The Return

As a Clevelander, I know I'm predisposed to a whole lot of sports heartbreak. I would like nothing more than for my city to have a professional sports championship. There have been so many times that we've been so close in the last three decades it's ridiculous that all of the teams just never turned the corner. That being said, tonight LeBron James returns to his former home with his 11-8 Heat and everyone seems afraid of what the Cleveland fans are going to do.

I honestly would love to be at The Q tonight. I was there for Game 5 of the playoff series against the Celtics where LeBron arguably quit on his team, and the city itself. I had the privilege of splitting season tickets for the previous three seasons, so I had seen LeBron play a lot of games and I had never seen him that disinterested in what was happening on the floor. It was heartbreaking to watch him look like he couldn't care less about the game he gets millions to play, the game that so many Clevelanders loved to watch him play, the game that he made us believe he would win a Championship.

So I booed him. I booed him along with the many other fans who were at The Q that May night, because I was disgusted and I just had an awful feeling that game was going to be the last time I would see LeBron in a Cavs uniform. My mom was with me at the time and said, "Stop booing him! He'll remember this and then he'll leave!" She was right that he'd leave, but even she admitted she was wrong in her reasoning saying a few weeks ago, "It doesn't matter now, I hate LeBron and I hope he dies!" I'm sure everyone, including my mom (and before you start talking about how women don't know sports, she really does as my interest in sports comes completely from her), can admit that's a little extreme, but it does sum up a lot of the harsh feelings towards LeBron James in Cleveland.

I think it's still important to note that many are not angry with LeBron for leaving, it's how he left. Like anyone needs to be reminded, he made an hour long special to basically take a dump on Cleveland. He didn't let Dan Gilbert know what he was doing until that special had already started. He said that he was "Taking his talents to South Beach." I love ESPN, and I'm very happy that the special raised money for the Boys and Girls Club, but if he wanted to give them some money he couldn't have written a nice fat check? And I find it hard to believe that ESPN should want to support that kind of narcissism - it sets a very dangerous precedent. Of course, I doubt we'll ever see anything like that again.

But the fact still remains that Cleveland's #2 villain (to Art Modell, of course) is returning tonight. The police protection will be high, and millions are going to be tuning in to TNT - which will have its Thursday Night crew inside The Q tonight - to see just exactly what Clevelanders are going to do. As much as I would love to see LeBron realize the mistake he made, I know that's not going to ever publicly happen. So we'll have to settle for booing the absolute heck out of him.

He should know that he will never be welcome back in this town ever again. He should know that the way he left us may eventually be forgiven, but it will never be forgotten. He should know that those seven seasons without ever winning a championship left us with a bitter taste in our mouths, but that we will get our championship without him. Cleveland has too many people who work hard every day for every penny they get to have any respect for a narcissistic pig who simply didn't care.

So, if by chance you're going to the game tonight, cheer for Z when he is introduced, remembering his many years of hard work for our city and the wonderful ad he put out in the Plain Dealer, but boo LeBron like there is no tomorrow. Print out this chant sheet and use it tonight along with the other 20,000 plus fans to make him feel you. Other than that, I believe we'll keep it as classy as we possibly can because we're Cleveland. We survived the entire Browns team leaving and didn't have football for three years. We can certainly survive a self-centered basketball player "taking his talents" elsewhere, move on and end up stronger.

~MAS