I know, I know, many in the media are chiding the fans in Cleveland to stop belaboring LeBron James’ departure and “move on” with their lives. Of course, to be precise, the harsh reality of existence is that none of us can do anything else but move on with our lives, no matter how hard we try not to. Still, as far as moving on regarding James — not a chance. Anyway, my personal motto has always been, “Show me a dead horse and I’ll start beating it.”
Last week, after his Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals, the self-styled “Chosen One” crouched motionless on the court — as if he had just gone through the Passion of the Christ — before slowly rising and finding his way to the post-game podium and issuing a mealy-mouthed “apology” to the Cleveland fans for the manner in which he left last July.
However, by focusing on the inappropriateness of his tacky, televised “Decision” as the reason to apologize, James and his toadies are missing the point. What James needs to do is get down on his knees and beg forgiveness for flat-out quitting in last year’s series against the Celtics. He needs to come clean and admit that he stopped trying, that he gave up, that he whimpered “uncle” without a fight — and then he needs to explain why.
After that, he needs to fess up as to how and when he began colluding with Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the greasy, Gordon Gekko-like Pat Riley to join together and play for the Heat. And then he needs to explain why he lied about “waking up on the morning” of the day he announced his choice and then-and-only-then finalizing his “Decision.” In other words, he needs to admit he’s a quitter, a liar and a fraud. That’s the only thing I want to hear come out of his prevaricating pie-hole.
Of course, peeling away the layers of diversion and deceit that pad LeBron’s persona isn’t made any easier by people like ESPN’s serial James-apologist Chris Broussard. I listened to him on WKNR radio the day after James’ post-game “apology.” Even before the word “quit” was mentioned to him, Broussard asserted that he didn’t believe LeBron threw in the towel against Boston last year. Instead, he offered that James’ non-effort in that series was due to him being in a “funk.”
Say what? Aside from the sad fact that using that particular word in association with LeBron’s yellow-bellied antics last year will certainly have James Brown twitching in his grave, I guess Broussard would also argue that what Roberto Duran meant to say when he quit against Sugar Ray Leonard was “Funk Mas.” Or that when Japan and Germany surrendered in World War II, they waved the funk flag. And that when Sarah Palin resigned as governor of Alaska she really didn’t quit in mid-term, she simply felt the funk and it freed her.
The refusal of hosts Kenny Roda and Michael Reghi to call Broussard out for his weasel-wording made the situation even worse and speaks to how local talkers rarely challenge national guests in a forceful manner. Earlier, WKNR’s Aaron Goldhammer — a Denver transplant — told ESPN’s SportsCenter that LeBron’s apology might be good enough to soothe the fans in our fair city, an assertion which tells you all you need to know about how little the figure-skating Goldhammer understands about the heart and soul of Clevelanders.
That same day, one of the hosts of WKNR’s “X’s and O’s With the Pros” waxed so poetically about the miraculous transformation of James that it felt like he was describing how the heavens opened up and, at long last, revealed to LeBron how much he truly loved his ex-teammates, Northeast Ohio and the Cavalier fans. This particular yakker apparently had interpreted LeBron’s premature championship-ejaculation as having liberated the King to breathe forth the warm, healing breeze of reconciliation and love in the form of a self-indulgent apology.
Of course, what the James-intoxicated host failed to mention was that LeBron had also said in a post-game interview that he was compelled to leave Cleveland once he had finally realized that he couldn’t win a championship “by myself.” I’m sure James, fueled by an unflattering persecution complex that rears its ugly head from time to time, believes that this direct slap at his former teammates somehow hurts him more than it hurts them.
Breaking through the din of lies and squirmy euphemisms used to obscure the reality that LeBron gave up on his teammates and fans in a gutless fashion and had been plotting — perhaps for years — to leave Cleveland is the sports version of trying to sway Holocaust deniers. Aside from the Plain Dealer‘s lion-in-winter Bill Livingston, who has hammered away relentlessly at LeBron for being a quitter for the past year, why large numbers of media members are not screaming the Q-word at the top of their lungs is a mystery to me.
The really sad part of this whole rotten saga is that, instead of all fingers pointing at James’ mendacity and craven playoff tank job, the Cavalier organization has been faulted for both “enabling” James and not surrounding him with enough talent to win a title. And the fans themselves have been consistently characterized as being so desperate and suffocating that their neediness choked the life out of the put-upon man-child, forcing him to leave when he so earnestly wanted to stay.
We’re talking sports here, so this Orwellian rewriting of history in which the victims are blamed while James’ subterfuge is glazed over is not really what could be called a tragedy. But it definitely is enough to make you sick.
Larry Durstin is an independent journalist who has covered politics and sports for a variety of publications and websites over the past 20 years. He was the founding editor of the Cleveland Tab and an associate editor at the Cleveland Free Times. Durstin has won 12 Ohio Excellence in Journalism awards, including six first places in six different writing categories. LarryDurstinATyahoo.com.
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4 Responses to “Instead of Apologizing, LeBron Needs to Come Clean”
Pat Mackin
Jim Bouton wrote in “Ball Four”, “It never hurts to apologize, especially if you don’t mean it.” Bobby Kennedy said, “Forgive your enemies but remember their names.” I can move on, but my moving on I mean that I’ve moved on to the first place Indians so that I have no time or interest for James and the Heat.
Hank Wait
Regardless of what LeBron said everyone in Cleveland still wants him to lose to Chicago.
Westside Sue
Even if Lebron ends up with a “ring” for each of his 10 fingers, I believe he will still always be a quitter, liar and a fraud, just like you said. And that spells loser to me. Okay, now I’m over it!
Patrick Owen
I can understand his giving up against Boston. He was getting beat and he was leaving. But I can’t forgive him for giving up and quiting his Cleveland/Akron fans. And with the regards to the way he “dissed” us, ……good bye, good riddance. (By the way, his mind was made up that he was leaving when he filed with the NBA March 2, 2010 that he was changing his number from 23 to 6.)