Blog #3: The LeBron James Nightmare

Jeff Schwartz

Blog #3: The LeBron James Nightmare

July 2, 2010

Make no mistake about it, when the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted LeBron James in June of 2003, I cried like a baby. I finally felt like we had something more special than every other team in the NBA. At the time it meant I’d be able to share a championship celebration with my father, my two grandfathers, my brother, and my friends. To this day it’s my number one sports related dream. I think about it constantly, maybe even obsess about it. Actually I do obsess about it.

Over the course of the next seven seasons, lots of disappointment has commenced from LeBron James and The Cavs for us fans of the wine and gold. A sweep in the finals, two straight 60 win seasons ending before a parade could be earned and weird stories about Delonte West and The King’s mom. We had coaches like Paul Silas and Mike Brown who had so many issues with players that we just never talked about them. General Manager Danny Ferry put the Cavs in salary cap hell by simply trying to give James what he wanted around him. My friends and I shared many late night calls and text messages when it looked like we could be trading for Amar'e Stoudemire (led to the creation of The Amar’e Safari) and Shaquille O’Neal (Actually happened, and led to the creation of The Big Witness Protection Program), waiting for our championship parade that has not happened yet.

Now we’ve passed July 1, 2010 free agency has begun and the “World Wide Leader,” ESPN has begun to bad mouth Cleveland once again. Since the day the Cavs were eliminated by Boston, ESPN has led with headlines varying one point, “LeBron James is Leaving Cleveland, Hahahahaha” It’s honestly been some of the worst television reporting I’ve ever seen. The bias is strong, ESPN has built up the saga of LeBron leaving for New York since the day he came into the league. What happens if he stays in Cleveland? Does ESPN shutdown operations until the next time he’s a free agent? Do the alleged great analysts like Jon Berry, Chris Broussard, Dee Brown, Ric Bucher, Tim Leglar, & Jalen Rose all hop in a small car and drive off a big cliff?

At this point, all signs point to nothing official less than 36 hours into this nonsense. LeBron James himself is a draw no matter where he plays. The idea of him sharing the spotlight with Chris Bosh and the overrated Dwayne Wade on a super team in a city like Miami is so completely outrageous that I think we’d see NBA owners’ revolt and start a class action lawsuit. Also has any athlete anywhere in any sport ever turned down 30 million dollars? That’s the exact amount of money King James would make if he stayed in Cleveland, more than any other team can pay him.

Next season when a lockout commences in the NBA between the billionaire owners and the millionaire players and King James is searching for his extra 30 million but his shirt says New York, he won’t find it. I’m to the point where I can see ESPN paying LeBron James under the table just so he leaves Cleveland.

As of midnight on July 1, 2010, I rewarded myself with a present. After suffering through ESPN programming for the first 24 and a half years of my life with small breaks, I decided I had earned a one month vacation from all ESPN television. If LeBron James decides to stay in Cleveland, then I shall tune in to see the nuclear level meltdown ESPN has. If he leaves like a coward would, my suspension of viewing is extended to permanent. The spasm ESPN and their employees would have if he were to leave could set in motion a nightmare the likes that nobody has seen before.

There is no positive to ESPN’s shove it down your throat coverage of the LeBron James free agency bonanza. It’s made me not care anymore. While a championship celebration with family and friends are a dream scenario, I almost don’t care if he stays or goes because of how ESPN has handled this story. It’s downright bad journalism that does nothing but insult the viewers. This is the biggest story to hit the NBA in years, but it’s not as if we are being invaded by a terrorist organization. ESPN has treated this story the same way MSNBC treated 9/11. In no way are these events even comparable, but ESPN would tell you they are. I fully anticipate ESPN: The Magazine coming out in a month or so with the headline of “Who Did This?” with a picture of LeBron in a Cavs uniform just like The New York Times did on September 12, 2001 with a photo of a plane hitting one of the World Trade Center buildings.

In the end, it’s not the life or death saga ESPN is perpetrating. It’s just another nightmare that ESPN feels they can market for their own advantage.