a reformed lebron hater

it's been a few days since the miami heat have won the nba championship and i've had a few days to think some things over about basketball and how i relate to it as a fan... or more specifically how i relate to lebron james as a fan of the game he just happens to be the best on the planet at right now.

i was a lebron hater. was. and even then, hate's a strong word. i was more of a platonic disliker. it was platonic cuz i don't know lebron james personally. i disliked him for things that seem trivial now that time has passed. sure, the televised "decision" seemed highly egotistical... but then again, we all watched it. it had stellar ratings. he gave the people what they wanted. and then he took the money that special made and gave it to charity. all he's really guilty of is breaking a city's heart. that city is cleveland.

at first, it was like, damn lebron, how could you do this? i remember actually rooting for the lebron james lead cavs hard. as long as they weren't taking on my new jersey nets, i was in their corner. i figured this was history in the making. the next big thing in basketball was gonna lift the lowly cavs and the entire city of cleveland to epic, championship like proportions. and i'm sure a lot of other fans felt the same. so when lebron first bolted, it felt dirty. it felt wrong.

but this is basketball. each player is a businessman. don't ever forget that. he fulfilled his contract and then he thought about what would be best for business. three finals appearances, two championships, and two mvp's later, it's really hard to argue against the results. lebron james did what was good for lebron james. and the cavs didn't do themselves any favors. they didn't build a winning team around him. pat riley knows the formula and lebron knows his history.

sidenote: dan gilbert, owner of the cavs, promised that the cavs would win a championship before the heat would. that didn't happen. this tempts me to classify dan gilbert as a know-nothing loudmouth.  compare that to pat riley who doesn't need to say a word, has nothing to prove, and continues to prove to us all what an unstoppable force he is in the realm of basketball.

then there was the pep rally. i don't know... i have a hard time defending this one. it was childish and cheap. but in the moment, in an arena filled with screaming maniacs, i'm sure it felt right. but y'know, as stupid as the whole thing was, that's all it was... stupid. it wasn't evil. it didn't hurt anybody. if anything, it put a bigger target on the backs of the big three. so many pro athletes do so much worse and get so much more slack cut their way. when an athlete fucks up with drugs or some kind of violent crime, people are quick to support them in their quest to rehabilitate themselves and become better people. if we're gonna root for the redemption of ex-cons, then we can't give lebron james shit for being part of a pep rally. otherwise, you're kinda just being a dick (which i was guilty of for the past three years).

but now i’m over all of it. lebron james is the real fucking deal. he’s the best there is right now. don’t get me wrong, i’m not gonna jump on the bandwagon and start rooting for the miami heat to win games or championships because they’re not my team. but if they’re just gonna do it anyways with lebron james leading the way, as a basketball fan in general, i’m gonna allow myself the right to sit back and enjoy lebron james being amazing on the court. cuz lebron james, like any other great athlete, won’t be around forever. but we’ll be able to say we were there while it was happening and it was awesome. i don’t wanna look back and have future generations of basketball fans call me a fool cuz i couldn’t see what’s the obvious truth… right now we’re witnessing a legend in the making. and if you’re a fan of the sport, now’s the time to let go of any silly grudges and enjoy it while it’s here. dudes like this only come around so often.