant to the idea LeBron's going anywhere but the easiest path to the finals, but let's be honest, if Derrick Rose isn't Derrick Rose anymore and Indiana can't get mentally tougher / better, is there another team in the Eastern Conference that could challenge ANY team with LeBron right now? Add in Cleveland can pick whoever it needs to compliment LeBron (or trade assets and the pick for other assets... last year's #1 to the Pistons for Greg Monroe? This year's #1 and last year's #1 to Minnesota for Kevin Love?), and if LeBron can be happy with the coach (which by the media reports out of Miami by the end of the year last year, LeBron thought he WAS the coach), why not to Cleveland where he can sandblast out the biggest blotch on his legacy?