a mumble and a murmur...

Everyone awaited to hear the news of the young, yet older more sagacious Lebron James and his decision on free agency. It was touted by ESPN as...wait for it...The Decision. Ha! Yeah...that's our ESPN.

When the final question was posed Live on-air of course, Mr. James announced that he would be joining two other NBA superstars (Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, respectively) down in South Beach; Miami people! Miami!

He further shared his nostalgia with the world re: leaving Cleveland and moving on. And yet, ESPN had the audacity to showcase a clip of James' #23 jersey being burned post-announcement in some field in Cleveland. Tactful? No. Classy. No. Trying to get a rise out of Lebron James? Priceless.

Mr. James did none of the above and became the exemplum we all had hoped. No ire here, but one can believe he felt it. Then came the Cleveland fans and shouts of betrayal and the like. Puh--lease! This man took a city like Cleveland and for seven fat years took it to new heights; however, there will be seven lean years to come that is for sure!

All of this aside--I have no problem with any of it until I came across the following news piece and quote from the AP:

'LeBron James needs to go to another team with two superstars already so he can win a championship. We will win a championship before [the Heat] do.'

Ok. No problem with that so far. But then came this:

In a phone interview with the AP, Gilbert says "people have covered up for [James] for way too long. Tonight we saw who he really is."

Gilbert says James quit on the Cavs during their second-round series against the Boston Celtics, who rallied from a 2-1 deficit to eliminate Cleveland.

"He quit," Gilbert said. "Not just in Game 5, but in Games 2, 4 and 6. Watch the tape. The Boston series was unlike anything in the history of sports for a superstar."

And then it hit me. Mr. James took a serious pay cut (so it was not about the money); he tried to acquire Carols Boozer to come to the Cavaliers, but Boozer was not interested in trading Cleveland for Chicago. No way! And still, he held a one hour special where knowingly there would be sponsors and the like waiting on bended knee for Mr. James' announcement; the end result, ALL proceeds would go to benefit The Boys and Girls Club (BGC); further, The University of Phoenix would award an additional $500,000 to BGC and five scholarships to boot! I mean what a bad guy, right? Wrong!

If there was ever a time in NBA history where the likes of such a free agent could condescend and look over his rose colored Pradas it would be Lebron James! At this time for this moment before these fans--it would be capitalism and business and all of the marxist political philosophies et al. But not Mr. James. How about Mr. Gilbert? The President of the Cleveland Cavaliers ends up looking like (to me at least, and perhaps others with class and ethical decorum) the rotten, sore loser.

Mr. Dan Gilbert it is you sir who has disgraced the face of your team; you are to blame for your candid, sourpus remarks; and the whole world was and is watching to see, to hear what other audacious remarks you can make for losing a stellar exemplum to the game. I was not a Lebron fan, and am certainly not a Dan Gilbert supporter, but the former has MY respect and the latter can...hmph...not even worth it.