The Begatting of a Superstar

LBJ has fallen from grace. No, not the former president. The King, L. James has left the building.

I wasn't going to comment on this as it has unfolded but it just doesn't want to leave the airways. I am not a viewer of pro basketball. As it is I haven't watched more than fifteen minutes of a pro game (combined) in the last decade. It does not interest me. I know the participants and the teams due to the fact that I am a regular listener of sports-talk radio. And, alas the former king is a resident of my home state.

I don't care that he has vacated his position as king and savior. He is in a business and as an employee should look out to better his position. As a rule I don't think that theory naturally applies to major superstars who will make more money for a partial season's work than I will see in my lifetime. Still, on the surface I don't deride him for changing teams as that is the common state of professional sports in our day and age. No longer do stars complete their careers with the teams they started with. Cleveland, get over it.

That's on the surface. As I have listened to the debate drone on, the one thing I haven't heard from anyone in the media is this: LeBron James built his entire status as the savior of the Cavs, the hometown hero, the man who would pull the city of Cleveland into New York status. He labored for seven years, not nearly an entire career then took his ball and went home. Well, actually he went to warm sandy beaches.

For that reason I don't blame the fans of Cleveland for wanting to burn his house to the ground. He created his status not only on the court but by his words to his fans and the city that they were the most important thing in his life and his career, then just up and left in a gregarious way. If he had not cultivated this savior status he would be no different than any other player. But he did. For that reason the fans of Cleveland sports have every right to be enraged at his actions.