The story was intended to be one sided, hence the title ‘Defending Lebron’

so you decided to ignore he other side of the story and just write a slanted editorial then? This sounds like Fox News material. Its an editorial and an opinion piece, but you also include several bits of fact in there, but only defending one side. It is in some ways less an opinion piece than slanted journalism.

Adrian Wojo article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-heatfreeagency071610

Brian Windhorst (the first one I actually juts found but it also is relevant):

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2010/07/it_was_after_lebron_james_sign.html

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2010/07/inside_the_decision_miamis_cou.html

All of these point to a guy who completely manipulated his former team possibly so he could get to his current team. There is a difference between having balls and being a straight up douche. Does TO have balls? Does Barry Bonds have Balls? Roger Clemens? All these guys are huge assholes in sports…Lebron is no smaller, so why is it just for him “having balls”. There was more than just doing something that people didn’t like. It was a pattern of inconsiderate behavior towards the cavs.

I think my of my thoughts are pretty independent.

I would have to disagree. Independent would be looking at all the facts and making a decision independently of what people think. You seem to just like bucking the trend and saying you are an “independent” but instead just are trying to choose an option that no one else chooses for the sake of making yourself look independent.

<blockquoteCongrats on your success as a class A nerd. You come on here thinking you’re the smartest person on the internet>

wow….resorting to ad hominem attacks instead of a valid point? I hate to tell ya, but a lot of people on SBN blogs are not idiots and try not to be. The internet is not just a place full of idiots…and why do you have to insult someone for intelligent reasoned argument unless you feel emasculated by it?

I can’t put myself in lebron’s shoes because I just can’t do what he did. I can’t tattoo loyalty on my arm and promise my boss the world and the simultaneously make covert plans with my friends to work together. That is not at all in my character.

Your “independent” opinion has been being voiced for the past two weeks by every other idiot who hasn’t even begun to look into the issue. Try looking in the comments section of any and every article about LeSham’s decision, there a million more just like you; uninformed and unashamed to show it.

I don’t pretend to be the smartest person on the internet. I read the articles of people who actually have more expertise, or are closer to the situation than I am. I think through the material there and then post my opinions having actually been informed.

It is you who believes that he has outsmarted us all; you who thinks that he has had the blindingly brilliant insight that

professional athlete’s owe nothing to no one except themselves

I get enough pats on the back at home and work. I post here to have an informed conversation about the Cavs with other people who actually follow them, actually know what they are talking about, and actually are willing to admit when they don’t know something.

I will leave the debate on the line by line content of your “article” to others, as they have already done a good enough job taking you to school and exposing what an uninformed ass you are.

I will say this about your “bottom line” though. Who exactly was it that helped LeEgo get where he is, if it wasn’t the fans (who paid for the tickets, jerseys and merchandise that funded his paycheck), his teammates (who passed him the ball when he wanted it and did as he commanded on the floor), his coaches (who gave him essentially player-coach level in-game decision authority), and the management and ownership of the Cavaliers (who attempted to get every player he suggested, who gave him veto authority over every personnel decision that was made, who gave jobs to his high school buddies, who built a practice facility closer to his house to cut down on his commute, and gave him anything else that he asked for that wasn’t against the rules of the league)? Who else could he possibly have owed anything to?

The sad truth is that I have spent way too much time trying to understand the issue from LeFraud’s point of view, and anyway you slice it, it was the disloyal act of a man-child so frightened that his self-image would falter if he never won a championship, that he jumped ship, left his work undone and his promises unfulfilled, and took what he perceived would be less pressure and more fun, an easy way out.

You sir are not “all about a good debate”. You came in here to stir up the hornets’ nest and tell us all that we are bitter idiots for holding our views, when those views are incomparably more informed than your own. If you want me to keep Fox News out of it, then don’t argue with the same pathetic psuedo-reasoning.

You’re an idiot

ad hominem?

I know the facts,

well you ignored every single fact that would incriminate lebron

and this article was based on my opinion. What type of research do you suggest I do

how about not write an opinion piece that is a thinly veiled ad hominem attack with no true legitimate argument…and if you want to make a legitimate argument and defend lebron on certain issues, it would be wise to actually have facts about the situation or issue.

But there’s no way Lebron and his people actually got together and said "Let’s really try to f*ck with these people

yeah…He didn’t intentionally want to screw with the cavs but just planned 2 years ago to leave, threw a playoff series to give himself an excuse to leave (this I admit is somewhat questionable), not at all contact his OWN TEAM during the whole process, and then pretty much break up with them in front of the whole US on TV without even talking to them at all…Its been months since Lebron talked to gilbert. There is no way so many malicious ‘accidents’ can all happen.

The whole free agency thing was turned into an event, so he embraced it.

You keep saying this as if it was a fact…but the facts are more than he created free agency into an event so the media embraced it.

As for the Yankees hat, that was blown way out of proportion by the media. The guy is a Yankees fan, it’s not like we was walking around town wearing a Knicks jersey

a couple things. When the yankees incident happened, Lebron had already been openly flirting WHILE UNDER CONTRACT with the knicks in subtle ways. He was flirting so much that the knicks cleared all that cap space. Lebron is a tease and this is the equivalent of someone flirting with a married man at work and saying all this sexy stuff in his ear and then when he divorces his wife, say you aren’t interested.

Also, lebron wore the hat at an indians playoff game when they were playing the yankees. Instead of supporting the hometown team and making the city think he was loyal to them, he wore a hat of their opponent. He had a good excuse since he said he was a yankees fan when he was a kid. However, he has NEVER shown any loyalty to the city of cleveland. He has loyalty from akron but he made sure to make the distinction.

All press conferences and awards ceremonies he had were not in cleveland, they were in his hometown of akron (which is just a bit south of cleveland but its own separate city). He never talked about loyalty to the city which was a sign we all missed. He was loyal to akron but when it came down to showing loyalty to the city of cleveland, he skirted the issue by doing things like the yankees hat instead of showing support to fellow cleveland athletes. He even drove Braylon Edwards out of town by making a big deal about Edwards getting into a scuffle with one of his entourage and calling Edwards ‘jealous’. These are all signs that he never really liked cleveland and was always trying to distance himself.

That list of players is pretty sad. Joe Smith and Wally Z? You really think they could be a major part of a championship rotation? Shaq and Wallace were way past their primes when they arrived. Having Antawn as your second best player wouldn’t get any team deep into the playoffs

I disagree with all of this.

Wally Z made the conference finals before and has been a key part of winning teams. Worse players have been part of championship rotations. Shaq was way past his prime but the year before he was an 18 and 8 player…he just ran into injuries last year. Having Rashard Lewis as your best player shouldn’t get you far but it got the Magic to the NBA Finals…

Looking at it objectively, Shaq, Jamison, and Mo for us last year were no worse than the combination of Jameer nelson coming off an injury in the playoffs, Hedo, and Rashard…but that was still almost a championship team. Teams have won championships with worse second players on their team…it just takes some decent coaching.