He quit.

In retrospect, Cleveland never had a chance.  Add up the way that he quit in Game 5 (his new nickname) and the way that he pealed off his jersey in the hallway to the locker room after game 7 and the expression on his face as he pealed off the jersey--one of relief and finality.

He was gone the whole time.

Why did he go? For his own selfish reasons.  He has everything--money, fame, etc.--except a ring.  He could have been a stud, a legend and stayed in Cleveland to win a title (or several).  So why did he leave?  Purely for his own self.  He had it all in Cleveland.  He only left because he selfish he had to go where he felt the odds are better for his selfish self to immediately win a title.

Stain (one of his other new nicknames) tarnished his reputation in the past few weeks in ways that he will never be able to undo:  Game 5 and last night's show and last night's decision.  One of the columnists on Cleveland.com noted that last nights incredibly overblown show was named The Decision--so similar to The Fumble, The Drive, etc.  What an ass to go on selfish national tv for an entire hour in a horridly named show to drive a dagger in the hearts in the city.

May he never win a title.  May everyone always remember:  He quit in Game 5 and he quit last night.

That is who he is and that is his legacy:  Quitter (another of his new nicknames).

Game 5.  He quit.

there's two parts to this- the What and the the How.

The What- him leaving, is just cowardly. I've read others say- would Jordan leave the Bulls in 1990 to go to the Pistons? LBJ said he that now he wouldn't feel pressure to score 30ppg. Would Jordan ever complain about thst responsibilty? He tried to get Bosh to Cleveland which suggests he would have stayed if that happened. Can you imagine Jordan, or Bird, or Kobe, or Magic, etc. following Bosh? He wants all the fame of a superstar, but he doesn't want the responsibility.

The How- dragging Cleveland through this self indulgent process and then dumping them on national TV like a humiliating episode of Jerry Springer was selfish, classless, and completely uncalled for. This could have been handled MUCH differently.

What a coward.

James always wanted to be the next "Jordan," but it turns out he is really the next "Pippen." 

Nice line, MedicaCat.

Game 5 is exactly the opposite of Jordan.

Game 5 quit.

I have to agree that there is no relevance to Ohio athletics. The site is so nice and clean since the data dump. Wouldn't it be wonderful to keep it focused too?

Could be a topic near the heart of many on this board.  And a big issue.  If nothing else, it's basketball.

Yes, not OHIO ball.  But still worthy.

     Lost some respect for Lebron lastnight,  I've followed his career since High School,  I understand he wants to win a Championship, but he just went about it the wrong way. He gave up and sold Cleveland out.  As far as Cleveland Fans, they would of been pissed no matter where he went to play,   Poor Cleveland Fans  they have had to deal with "The Drive",  "The Fumble" ,The Shot" and now "The Betrayal".  

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Dennis  "Gman"    DON'T   FLINCH   !!!

Who's LeBron????????????????????

Okay.  Either I'm an idiot or ...well, let's just say that there's a difference in values.

Game 5 owes northeastern Ohio in a big way.  He's been treated like a king alright.  The fans and the team bent over backward for him--as they have since the quitter was about 16 years old.  Everything he could get elsewhere he could get in Cleveland.  The only diff might be in his chances of winning a title.  Maybe those chances are better in Miami or in some other city that isn't Cleveland. 

But that ring thing is all about him.  He shows no responsibility, no class, no grace, no sense that he is a cornerstone of a community.  Even from a personal point of view, how big of a legend would he be in Cleveland and elsewhere if he could bring a title to Cleveland?!

Now if he wins a title--which I hope will never happen--let's all lay it to Wade and Bosh.  Poor Game 5 had two have two other stars.  He just ain't man enough himself.

Yeah, Michael Jordan would've quit in that fifth game against the Celtics.

How ironic.  Game 5 says he made his decision for himself in a quest for a ring--while in the process he lost, and will probably never regain, his rather sterling reputation.  He may win a ring but he'll never be a champion.

If LeBron is a quitter and a loser, why are you clearly so upset about losing him Monroe?  You should be happy to be rid of him. 

LBJ isn't obligated to spend his entire career in Cleveland; professional athletes are no longer indentured servants.  He gave the city seven years of success unparalled in franchise history, and helped to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the team and the city.  I understand the disappointment, and agree that this entire situation could have been handled much better, but at the end of the day you are demanding that LBJ show absolute loyalty to Cleveland, when Cleveland has since shown that its loyalty to him is clearly fleeting. 

I never said he showed absolute loyalty to Cleveland.  I said you are demanding that he show absolute loyalty to a town that turned its back on him with unprecedented venom the second he elected to "take his talents" elsewhere.

Again, I understand the impact of LBJ's decision and why the city is disappointed.  But that does not mean that LBJ should be obligated to spend his entire career in Cleveland.  And it is not true that Cleveland offered LBJ everything that Miami did.  Cleveland could not offer him the opportunity to play along side two of the other elite players in the league, who just so happened to be two of his friends.  Now we can of course debate whether that justifies the decision, but at the end of the day its his decision to make, not yours nor the city of Cleveland's. 

This is all particularly ironic coming from a guy who admits that he himself left Cleveland for another city years ago.  Apparently it's ok for Monroe Slavin to decide to do so, but unacceptable for LeBron James. 

I never said the fans were not loyal to him before he left.  However, when fans are able to turn on someone so dramatically and so quickly, it shows that they weren't truly loyal to the player.  It was never about supporting LBJ as a person for most Cleveland fans, it was simply about what LBJ could do for them.  Once the promise of a championship vanished, so did any support for the player.  That's completely understandable, but at the same time it is hard to argue that a player should place loyalty to a city over his own personal interests, when the fans of said city are so willing to turn on the player so dramatically and quickly.



Undoubtedly the departure of LBJ has a greater impact on the greater Cleveland region than your departure.  However, the point remains that if you decided that another city offered more to you than Cleveland, it is kind of hypocritical to argue that it is incomprehensible and unacceptable that LBJ would make the same decision.

We seem to be talking around each other, and considering that I never really even cared that much about LBJ's decision in the first place, this will be my last post on the subject.

I'm not saying that the fans turned their backs on LBJ before he left.  I'm saying that most Cleveland fans only cared about what LBJ could do for them (i.e. championships and economic impact), and not about him as a person or his personal best interests.  As long as LBJ remained in Cleveland they would support him, but if he dared to leave they would hate him.  That isn't loyalty.  As a result, I don't think LBJ owned it to the people of Cleveland to place their collective interests ahead of his own personal interests. 

You are also completely missing my point about your leaving Cleveland.  The point is not that your departure was anywhere near the same magnitude.  Rather, the point is simply that you find it inconceiveable that another city could offer something unavailable to LBJ in Cleveland, yet you yourself have decided to live elsewhere than Cleveland.  Therefore, you should appreciate that different cities have different appeal to different people.  It is hypocritical for you to say that there isn't anything in Miami that LBJ couldn't get in Cleveland, when you yourself have chosen to live elsewhere. 

As for other events that would deal a bigger blow to Cleveland than LBJ's departure, for starters I'm pretty sure that losing any of the major companies headquartered in the city (Progressive, Sherwin-Williams, etc.) would have much more significant implications for the region.