Can You Blame Him?

My friend Carlos asked me after tonight's Heat-Cavaliers train wreck how I, as a Packers fan who was recently jilted by former franchise face Brett Favre, could take enjoyment out of watching LeBron James put on a clinic against the team he carried for seven years.

My answer was simple: it's two different situations. Brett Favre quit his job and came back to find that his spot had been taken. He became salty and made things uncomfortable so he got shipped to New York. Enraged, he tried to make things work with the Jets but clearly he was looking for whatever angle he could find that would have him getting his revenge against the team that scorned him. When the Jets let him go, he found his angle by signing with the Vikings. His intentions were obvious: He was going to make Green Bay pay. Legacy be damned. Fans be damned. Former teammates be damned.

LeBron didn't go that route. His move from Cleveland to Miami wasn't personal. He tried for the first seven years of his career to be Cleveland's savior and realized it's not a job one man alone can handle. He needed help. When nobody wanted to join him in Cleveland, he brought himself to the party in South Beach. LeBron James wanted to win. He went about it the wrong way in his big one-hour me-fest on ESPN but his intentions weren't to shove it in Cleveland's face(even if that's how Cavs fans and owner Dan Gilbert took it). I understand Cleveland's hatred for LeBron because I, too, have hatred for a former icon who went astray. However, with any form of hatred toward a superstar who may or may not have spurned you(or, really, with anyone that draws your ire), there are lines. There are boundaries. It's one thing to chant "asshole" at your former meal ticket. It's one thing to boo him and his new mates during introductions. That comes with the territory. It's entirely another thing to take pot shots at the fact the man's father left him stranded as a child. "Who's Your Daddy?" chants? "Like Father, Like Son" signs? That's a bit much. It's hard to feel sympathy for a fan base that is so quick to strike below the belt.

If anyone is deserving of Cleveland's taunts, it might have been the home team. After all, fans paid good money to come and jeer King James......only to watch the team he used to play for yuck it up with their old buddy. Here was LeBron getting booed vigorously during every touch chatting it up with guys he left stranded during the summer. How does that not chap your ass as a Cavs fan? How about a few hard fouls? Some tough defense, maybe? A little aggression, perhaps? Instead, the guys on Cleveland's bench put on their best Derek Anderson impression laughing and joking while their team was getting pounded on like Cortland Finnegan. It was the biggest disgrace to the city of Cleveland since Bone Thugs N Harmony did a duet with Phil Collins.

In losing by 28 points at home(and, at one point, being down 38) to the Heat in a game where LeBron needed just three quarters to drop 38 points, 5 boards and 8 assists, the Cavs, to me, vindicated LeBron's decision to skip town. Outside of the opening quarter, where the excitement of the crowd gave them some adrenaline, they had no punch. They had no desire to win. They looked like a group of guys wanting what LeBron wanted: to get the hell out of town. Antawn Jamison, the guy who the Cavs brought in last year as one of the missing pieces to help win a ring for the King, doesn't even start for the team anymore. He came off the bench and, outside of the first few minutes, went back to being irrelevant. Daniel "Boobie" Gibson, who came back from the dead to drop 21 points and there wasn't another Cav who scored more than 11. You're telling me LeBron was supposed to stay put and play with THESE guys? Again, I understand the Cleveland faithful still being hurt by the fresh wound of their native son leaving but, come on, if any game highlighted the lack of talent that this front office had surrounded James with over the last seven years, it was this one right here. They had 13 turnovers. They shot 35% from the field. Against a team that had been letting opponents put on a rebound frenzy all season, no Cav had more than 8 boards against the Heat. This is after guys like Tyson Chandler and Zach Randolph were looking like Moses Malone in the paint against Miami.

Perhaps the booing should have also been directed at the clean-shaven man sitting with his arms folded, courtside, behind the basket. The man who, after years of shrugging his shoulders at building a team around LeBron, tried to deflect the shit storm headed his way by writing a well-publicized letter bashing his former star so he could get the city back on his side(and it worked). The man who continues to show a McDonald's french fries type of saltiness in his recent tampering charge against the Heat. Perhaps the boos should have been directed toward owner Dan Gilbert. How can Gilbert watch this Cavs team get beat on like Antonio Margarito against Manny Pacquaio and say, with a straight face, that LeBron made the wrong decision by leaving the Cavaliers? What exactly is there to like about this team? In a offseason where there were six big names(James, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Amare Stoudemire, Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer), and a few other solid pieces(David Lee, Rudy Gay), the biggest fish Gilbert managed to reel in to replace LeBron was.............Ramon Sessions. Yes, the same Ramon Sessions who was the third best point guard on the Minnesota Timberwolves last season(and, yes, I'm counting Ricky Rubio, who didn't even dribble a ball for the T'Wolves last year).

Back to the fans for a minute, what point exactly were you trying to make by throwing shit on the court and getting ejected during the second half? I get it. LeBron left. You're pissed that you have to watch him now stomp all over the punchless remains of your favorite team, but didn't he do you a favor by not going the route that some(ok, maybe only me) would have liked him to go? If I was scripting LeBron's return to Cleveland, it would be like when "Stone Cold" Steve Austin turned heel on The Rock at Wrestlemania(cue Gabe giving me shit for the wrestling reference). There would be middle fingers in the air. I'd have him taunting the crowd. I'd have him pour that white powder into his hands and throw it dead into the face of Dan Gilbert. They would need Secret Service to walk LeBron out of Cleveland if I was running things. Instead, LeBron provided what some inside "The Q" could not: class. LeBron didn't respond to all the stupid things being yelled at him(Side note: Attempting to irritate someone by calling him "Scottie Pippen", a man who won six championships and is a Hall of Famer, when your city hasn't won squat is pretty lame on the "superstar insult" scale. Also, "Akron Hates You"? Seriously? LeBron's supposed to hurt by knowing the fourth largest city in Ohio thinks he sucks?) like Vince Young did after he got booed at home during the Redskins-Titans game. He sat out the fourth instead of pleading to go back in there and drop 60(which he very well could have done given the lack of enthusiasm the Cavs showed in guarding him). In the press conference afterward, he didn't bash those belligerent idiots who took shots at his fatherless past. He carried himself like a gentleman and he deserves a tip of the cap.

Look, I'm not a huge LeBron fan. I thought New York was the better move. I hated the fact he made his free agent signing into a televised spectacle and I find all the "Next Jordan" talk to be foolish until he wins a ring(and that's coming from someone who hates Michael Jordan), but, as someone who has been in Cleveland's shoes, it's time to shut up and get over it. Your team sucked, so your franchise player left when he had the chance. He thought the grass was greener on Miami's lawn, and after tonight, Cleveland.....can you really blame him?