(04-17-2014 08:12 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote: I get so sick of the boo hooing about Cleveland. Players change teams all the time. Free agency exists. Why does Cleveland think they are immune to it. I am not a Lebron fan, but respect his talent. He made a career decision just like other athletes have done.
I blame "the decision" hype on ESPN as much as Lebron. There was just as much hype about where Manning was going, but there is no backlash over that.
Prefacing this by saying that I am largely over the Lebron hate.
That said, you clearly do not "get it" if you think that people were upset because Lebron left Cleveland. People were upset because of what a drama queen he was toward the end of the playoffs, his role in getting Brown fired before he left for Miami, "The Decision," the "I'm taking my talents..." line, the infamous "not one, not two, not three, not four..." party, and the commercials in which he pretended to embrace the hate despite clearly being hurt by it. He came off like a needy, petulant little child with a colossal sense of self-importance/entitlement.
I have no doubt that Lebron would handle things completely differently now. He has matured A LOT since then and he has come a long way in repairing his image. It will still be a long time before a lot of people stop seeing the whiny, attention-seeking 25-year-old Lebron, though.
"The Decision" is likely the biggest PR disaster ever by an athlete. While a lot of people blame ESPN (and they deserve a share of it), Lebron's camp had to agree to do it. I'm still convinced that Lebron was largely a victim of some very, very bad advice from someone close to him. Despite all of the reports before the show, I did not believe he was leaving Cleveland until the words came out of his mouth because I thought there was NO WAY he would have had that show to announce he was leaving his hometown team. I'll be damned if he did, though.
