THE BIG SELLOUT

Silverback

@beare said:
LEBRON WILL PROVE HIS WORD MENT NOTHING HES A FRAUD A QUIET AND A SELLOUT!!!!!

He took less money to go elsewhere, and didn't even request a sign and trade that would have netted him more more. By definition, he did not "sell ouy". It wasn't about the money.

HAS lebron forgotten that gilbert ferry went out and acquired talent and in the end it was LEBRON who QUIT on the team!!!!

Lebron's total supporting cast is far worse than any other contender. They had 7 years to build around him and still dont have a legit star besides Lebron.

HAS lebron forgot that hes nothing without the fans WHAT A SELLOUT!!!

Without the fans he's still a multi-millionairre and one of the greatest athletes on the face of the planet. There will be plenty of fans for him in Miami.

TO go on national tv to slap the organization and the cleveland fans in the face is the most classless thing ive ever saw in sports!!!!!

He never slapped anyone in the face. If you were offered a better job in a better city, you'd take it too.

shepwrite

Oh, he's a sports villain now, for damn sure. No possibility of being a hero. He's about to be known as Everything That's Wrong With Sports.

shepwrite

Well, get ready for a lot more of this seething hatred:

http://www.cleveland.com/livingston/index....reasons_it.html

Vagitron

@shepwrite said:
Oh, he's a sports villain now, for damn sure. No possibility of being a hero. He's about to be known as Everything That's Wrong With Sports.

You're totally off base. He'll be a villain in Cleveland. He took less money and less of a role to win championships. How is it everything that is wrong about sports and not everything that is right about sports? Winning championships. He went to Miami to WIN and you have to understand that was a tough decision for him. Do you think he likes seeing his jersey burned? He almost broke down on national television when he first talked to Mike Wilbon. You can be bitter but don't be a dumb f.uck.

manbearpig

I would love to hear what his former team mates have to say about all this.

cambridgeho

Rorbotron said:
You're totally off base. He'll be a villain in Cleveland. He took less money and less of a role to win championships. How is it everything that is wrong about sports and not everything that is right about sports? Winning championships. He went to Miami to WIN and you have to understand that was a tough decision for him. Do you think he likes seeing his jersey burned? He almost broke down on national television when he first talked to Mike Wilbon. You can be bitter but don't be a dumb f.uck.

I agree, but to leave after your GM and owner let you pretty much hand pick who you wanted the last few years and costing us draft picks after draft picks and then not committing further making it harder to get more people. The BIG 3 have had this planned for awhile now and Lebron straight up lied to all his fans.

manbearpig

@cambridgeho said:
I agree, but to leave after your GM and owner let you pretty much hand pick who you wanted the last few years and costing us draft picks after draft picks and then not committing further making it harder to get more people. The BIG 3 have had this planned for awhile now and Lebron straight up lied to all his fans.

By waiting to leave until after his high-profile basketball camp in his hometown of Akron, by surrounding himself there with current and former Cavs teammates, and by scheduling a one-hour national cable "event" just to exploit this city's suffering, he hit the trifecta in deplorable behavior.

He had before invoked all the connotations of home, only to leave it. He had before summoned an image of family, only to reject it. He had before cherished loyalty, only to betray it. He wears "Family" and "Loyalty" tattoos on his torso. Dermabrasion, please. The sooner, the better.

got that from http://www.cleveland.com/livingston/index....reasons_it.html

cambridgeho

@manbearpig said:
By waiting to leave until after his high-profile basketball camp in his hometown of Akron, by surrounding himself there with current and former Cavs teammates, and by scheduling a one-hour national cable "event" just to exploit this city's suffering, he hit the trifecta in deplorable behavior.
He had before invoked all the connotations of home, only to leave it. He had before summoned an image of family, only to reject it. He had before cherished loyalty, only to betray it. He wears "Family" and "Loyalty" tattoos on his torso. Dermabrasion, please. The sooner, the better.

got that from http://www.cleveland.com/livingston/index....reasons_it.html

He was a snake to us and we got bitten. 7 years we have been not to bad of a team and the last 2 with the best record in the NBA, our team has a new coach and the same players minus Shaq, He never wanted to be back here from the begining. He is young and wanted the Miami night life , even though he has some kids. Its time to move on and look past this knife twist in the back.

htownbrown

This just proves all along he had no balls. He just cant handle pressure like the greats. He wants to be led, not be the leader. Not that he will be ignored but that is still Wade's team. He didn't even have the balls to tell Wade to do this in a spot where they all would start fresh. Wade is the ringleader in this joke. Lebron is his bitch now. Just stupid!

If they don't win it all at least once, this will be the stupidest move EVER! Makes me wonder if he tanked the playoffs this year to use the lame excuse that he is leaving "to win"! I'm mean its not like he cared. The phantom arm injury....the lack of desire toward the end? I dunno!! I mean when you think about it.....if he really wanted to go play doctor with Wade's balls all along and say the Cavs won it all this year......what possible reason would he have to leave the town that brought him a title and was giving him Hummers since he was in HS. I wouldn't even think that way if they didn't hatch this plan 2 years ago!

I'm really not mad that he left....hell if we talked those guys into coming here we would be celebrating right now. Its just wasn't done right.

Oh and if Delonte really boned his mom then he is now my favorite on the team and he should NEVER be traded or let go as a way to say F-U dickface. In fact give him the number 23 and hire a Lebron mom lookalike to wipe him off and give him massages when he goes to the bench. And before the game will have her do lines of leftover chaulk that he was supposed to throw in the air.

manbearpig

@htownbrown said:
0
This just proves all along he had no balls. He just cant handle pressure l/ike the greats. He wants to be led, not be the leader. Not that he will be ignored but that is still Wade's team. He didn't even have the balls to tell Wade to do this in a spot where they all would start fresh. Wade is the ringleader in this joke. Lebron is his bitch now. Just stupid!

If they don't win it all at least once, this will be the stupidest move EVER! Makes me wonder if he tanked the playoffs this year to use the lame excuse that he is leaving "to win"! I'm mean its not like he cared. The phantom arm injury....the lack of desire toward the end? I dunno!! I mean when you think about it.....if he really wanted to go play doctor with Wade's balls all along and say the Cavs won it all this year......what possible reason would he have to leave the town that brought him a title and was giving him Hummers since he was in HS. I wouldn't even think that way if they didn't hatch this plan 2 years ago!

I'm really not mad that he left....hell if we talked those guys into coming here we would be celebrating right now. Its just wasn't done right.

Would you leave a job that had a ten story tall banner that said "I love you" and had your picture on it? (not to mention the job paid you MILLIONS...)?? I wouldn't.

cambridgeho

Is that sign still there?

manbearpig

@cambridgeho said:
Is that sign still there?

Oh god I hope not! Who ever owned or paid for it should have it shredded and mixed in with the next batch of charmin. Hell, I am surprised the building hasn't been burnt down.

manbearpig

Hey at least we (and everyone else who watches the NBA) can all remember how good he was in his last game playing at home here in Cleveland! What a superstar!!!

manbearpig

haha here you go. http://freshbrewedtees.bigcartel.com/produ...ns-in-cleveland You can get your Quitness t-shirts now.. and one dollar goes to benefit Cleveland. This isn't spam, the guys that have been supporting "The King" (of traitors) all year long make these things lean and green. I for one wont buy one but that's because I never have or will buy anything Lebron. My favorite Cav always has been and always will be BIG Z! (Love you too Andy!!)

hoorta

@cambridgeho said:
Is that sign still there?

Damn security was there to ensure it's proper removal.

I would hope that it doesn't see the sun come up. As I said elsewhere, may it be used a primer for the cathartic burn the Traitors stuff party on Public Square.

hoorta

Rorbotron said:
You're totally off base. He'll be a villain in Cleveland. He took less money and less of a role to win championships. How is it everything that is wrong about sports and not everything that is right about sports? Winning championships. He went to Miami to WIN and you have to understand that was a tough decision for him. Do you think he likes seeing his jersey burned? He almost broke down on national television when he first talked to Mike Wilbon. You can be bitter but don't be a dumb f.uck.

LeBron is certainly a Dumb F**k if he thinks the fans are going to respect him here when he returns.

I'm sure not a Dumb F**K, but I know one thing for sure- LeGone James is a shallow self aggrandizing LeFraud. I'll put the shoe on the other foot (and you really can't) if Crosby pulled this same shit in a few years, you gonna think he's A-1? Oh, he's not even from Pittsburgh-and Syd the Kid at least won you a Championship- it ain't even in the same universe of betrayal.

BigBrownsFan

People jumping all over his crap amazes me..... what exactly has Gilbert done to help LeBron? Antwan Jamison? Delonte West? Varejo and his floppy hair? Please... Michael Jordan didnt start winning titles until he had legit help in the form of Pippen and Rodman. Hell Paul Pierce couldnt do it himself until the Celtics went out and got Garnett and Allen, and by drafting Rondo. Gilbert has nobody to blame but himself..... who did he lure via free agency to entice LeBron to stay? Answer - NOBODY.

Gilbert to me seems more of a self-centered crybaby jerk of a person than LeBron ever will.......

Time to move on...... and I guarantee you the Cavs will NOT win an NBA title before LeBron quits playing...... plain and simple. And this coming from a Cavs fan..... it is what it is.

CLEVELandMILIDH

By Zac Jackson

Fox Sports Ohio

July 9, 2010

AKRON -- Dear LeBron:

First things first. Why couldn't you have killed the Celtics the way you killed Northeast Ohioans Thursday night?

We've turned on our televisions and seen you do magical things on the basketball floor. We've seen your gifts, your smile, your thunderous dunks and your ability to handle most things with the poise and maturity of someone well beyond your 25 years -- especially someone who endured the things you endured growing up. We all know your story; we all felt that would make the eventual Hollywood ending here even more special.

We really, foolishly believed that the team concept in which you were raised -- families taking you in, AAU coaches glad to have you around because you appreciated people and the game, your mom working to keep you and keep you happy and healthy, Keith Dambrot challenging you while providing a platform -- would mean something more as you made the toughest decision of your life, the one that ended with you choosing to leave your business unfinished and goals unreached here, instead going to Miami to play with your buddies in an attempt to prove you're bigger than the cities who raised, nurtured and worshiped you.

Oh, you've got a "team" now. You referenced them four or five times in your press conference when the 2010 season ended. Right now they're in the cabana next to you, ordering tall drinks and talking on their cell phones. You're getting the bill for both.

You can afford it. You have the money, and the fame, and all the limelight. All the headlines. Millions and millions watched you talk about you Thursday night, watched you announce that you were doing "what was best for LeBron James" and "what would make LeBron James happy."

Those are actual quotes. One of the most gifted passers in the history of the game is one of the most selfish people in the history of the game. You're a walking triple-double but also a walking contradiction, have been since you started getting so big for your own britches that your friends started fitting in there, too. Maybe one of them did that "loyalty" tattoo himself.

I was there before it was LeBronMania, a guy either buying a ticket or flashing a press pass to see you play. It's not your fault that the Sonny Vaccaro-types were quickly following your every move and that they came not only bearing gifts but promises. If anything you handled it well, continually adding to and refining your game and taking every challenge that came your way. But before long the innocence of you and your young St. Vincent-St. Mary High School teammates trying to slay Oak Hill Academy was lost. The games became more like events; everywhere you went, a circus followed. People snuck into practice and asked for autographs. The media that inquired about you soon knew almost every detail about your story; by the time you made the cover of Sports Illustrated, your school trumped you as not only a great player but an honor roll student.

By staging high school basketball games in 11 different states and on regional pay-per-view television, St. V-M was making big-time money off of you before you were (officially) making money off of you. It wasn't bad enough that your mom was running on to the floor at games or taunting opposing fans with a cardboard cutout of your face; it's that of all the agents and runners and "somebodies" that came around and got her attention, none of them ever presented a thought or a plan that included consequences. At one game, former Cavaliers forward Darius Miles showed up in the front row...wearing a Darius Miles jersey. He was a total clown.

Who knew nine years later you'd be out-clowning him, on a much bigger stage, with an ESPN special known as "The Decision." It was a show and concept that looked like it was put together by a guy who took a semester's worth of marketing classes at the University of Akron before he was hired away by Nike, given the job of telling you how great you are so you'd eventually sign with Nike.

Oh, that's exactly what it was. Anyway...

This monster that's become you, it's far from all your fault. See? It can be traced back years, and the blame can certainly be shared. By lots of people. I know guys with much less money and ability than you that sometimes have God Complexes; it happens when money and power are involved. It's just a shame that for all your accomplishments, you're still making silly, youthful mistakes. Ones that are going to haunt you for years and years.

I remember way back -- before you got really big -- you were answering newspaper guys' questions about fulfilling your dreams, about moving your mom out of Spring Hill Apartments and into the NBA high life. You said something to the effect of "Ain't no good houses in Akron anyway," meaning you were thinking bigger than your hometown. You were taken task for it in the newspaper, and you apologized. You learned from it. Hey, if I had a dollar for every stupid thing I said in high school I'd have a personal motorcade, too.

But now, a decade later, we come to find there really ain't no good enough for you here, not even with the way the Cavaliers constantly rolled and re-rolled the red carpet for you. Not with a fan base that supported you, sweated with you, bought into (figuratively and with their hard-earned money) whatever you were selling.

I've always thought you could do a little better in the role model department, too, since there are about 40 million kids who love watching you play basketball. For all your on-court greatness, you should have never left that court in Orlando without shaking hands. Now, except for the fact that impressionable kids are always watching, I never minded your dancing during blowout victories. But what about your responsibility to the kids who wear the shoes, the gear, fight over the #23 on jersey handout day, warm up for their AAU games by shooting underhand one-handers from halfcourt and throw powder in their kitchen? You paid people to handle your other responsibilities, but that one went pretty neglected.

Sure, your free-agent status was earned. And it meant you were free to explore, to further market yourself, to taste every bit of being free. No one can begrudge you for doing that and thinking you've found a place that will make you happier than you were when you had anything you'd ever want or need here. But to have your buddies call the Cavaliers, for you not to return any of Dan Gilbert's calls after Gilbert gave carte blanche to every member of Team LeBron and repeatedly paid NBA fines for your team wearing unapproved uniforms because you wanted to wear them or model a new shoe? I'm not saying Gilbert's letter was the most well thought-out gesture, but I understand.

Here's your best quote from last night, LeBron: "I know how loyal I am." You made the honor roll despite being absent on Accountability Day and Reality Day. Impressive.

Your little TV spectacle already one-upped your new superstar teammates, too, a day after they'd announced their plans to play with the Heat. We'll see how that act plays over the long term in Miami-Wade County, not to mention how your posse handles places with no last-calls and no people from the neighborhood except themselves.

I don't know the exact roots of the King James stuff and the Christ-like poses, but if I remember correctly you were introducing yourself to people as "King" before you were out of high school. Considering you were living in Spring Hill but driving a $50,000-plus Hummer, rolling with diamond earrings and three cell phones and had lawyers run to rescue your high school eligibility after you took two throwback jerseys from an adoring store manager, I understand. You were the one above the rules. You were the Chosen 1 -- at least that's what your back tattoo says.

Here in Northeast Ohio we absolutely hate that you quit -- sorry, there's no better way to say it -- on your coach, your teammates and the Cavaliers' organization at the end of this year's Boston series. We saw you again two weeks later begging for attention on stage at the Drake concert and then heard you chat with Larry King, but you were otherwise silent. No comment at camp in Akron. No comment at the Cleveland free-agency meetings, not even a wave to the hundreds of gathered fans in your gear outside the IMG Building. Who needs them, anyway? They're just people.

You previously told those plebeians that you appreciated them, that you wanted them along for the ride as you chased championships here. Matter of fact, at the MVP ceremony just two months ago you said chasing those championships here was your ONLY goal. Then you quit. And you left. Your permanent file surely includes moments of greatness, basketball moves that most couldn't dream of pulling off, but it also includes empty promises -- "I won't go ring-chasing" is what you said in 2006 -- and your last home game ever as a Cavalier, Game Five vs. Boston.

That's an incomplete at best, LeBron. A rough teacher would give you an F.

And here we thought you were on the honor roll.

miktoxic

@bigbrownsfan said:
People jumping all over his crap amazes me..... what exactly has Gilbert done to help LeBron? Antwan Jamison? Delonte West? Varejo and his floppy hair? Please... Michael Jordan didnt start winning titles until he had legit help in the form of Pippen and Rodman. Hell Paul Pierce couldnt do it himself until the Celtics went out and got Garnett and Allen, and by drafting Rondo. Gilbert has nobody to blame but himself..... who did he lure via free agency to entice LeBron to stay? Answer - NOBODY.
Gilbert to me seems more of a self-centered crybaby jerk of a person than LeBron ever will.......

Time to move on...... and I guarantee you the Cavs will NOT win an NBA title before LeBron quits playing...... plain and simple. And this coming from a Cavs fan..... it is what it is.

why don't you and michael smith and chris broussard of espn go off in a corner and have a circle jerk? jerk. this guy who went on every fxxking sports show before leaving saying "i grew up here, i know what it means to the city of cleveland blah blah blah". how about the lebron playing for the browns tv commercial? if anyone doesn't understand the serious betrayal true fxxking fans of CLEVELAND feel right now then you don't fxxking belong there. i don't even live there but breathe and bleed anything cleveland and ohio. cleveland state, ohio state, kent state, browns/indians/cavs.......let alone hs football.

bigbrownsfan? really? how about big blow hard. dick!

The Gipper

Rorbotron said:
You're totally off base. He'll be a villain in Cleveland. He took less money and less of a role to win championships. How is it everything that is wrong about sports and not everything that is right about sports? Winning championships. He went to Miami to WIN and you have to understand that was a tough decision for him. Do you think he likes seeing his jersey burned? He almost broke down on national television when he first talked to Mike Wilbon. You can be bitter but don't be a dumb f.uck.

Actually, from all the stuff I have seen and read, he is pretty much being blasted everywhere, and not just Cleveland, NY, Chicago and NJ, teams that he rebuffed to go to Miami. I have heard it from places like Minnesota, Oklahoma, Seattle, LA, Boston etc. etc. Most of it has to do with him rejecting his home town after paying so much lip service to it for so long. A little has to do with not choosing their city to come play. The rest of it has to do with how he orchestrated this whole thing and what a prima donna he appeared to be by having to have an hour special on ESPN.