The fan obsession mentality…
I’ve been watching the whole hoopla over LeBron James, the outrage on Facebook, the staged jersey burning for the media, the politicians pandering, the cute titles, King Shames, the vitriolic letters, the comparisons to Art Modell though describing James as “He was the fabulous curiosity, the bearded lady, the dancing bear.” made me pause…
The fact that Cleveland could lose 50 million dollars a year by James leaving says something, not necessarily about his decision to leave despite the fact it was reported that Cleveland was offering him 30 million more than Miami, it says something about the fan obsession mentality.
In theory, now scores of people will stay home, not go to a game, not go out to eat before or after because the only reason they felt the Cavs were worth watching was LeBron James…
If some of the fans are that fickle, is it surprising that the superstars like “King James” are no different when it comes to team or city loyalty? The guy that many said they needed to keep is now scum, with accusations he didn’t play hard enough, fear about riots — which never happened — though I’m sure some of the media present that inspired the jersey burning or capturing the video of one fan acting out were ready.
Maybe the Democratic Party could auction off the Ohioans Against LeBron website so someone could capitalize on anti-LeBron shirts, or bumperstickers.
The city might be reeling after his departure, but I would imagine there will be residual interest in the Cavs that exceeds the levels that preceded his tenure. Who knows, maybe the Cavs will be the next season’s dark horse/cinderella story.
July 10th, 2010 at 6:05 pmMy wife is from Cleveland, I’m from a little farm town where we only followed high school basketball so I’ve never understood the Cleveland fan mania. I mean they are professionals athletes not representing a belief system, religion, cultural group or anything else. It’s strange. They screamed death threats at Art Model when he refused to play Bernie Kosar so he took his team and left. I was like sooo! and my inlaws quit speaking to me. As for the Dems benefiting from LeBron leaving. I see a chalkboard, There’s Leman brothers, they had a Miami office, arrow here, arrow there. AH HAH, Kasich is the force behind Lebron leaving. Proof positive.
July 11th, 2010 at 7:27 pmCleveland will recover. LaBron James is just another spoiled, over-paid, over-hyped athlete.
July 14th, 2010 at 3:04 pm