Ohioans love their sports. I know because I grew up in Akron, Ohio where the zeal for basketball and football was almost a religion---and still is. Where sports at all levels---high school, college and the pros ---attract high energy fans
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Sell-out crowds used to jam South High School’s gym (my alma mater), and Central Hower High’s, too, in basketball season. Those same folks could be counted on to fill Akron’s Rubber Bowl for football games. And it was a source of pride in Akron that the Cleveland Browns football team ---and their future Hall-of-Famer, Jim Brown--- sometimes used our stadium as their practice field.
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Sell-out crowds used to jam South High School’s gym (my alma mater), and Central Hower High’s, too, in basketball season. Those same folks could be counted on to fill Akron’s Rubber Bowl for football games. And it was a source of pride in Akron that the Cleveland Browns football team ---and their future Hall-of-Famer, Jim Brown--- sometimes used our stadium as their practice field.
Those were the days when Akron owned the title “Rubber Capital of the World. “ That reputation died a while back. But my hometown is still where the Soap Box Derby is run, going back to 1935.
And baseball? Back in the day, my family rooted for the Cleveland Indians and as a kid I got to watch Satchel Page, Larry Doby, Lou Boudreau and other legends in action. We went nuts when Cleveland won the World Series in ‘48.
So why am I reminiscing about the good old glory days of Akron and Cleveland sports? All these thoughts came flooding back as I followed reports about The Decision, that cliffhanger starring Lebron James.
The news in a nutshell: Lebron, basketball super-star who was born, raised and grew his basketball greatness in Akron, chose to exercise his free-agent option and exchange his Cleveland Cavaliers uniform for one from the Miami Heat. It’s worth mentioning here that long before the Cavs drafted Lebron right out of high school, Gus Johnson and Nate Thurman---both of them Akronites, had already preceded him into the National Basketball Association and made their homies proud.
Considering Lebron’s roots , I wasn’t surprised that he broke a lot of hearts when he announced he was hitting the highway and taking his talents to South Beach.
And I shouldn’t have been surprised that The Decision generated so much hoopla, hyperbole and yes, hypocrisy. But from the reaction, you’d have thought Lebron was ditching America to go join the Taliban in Afghanistan.
For years, sportswriters couldn't heap enough praise on Lebron, starting while he was still in high school. Basketball fans far and wide compared him to Michael and Kobe. After the Cavs drafted him, giant size Lebron billboards sprouted around Cleveland’s Q arena and local fans gobbled up seasons tickets to watch him. Anybody selling anything Cavaliers-related loved them some Lebron.
But once The Chosen One made his choice, those folks turned on him. Some of the hotheads even set their Lebron number 23 jerseys on fire, motivated perhaps by a nasty open letter from the Cavs owner in which he called Lebron everything but a child of God.
In what looked to me like a rationalization of their irrational reactions, some of Lebron’s critics said it wasn’t his departure that turned them off, but his “process” and The Decision, ESPN’s ridiculously hyped-to-the heavens television show that turned them off. They claimed that breaking the news in a cable tv "special" televised live to an audience of 10 million viewers was nothing more than a sorry display of Lebron’s massive ego.
By most assessments, The Decision was hands down the most lame tv show in history. I agree. But why blame Lebron for ESPN's ineptitude? The cable network produced and aired the show, not Lebron. It’s not his fault that ESPN padded the first half of the "special"with 4 sportscasters sitting around asking each other "What do you think Lebron's gonna do?" As if at least one of them hadn't already had that question answered by one of his "sources".
Sure, Lebron agreed to do the show, but the guy was only using and being used by the same media folks that built the pedestal he’s now standing on. They had more than a hand in making him the over-the-top super-celebrity that he has become. A mega celeb who can keep people talking and wondering "What do you think Lebron's gonna do?" for the better part of the last NBA season.
Sports columnists, experts and commentators on radio and tv fed off of Lebron speculation for months leading up to The Decision. The hype leached into most of medialand, even reaching supposedly serious news pograms.
Now, many of these same folks are among the name-callers and the critics who talk about hype and the media as if they themselves are not part of the celebrity-making process, the ones that helped turn a kid with a talent for basketball into the greatest thing since sliced bread. The media, the NBA, the marketers, the Cavaliers owners and organization---and not least of all, the fans----crowned King James---and now they're pissed because he's acting the part and speaking of himself in the third person.
The fans and the Cavs organization now damming Lebron ought to be thankful. He did, after all, give the Cavs 7 good years, led them to the NBA finals in 2007, to the best record in the league in the last 2 years, into the playoffs 5 times, to say nothing of putting Cleveland and Akron in the spotlight and back on the sportsworld map.
As for The Decision to change employers, according to Labor Department statistics, Americans aged 18 to 38 will change jobs 10 times in a lifetime. That gives Lebron 9 more times to move his talents to another workplace. It’s time to cut the guy some slack.
And baseball? Back in the day, my family rooted for the Cleveland Indians and as a kid I got to watch Satchel Page, Larry Doby, Lou Boudreau and other legends in action. We went nuts when Cleveland won the World Series in ‘48.
So why am I reminiscing about the good old glory days of Akron and Cleveland sports? All these thoughts came flooding back as I followed reports about The Decision, that cliffhanger starring Lebron James.
The news in a nutshell: Lebron, basketball super-star who was born, raised and grew his basketball greatness in Akron, chose to exercise his free-agent option and exchange his Cleveland Cavaliers uniform for one from the Miami Heat. It’s worth mentioning here that long before the Cavs drafted Lebron right out of high school, Gus Johnson and Nate Thurman---both of them Akronites, had already preceded him into the National Basketball Association and made their homies proud.
Considering Lebron’s roots , I wasn’t surprised that he broke a lot of hearts when he announced he was hitting the highway and taking his talents to South Beach.
And I shouldn’t have been surprised that The Decision generated so much hoopla, hyperbole and yes, hypocrisy. But from the reaction, you’d have thought Lebron was ditching America to go join the Taliban in Afghanistan.
For years, sportswriters couldn't heap enough praise on Lebron, starting while he was still in high school. Basketball fans far and wide compared him to Michael and Kobe. After the Cavs drafted him, giant size Lebron billboards sprouted around Cleveland’s Q arena and local fans gobbled up seasons tickets to watch him. Anybody selling anything Cavaliers-related loved them some Lebron.
But once The Chosen One made his choice, those folks turned on him. Some of the hotheads even set their Lebron number 23 jerseys on fire, motivated perhaps by a nasty open letter from the Cavs owner in which he called Lebron everything but a child of God.
In what looked to me like a rationalization of their irrational reactions, some of Lebron’s critics said it wasn’t his departure that turned them off, but his “process” and The Decision, ESPN’s ridiculously hyped-to-the heavens television show that turned them off. They claimed that breaking the news in a cable tv "special" televised live to an audience of 10 million viewers was nothing more than a sorry display of Lebron’s massive ego.
By most assessments, The Decision was hands down the most lame tv show in history. I agree. But why blame Lebron for ESPN's ineptitude? The cable network produced and aired the show, not Lebron. It’s not his fault that ESPN padded the first half of the "special"with 4 sportscasters sitting around asking each other "What do you think Lebron's gonna do?" As if at least one of them hadn't already had that question answered by one of his "sources".
Sure, Lebron agreed to do the show, but the guy was only using and being used by the same media folks that built the pedestal he’s now standing on. They had more than a hand in making him the over-the-top super-celebrity that he has become. A mega celeb who can keep people talking and wondering "What do you think Lebron's gonna do?" for the better part of the last NBA season.
Sports columnists, experts and commentators on radio and tv fed off of Lebron speculation for months leading up to The Decision. The hype leached into most of medialand, even reaching supposedly serious news pograms.
Now, many of these same folks are among the name-callers and the critics who talk about hype and the media as if they themselves are not part of the celebrity-making process, the ones that helped turn a kid with a talent for basketball into the greatest thing since sliced bread. The media, the NBA, the marketers, the Cavaliers owners and organization---and not least of all, the fans----crowned King James---and now they're pissed because he's acting the part and speaking of himself in the third person.
The fans and the Cavs organization now damming Lebron ought to be thankful. He did, after all, give the Cavs 7 good years, led them to the NBA finals in 2007, to the best record in the league in the last 2 years, into the playoffs 5 times, to say nothing of putting Cleveland and Akron in the spotlight and back on the sportsworld map.
As for The Decision to change employers, according to Labor Department statistics, Americans aged 18 to 38 will change jobs 10 times in a lifetime. That gives Lebron 9 more times to move his talents to another workplace. It’s time to cut the guy some slack.
