Not a normal sports section poster, but I feel compelled to vent.
I think Cleveland columist Terry Pluto summed up my feelings pretty well.
But LeBron James should feel a sense of shame and pain for putting together a self-serving ESPN special to inform the world that he no longer intends to play for the Cavaliers. To sharpen the insult, he titled his switch to the Miami Heat as "The Decision."
Yes, that's just like The Fumble, The Drive, The Move, The Shot and other awful moments in the history of Cleveland sports -- and he picked the name?
...
Yes, James is free to go to Miami. He's free to market himself on ESPN. But fans in his hometown also are free to say that he never should have embarrassed them.
They are free to be hurt, because the Cavaliers could have paid him more than any other team. They also have spent more and won more in the last three years than any of main contenders for his services. It's a lot easier to dump contracts and lose games than to keep adding veterans and fat contracts while chasing a title, which the Cavs have done.
The fans also are free to wonder what happened to the guy who accepted his first MVP award at his old St. Vincent-St. Mary gym, the next at the University of Akron -- and both times, talking so warmly and sincerely about being at home.
In the end, LeBron James inflicts needless pain on the region that raised and loved him: Terry Pluto | cleveland.com
Yes, he has every right to move, bit we have every right to hate him for it. He grew up here, built his home here, and talked about how he loved it here. But he decides to move.
It reminds me of when Thome left. Only when Thome left, he wasn't born and raised here, the Phillies could offer him more money, and he was genuinely broken up about it. Lebron didn't seem to care that he was making a half hour special to say screw you to Cleveland, and he is going to a team that isn't even allowed to pay him as much as he could have gotten in Cleveland.
So I hope someone is downtown burning that "Witness" banner. I wouldn't even be sad if someone was down in Bath burning his house down. If Cleveland isn't good enough to play in, he shouldn't have to live here. And I'm sure he will try to make penance by throwing some money at local charities. I hope one of them has the bravery to refuse the blood money. Besides, he would have to send a lot of said money back to Cleveland just to make up for the major economic damage he just did.
So Lebron, have fun in Miami. But don't get mad at our reaction. You were around to see how we treated Art Modell. I tell you, the first Heat at Cleveland game will make 10 cent beer night look like high tea.