LeBron James Thanks Cleveland Fans
by FTSmatt on Aug 7, 2010 4:04 PM CDT
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PrintCleveland fans received a long awaited thank you from former Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James as he made his first public appearance since signing with the Miami Heat last month.
During James' annual "King for Kids" charity bike-a-thon held in his hometown of Akron, James took the podium and addressed the surprisingly friendly crowd of four hundred.
"To the city of Cleveland, my fans in Cleveland, my fans in northeast Ohio," said James, "I want to say thank you for the last seven years and the years that continue to go in the future."
Just last week James had taken out a full page a full page newspaper ad in the Akron Beacon Journal where he thanked the city of Akron for all its support while simultaneously snubbing Cleveland.
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Too little, Too Late
"There's nothing that cleanses the soul like getting the hell kicked out of you." Woody Hayes.
Come on guys
Better late than never. Let bygones be bygones.
Let’s just say people saw the ugly side of LeBron this offseason. You at least have to give him credit for wanting to give back to the kids, even if he might be faking it. It’s still effort. It’s still getting kids outdoors, as opposed to getting fat on the couch. Who knows? One of those kids could be the future star Cleveland needs.
I wish LeBron well, I wish the Cavs more. Let’s all just get along.
O Hai Thar!
You at least have to give him credit for wanting to give back to the kids
Ha. No, this is called a PR ploy. We already know he doesn’t care about anybody but himself.
And that is your right to exercise
But as I stated, PR move or not, at least it gets the kids active and not sedentary on the couch.
O Hai Thar!
+1
College basketball just became more interesting...
by allovertheplace on Aug 9, 2010 8:20 AM CDT up reply actions
Bygones will be bygones when he retires with no championships and is a broken man. Then I will agree that everything is square. Until that day … he can rot in hell.
by jsneides on Aug 8, 2010 3:00 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
First of all, once again with Lebron, who talks like that?
and the years that continue to go in the future."
by Hardcore Legend on Aug 8, 2010 12:58 AM CDT reply actions
It pains me that this story gets front-page treatment.
James thanking Cavs fans is not big Cavs news.
They all decided to go to Miami during the Summer Olympics, this has been established already and admitted by the three of them.
I don’t think they decided to go to Miami. Could have been any team with cap space for all three.
Denver: 32-32 until we're not.
…well, they decided to play together and that is definitely true.
The three played together for the first time that summer in Japan at the World Championships. For the first week, they were sequestered without family or friends in Sapporo, Japan, in an attempt to build chemistry. But it wasn’t just the players. Working as an intern for Team USA and getting to know the players was Nick Arison, the son of Heat billionaire owner Micky Arison.
Now, Nick Arison is a rising executive with the Heat. He was part of the team that recruited all three players this summer.
maybe they were not 100% set on Miami, but the seed for Miami was planted by Arison
but Riley had been watching and doing research. He knew the three wanted to play together
During a Cavs visit to Miami, Riley arranged a get together with Michael Jordan and James. Jordan, who was in town to do some Nike work with Wade, at the time did not own a majority of the Bobcats.
During the meeting, Riley talked to James about how more modern players should pay homage to Jordan. Riley always had led this effort, retiring Jordan’s No. 23 in the rafters at AmericanAirlines Arena even though Jordan never played in Miami.
After the game, and after seeing Jordan and Riley sitting together courtside, James made an emotional statement on the court that he was going to ditch jersey No. 23 out of respect to Jordan. In fact, he felt all players should stop wearing No. 23.
It was controversial and got headlines. Riley probably didn’t care so much about the statement but how his conversation obviously influenced James. It likely gave Riley confidence that he could win James over by playing to his emotions when it came time for free agency.
the only question is, is the decision to change the jersey number a sign that he had decided to go to miami? he just had a meeting with Riley AND it was mentioned (and now revealed) that they talked about Jordan and mentioned how his number was retired in Miami.
I teach good life choices. That’s why I almost didn’t graduate High School.
I appreciate Male Beauty
Intensive Purposes? I could care less...
No way in hell
To the poster up 2 slots, that’s the answer. No way in hell that Lebron leaves Cleveland if he had already won a ring.
I think if we look at the situation with our simple classes we will see how clear everything is. Lebron James has said: “i don’t want to be 31 years old, with bad knees and no rings.” Obviously, this is what he is afraid of and this is why he left the Cavs.
It’s very simple, have you ever met someone who doesn’t really care about winning/losing succeeding/failing but just cares that he is not blamed if he doesn’t win/succeed? It is like those guys that never try because they are afraid to fail. They act like it is no big deal to them and they aren’t try, so when they fail they say that i didn’t try at all, etc.
I think you know the type of people i’m talking about. This is what happened to Lebron. He is 7 years into his NBA career and he has never made a legitimate attempt at an NBA title. These last 2 years he has had the team, but they failed both times. What would you do? Well, we all know what a Michael Jordan would do, or what a Kobe would do (didn’t Kobe actually chase Shaq out of town so he could be the man, lol) —they would take the risk because they have that much belief in themselves. They don’t think that they might fail, they would rather go out with guns blazing.
Lebron though is more about the superficial. He didn’t want to take the chance of failure, so he essentially never tried. He went looking for an excuse and found it. If he failed in Cleveland, he would be the sole person with all the blame. A bust of the highest proportions. In Miami, not only is it no longer his responsibility to succeed (at least in the media’s eyes), but if he fails he fails with others (wade,bosh). Misery loves company as they say. If you had a chance to fail and fail miserably while others succeed, or fail as a group, which one would you select? Only a few of the best would rather fail alone, everyone else would rather fail with company.
Lebron couldn’t handle the pressure. He cracked. If he had a ring already, the pressure wouldn’t have pushed him to the edge. It would have given more time. He would still be in cleveland.
But then again, IF IF IF…if my aunt had a dick she’d be my uncle.
by plyka on Aug 9, 2010 1:04 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
I still thinks he’s a dick, but fake or not at least he said something. Would ya’ll rather he just kept snubbing Cleveland? It’s not going to absolve him, but at least he made some effort.
And like Lex L. said, I don’t care how much I don’t like the guy or want his career in Miami to be a failure, I would never begrudge someone for doing charity work
College basketball just became more interesting...
no, saying thanks without meaning it is worse than not saying anything at all.
I have been complimented many times and they always embarrass me; I always feel that they have not said enough.
by notthatnoise on Aug 10, 2010 12:53 PM CDT up reply actions
whatever LeBron
just STFU and stay away from NE Ohio.
C’mon, guys. LeBron just thought Cleveland was so special he wanted to do it in person. From Akron. In front of a bunch of adoring kids. To whom he had just given bicycles.
What could be more sincere than that?
"If Brown is the answer, then you’re asking the wrong question." - Ryan
maybe if they were all holding puppies … then I could forgive him
what if somebody was allergic to the puppy?
by lakerlover2by4 on Aug 11, 2010 3:58 PM CDT up reply actions
:.. and the years that go into the future…"
I hope this is what he was saying at the exact moment the picture was taken
Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping….
"If Brown is the answer, then you’re asking the wrong question." - Ryan
by woodsmeister on Aug 13, 2010 12:40 PM CDT up reply actions
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