Witness to Betrayal – Deep Thoughts on The Decision

by Greg M. Schwartz – July 17, 2010

There's been all manner of editorializing about LeBron James this past week, in the wake of "The Decision" where the free agent NBA superstar turned his back on his home region by deserting the Cleveland Cavaliers in order to sign with the Miami Heat. But none of these writers have gotten the story right yet. As a journalist and die-hard Cavaliers fan who grew up in Cleveland, I feel it my duty to rectify this situation and set the record straight. Because the city of Cleveland is absolutely justified to have reacted in the wounded way it did. We deserve better than this traitorous betrayal.

Many national pundits and sports fans have faulted James not for leaving Cleveland, but only for the the crass and classless way that he did it – by waiting until all the other free agents were signed and then adding insult to injury by sticking it to us on national television. Most of these editorials included the intellectually lazy assertion that the Cavaliers simply weren't good enough to deserve James anymore, despite the fact that most "experts" felt the team had the deepest, most talented roster in the league heading into the 2010 playoffs (not to mention the best record in the league for the second straight season.) Nor did they mention how James helped tie management's hands in building the roster by not signing a long-term contract to show his commitment. But the betrayal goes much deeper and these pundits, including the moronic Jesse Jackson, fail to comprehend the big picture.

James had a chance to do something extra special in Cleveland, something unprecedented, that could have led to the greatest NBA legend of all. The alleged Chosen One had the opportunity to lead his long-suffering hometown team to the Promised Land for the first time in franchise history and break the so-called Cleveland Curse. This would have been a folk hero legacy that could have surpassed mere Michael Jordan heroics and gone into the territory of your Robin Hoods and Luke Skywalkers. This was the basis for the entire fairy tale premise of the Chosen One coming from just down the road in Akron (basically a large suburb of Cleveland) and landing with the Cavaliers through the NBA draft lottery. To quote Ramzy's great "To Cleveland,With Love" column from Bucknuts.com this week, "No American sports town that deserves more has ever been the recipient of less, so when that day [winning a title] finally arrives, it will be as joyous a celebration as there has ever been." Throwing that opportunity away reveals the Chosen One as just another heartless street punk with zero understanding of community.

Now, Cavaliers fans have been forced to swallow the most bitter pill. Our former hero, to whose exploits we have thrilled for the past seven years, has scorned us to become our most hated villain over night. It is not dissimilar to Anakin Skywalker turning away from the Jedi in their moment of greatest need to join the Dark Side of the Force. Cavaliers fans are now emotionally forced to loathe James and the Miami Heat more than the New York Yankees, Boston Celtics, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ratbirds and Michigan Wolverines combined – oh the humanity! James has surpassed all of these traditional rivals with one fell swoop. Because this is personal – he was supposed to be one of us.

That's why it was perfectly rational for fans to burn James jerseys and smash James bobbleheads as soon as The Decision was rendered. Only the serious Cleveland sports fan can relate here. If you don't cringe at the memories (or tales) of The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot, The Blown Save, etc., then you are not invested like serious fans are and you cannot begin to comprehend the psychological pain inflicted by James upon the vast majority of the population of Northeast Ohio (and those who grew up there.) ABC and ESPN know how we suffer, since the rotten bastards never fail to show a montage of these heartbreaks every time another Cleveland playoff appearance ends in defeat. And yes, we know pro sports are relatively meaningless compared to the need to house the homeless, feed the poor, reform our nation's corrupt political system, manifest world peace and save the planet from environmental disaster. But at least once, we'd like to celebrate a championship in our community.

The Betrayal is the deepest cut of all due to how we faithfully bought into the Witness campaign, but are now left with nothing left to witness but a heartless traitor. Never before have we been so betrayed by one of our own. Sure, beloved Indians slugger Albert Belle dumped the Tribe in 1997 to sign with the arch-rival Chicago White Sox, but he was just a punk from the South. He didn't have any real connection to Cleveland. And now we've learned that James doesn't either. He talks a good game about how he loves Akron, it will always be home, blah blah. But if he felt any real connection with the region, he never would have done this. Because he will NEVER be welcomed back, as he has now joined the Art Modell League of Shame for all-time Cleveland villains. There's been all manner of lame defenses for James' decision this past week and none of them wash when you look at what the so-called King just threw away in abandoning his kingdom.

Certain friends and friends of friends on Facebook have seen some of my vitriol toward James this past week and noticed that I don't currently live in Cleveland myself. "You left, why isn't he entitled to do so too?" The fact of the matter is that the Cleveland economy sucks and most of us who left, including yours truly, couldn't find a job in our field, much less one that was paying top dollar. So that argument has no weight at all. Then there's the suggestion that a 25-year-old guy shouldn't be blamed for wanting to try living in Miami instead of Cleveland. But a mega-millionaire global icon like James gets to party all over the planet during the offseason, so that doesn't really wash either. Cleveland takes way too much crap from the national press in this regard, when the city is basically like a smaller version of Chicago. The quantity of entertainment options aren't quite the same, but the general quality of life is similar. If you put the crap economy aside, Cleveland is a great city full of down-to-earth people who ooze heart and soul in an increasingly heartless and soulless society. Cavaliers guard and former Texas Longhorn Daniel "Boobie" Gibson shamed James further by issuing a letter to fans recognizing this, saying how much he's come to love playing in Cleveland in his four years here and asking us fans to hang in there. A kid from Texas can see what's at stake here, but one of our own cannot? This shows James' true character, or lack thereof.

Then there's the primary argument about whether or not the franchise did enough to field the best possible team. It boggles the mind to see how many people are criticizing owner Dan Gilbert for not doing enough to build the team over the past five years. Some of the roster moves may not have panned out like we hoped (and Danny Ferry should take the heat for that), but no one can say that Gilbert didn't spend every dollar he could trying. He's the type of owner we always wished we had in Cleveland, especially in the wake of Modell's theft of the Browns and the atrocious desecration of the Indians franchise by the Dolan family. The Letter that Gilbert sent out after The Decision may have been a bit over the top, but it was heartwarming to Cavaliers fans who were feeling so wounded at that emotional moment.

James says he's a winner, but he appears to have cracked under the pressure of trying to bring a title to his former kingdom. When real winners suffer defeat, they come back and try harder. The playoff disappointments of these past few seasons have been heartbreaking, but the fact is that the Cavaliers were a serious contender and still would have been as long as James was here. But James clearly lost his faith in himself. His deepest fear, as leaked on ESPN's ticker the day before The Decision, was that a six-year deal with the Cavaliers could leave him "31, with bad knees, and no title." Let's ponder that scenario. He clearly felt too much burden to be The Man and now hopes that sharing the load with Wade and Bosh in Miami will take some pressure off. But this is such a copout for someone who aspires to NBA legend and who had the chance to do something unprecedented for his home team, to live the dream of every boy who grows up in Northeast Ohio.

But let's look at that potential ringless reality, which would certainly be a disappointing outcome for a baller of his caliber. His legacy would only then be comparable to say a Charles Barkley, an NBA hall of famer and well-liked (and well-paid) TV personality on TNT. That's the worst case scenario. James couldn't take it and cracked under the pressure of having the city's spiritual hopes on his shoulders. He didn't realize that one title in Cleveland would be worth three in Miami, as no less than the savvy Barkley has pointed out. Several former NBA stars have already declared that James' copout means he will therefore never be mentioned again with Jordan, Magic, Bird, Russell.

Another disappointing aspect of The Betrayal is perhaps how we Cavaliers fans should of have seen this coming. James flashed his true colors in the fall of 2007 when he had the immature audacity first to show up and root for the Dallas Cowboys in their game in Cleveland against the Browns, and then to wear a Yankees hat to Jacobs Field while supporting the Evil Empire in their playoff series against the Indians a month later. Right then and there, he showed he's not really one of us at all. But we overlooked it because he had just led the Cavaliers to their first NBA Finals appearance. We would have forgiven anything at that point. Like Fox Mulder wanting to believe in UFOs because of the dramatic paranormal phenomena he had witnessed, we Cavaliers fans had glimpsed the brightest of futures and wanted to believe James was on a mission to get it done. He had said in 2006 that he didn't want to be a title chaser, that he wanted to bring a championship to Cleveland.

But then the going got tough and the would-be King abandoned his kingdom to take the easy way out, a most un-kingly decision. The only possible justice will be if he never wins a title at all. Only then will he realize the error of his ways in trashing his hometown legacy. The Decision may well just be the most shameful choice by a player in the history of pro sports.

Addendum – Two More Scenarios: The Delonte West-Gloria James Affair and/or The Fix Was In

There's only one possible scenario that could justify James in screwing Cleveland the way he did, and that relates to the sordid rumors about an affair between his mother and teammate Delonte West. I dismissed this story as absolute rubbish when it first started making the rounds in May. But the stench of James' departure has given it new legs. Former NBA star Calvin Murphy went on ESPN radio in Houston in May and said that not only was it true, but that the only people who didn't know about it were he and James. Murphy said James found out sometime between games three and four in Boston and that this sunk the team's chemistry. Is this plausible? Something certainly changed during that time. How does James singlehandedly destroy the Celtics in game three, play marginally in game four and then just disappear in the pivotal game five?

If it's actually true that the whole team, or most of it, knew about the affair but covered it up for fear of the meltdown the truth would bring, then it is conceivable to see how James could have been motivated to want to burn the entire franchise. If there's even a shred of truth to this deplorable scenario, it's not just a dark day for Cleveland but for all of American society. This is where Cavaliers fans deserve some truth – what happened, who knew and when did they know it? Murphy also suggested that a second player was involved, which would be even more deplorable. If the story is true, Delonte West is the lowest form of garbage in all of sports. It also could lead one to ponder a conspiracy theory where someone switched placebos for his bipolar meds, which could make a mentally ill person crazy enough to do almost anything. It's interesting to note that West been persona non grata since the end of the playoffs, with all scenarios speculating that he will be traded or cut to save cap space.

But what if that story is just garbage? Plain Dealer beat writer Brian Windhorst's article suggesting that James had been planning this exit for years then takes center stage. This is a scenario with plenty of evidence that can't be ignored. The rapid deterioration of James' play between games three and five has led many fans to speculate on whether James might have tanked the Boston series to grease his way out of town. Because if you win a title, the only honorable thing to do is defend it. At the time, I felt his poor play must have been due to the elbow injury that he tried to deny, yet which had become a prime topic of speculation. It seemed like it all of a sudden prevented him from being able to make jumpers, allowing the Celtics to sag on defense and shut down the Cavaliers' entire offensive flow. But many seemed to feel that James just quit, that he showed a decided lack of effort. Cavaliers fans deserve the TRUTH! Don't tell us we can't handle it. Dan Gilbert's letter hinted that some hidden truths will soon be revealed, so this story remains a tantalizing one to follow.

The bottom line now is that James just added The Decision to Cleveland's long list of sports heartbreaks. Dan Gilbert's letter suggested that James will be taking the Cleveland Curse with him to South Beach and Cavaliers fans can only pray that this will be true. But Gilbert will be hard pressed to back up his guarantee that the Cavaliers will win a title before the Heat do. Maybe James gets his rings in Miami, but they won't ever shine as bright as the treasure he could have earned in Cleveland. James should have listened to Byron Scott on that, but he clearly doesn't have as much soul as the team's new head coach. James has shown himself to be like school on Saturday – no class.

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