Why not? Everyone else seems to have an opinion! I’m proud of myself for holding off for all these days and letting others vent before me. Maybe it’s because I could care less about professional basketball. Yes, even the Celtics, who I might feel better about if they pronounced their name properly. But I thought I would add fuel to the fire by making a few observations from a non-emotional spectator.
- Where were all of these people when the pros drafted LeBron James directly from High School? I did have a comment then; I thought it was inappropriate. Thrusting a teenager into the ranks of the NBA felt like recruiting a choir boy to perform with an acid rock band. A couple of years between wouldn’t have hurt anybody.
- Why do the Cavaliers think this is so unusual? Pro athletes move around all the time, and who ever said a pro had to play in his or her hometown? Isn’t this just a case of a team/city recognizing that it’s about to enter one of those phenomena known in sports as a “building year?”
- Those who are condemning LeBron for having made a poor decision, when he could have played for the Knicks, are so Gotham-centric as to be silly. He surveyed his options and saw the chance for a National Championship by joining the other two big guns in the NBA in a place capable (probable?) of winning that trophy. Maybe the temperature in January and February had something to do with it.
- Money talks. But when you are at the economic level of LeBron James all offers are in the gigantic category, so you have a chance to think about other aspects of the offer other than the salary.
- Maybe Cleveland, New York, Boston, and any other places that might have thought about convincing LeBron to play for them have to work harder to put together a team capable of playing in the same league with the new Miami. That’s called hard work.
- Remember that the LeBron James caliber of player is also a human being. He, too, can have a bad year, suffer an injury, or be distracted from time to time. (Anyone ever heard of Tiger Woods?) It is dangerous and foolish to build a man’s pedestal too high…even if he is LeBron James.
So if you are crying crocodile tears over James leaving Cleveland and moving to Miami, don’t look to me for solace. It’s only a game. I’m too caught up in concern for the people of the Gulf Coast, immigrants, the guys and gals fighting in Afghanistan, small business owners, the unemployed, candidates for office in 2010, and Dustin Pedroia’s foot, just to mention some of the more important issues facing this country.
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