Living and dying with Cleveland teams since 1948, I have really seen it all. 1954 WS; horrible baseball in '60s-'70's-'80s; great baseball mid '90's; unbelievable baseball in '95-2001; go for the money wherever it will take them; rebuilding and rebuilding and rebuilding; Municipal Stadium and pillars; The Jake and sold out seasons; The Pro (sorry no nickname, still the Jake to me). pre Super Bowl era football; Super Bowl era football; Paul Brown; Blanton Collier; Art Modell; momentous games; some not momentous games; the move;NBA basketball at the old Cleveland Arena; Richfield Coliseum; Gund Arean; The Q; Walt Wesley; John Johnson; Gary Suiter; Footsie Walker; Binnnnnnnnnngo Smith; Austin "AC" Carr; Campy Russell; Brad; Mark; Larry; Hot-Rod; Z; Lenny; Ted Stepien; and now Dan Gilbert.
The uniqueness of the above is nothing in those events came from within the area. No home grown owner; no home grown player; no kid you would follow in the neighborhood and see the evolution and maturity into one of the best. This is what sets James and his decision apart from everything else mentioned. Regardless of what anyone says, he is one of us. He has seen; witnessed; felt all that we have endured for decades. At the time of this writing, no decision has been made, but is eminent, and may not bode well for us.
This event has taken on a world of its own and is truly insulting to us, if you ask me. I never thought I could replace Art "let's move it" Modell, but I maybe able to by this evening.
It's just a continuation of celebrity status in this country - and the consumers of sports, etc, get duped into paying higher and higher prices for tickets, t-shirts, and bottled water (but we'll drive all over downtown looking for a cheaper parking space). Sports salaries have been out of hand for many years now, as have prices for games. I stopped going to Indians games years ago -- it cost us over $100 for a family of 4 to go -- and since we were part of a group with a package of tickets, by the time we went to all of the games, we could have taken a 2 week family vacation to Yellowstone! With an ESPN show, it is clear that LeBron's ego has taken center stage. I would call on Cavs fans to boycott any game (TV or at the Gund) that features LeBron in any uniform other than a Cavs uniform.
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