LeBron Goes to Miami, Feels the Heat from Cleveland

Lebron James has finally made his choice, but was it the right one?

As most of America saw lat night, the No. 1 free agent in the NBA market made his decision where he would play hoops next year. LeBron James has hijacked the headlines recently with all the speculation of where he would go next year and play Basketball. Some people though he would stay with his home town team, and have ownership build a team around him so he could finally bring a championship to Cleveland. But some people knew better. Unfortunately for the city of Cleveland their savior was a 25 year old man, who wants what every High School educated 25 year old wants, the lime light, money, and notoriety. Like most 25 year old men LeBron doesn't have the patients or thinks he has the time to wait for Cleveland to give him what he needs to win the hardware.

Outside of the Basketball prowess lets talk about what LeBron James is. Yes Basketball has given him everything, and due to Basketball he has been able to accomplish a lot, but lets look at the man without it. James grew up in Akron Ohio which is 39 miles from downtown Cleveland. Making it fair to say that he grew up his whole life as a Cavs fan. James' father was an ex con who was never around and he was raised by just his mother. he attended St. Vincents High School in Akron. So from this point on in life it is fair to say that he probably has never left the state of Ohio, maybe even Akron. Then After High School James decided to not go to College and continue his education, he instead decided to take a high paying job in his home state of Ohio in the near by city of Cleveland. Now after 7 years James starts look around for other opportunities and because he has done so well at his first job out of High School other companies want him really badly to come and work for them. Lots of these companies can offer James the same amount of money but at one particular company he has two friends that are already employed, one that has been there for a few years and another that just got hired. James knows that when he is with these other tow guys he has done great work in the past, so he decides he will take his skills to Florida. He has never lived in Florida, and looks at this a great opportunity to make more money and live somewhere new. When you take Basketball out of the equation it makes it sound more like me and my buddies then LeBron and his.

I don't blame LeBron for leaving Cleveland and going Miami, I really don't. Look at those two cities. Miami is an amazingly beautiful hot bed, and Cleveland is cold and boring. Then when you look at the teams its a no brainer. He could play with a couple of guys that also made the Olympics in Miami, or go play with a couple of guys who could be confused for guys playing int he Special Olympics. By LeBron joining the Heat he has created a real life Harlem Globetrotters. This team will walk over the majority of the Eastern Conference and the league. teams like LA and our beloved Celts will clearly give them a ruin for their money if not a lose or two, but the rest if the league will definitely look like a JV squad. Its not a question of will this team win championships its a question of how many and when will they win their first.

The problem that LeBron has put himself in, and that he won't realize until he is at least 30 is that he has tainted his legacy forever. No matter how many championships and titles he wins, people will always remember this moment. People will remember how he crushed a city with one career move, and how he act as though he is bigger than the league, and the game itself by putting on this circus know as "The Decision". I don't care about LeBron, I never did and I never will. But i am not from Cleveland (thank god) so i don't really understand how bad it feels to have one of your own turn his back on you. LeBron was Ohio. He was born there, he lived his whole life there, played his High School ball there, and even played in and won the MVP Trophy of the McDonald High School All Americans in Ohio. When Cleveland drafted LeBron in 2003 they felt that they were getting the one guy that would never leave them, and the one guy who truly understood what it was like to be from that area. But what they forgot was that LeBron is just a 25 year old kid with the world in the palm of his hand. He doesn't have the foresight to see that staying in Cleveland and winning a championship there would have meant so much more to him, the city, and his legacy. Player today don't stay with teams anymore the way they used to. Most of the time its not up to them, but when it is you hope as a sports fan that they will choice to stay. LeBron had the opportunity to stay in one place for his whole career and make just as much money as he is going to make in Miami but he just didn't get it. He allowed himself to become just another commodity, and robbed himself of his own legacy.