Apparently, Thursday was a painfully slow sports news day. Otherwise, I can’t explain how an article titled ‘Lebron not ruling out return to Cavaliers’ pops up into my news feed, thanks to the AP.
I’m sure being an NBA beat-writer isn’t the greatest job in the world, especially in the Internet Age. There’s a ton of column space to fill, and on off days, not a heck of a lot happening outside of injury updates. Still, this?
Asked if he could play for the Cavs again, James initially paused before giving his answer.
“I don’t know. I think it would be great,” he said. “It would be fun to play in front of these fans again. I had a lot fun times in my seven years here. You can’t predict the future and hopefully I continue to stay healthy. I’m here as a Miami Heat player, and I’m happy where I am now, but I don’t rule that out in no sense.
Leaving aside the grammatical mish-mash in James’ response, (clearly, a Saint Vincent-Saint Mary’s education isn’t quite worth what it once was) really, guy, there’s nothing else you can ask?
It’s a relevant question only in that James’ and the Heat are in Cleveland, where fans haven’t been terribly kind to LeBron in his previous returns. However, let’s have a moment of honesty here: Even if James were to suddenly desire a return to Cleveland in a few years, the guy who signs the checks still has to want him back, and that seems unlikely, unless Dan Gilbert can find a bank that will cash checks printed in Comic-Sans, with a picture of a flipped middle finger on them.
It was a nice thing of LeBron to say, though, given that he has to face Cleveland fans for the third time since ‘The Decision’. If he think fans in Cleveland are going to ever open their arms to him again, he kind of has another thing coming. Cavaliers’ fans aren’t going to throw batteries at him-this isn’t Philadelphia-but it takes a pretty inflated ego to think that a whole city will just forgive and forget a spectacle like that.
Good job by the reporter though. If there’s one thing people in Cleveland love, it’s people asking LeBron James ‘Hey, remember when you did something you had every right to do, but did it in the most dick-ish way possible, and shafted an entire franchise that was built around you? That was awesome!’ Congratulations sir, I think we finally found a new host for The Chris Farley Show.
