leave lebron james alone!

or don't.

hey, i get it. i was on the hate wagon a few years back. i couldn't stand the idea of the greatest player in the game turning his back on a perennial underdog city such as cleveland to go make an all star team with his buddies in the miami sunshine. lebron james decided to bring his decision to prime time tv effectively breaking the heart of an entire city in front of millions of people.

but time heals all wounds and i got over it. lebron james is the greatest player in the world. as a fan of the game, i knew that, historically speaking, i had to sit back and appreciate the era of king james. over time i realized that if i kept my hate torch lit too long, i'd grow into one of these old sticks in the mud who talks about how much he hated the greatest player in the game in his prime. i just don't wanna be that dude. i wanna enjoy this. why else am i a fan of the sport?

and i thought for the most part, a lot of fans were a lot like me. they let their lebron hate subside and they sat back and decided to live and let live and enjoy the game again. but then the 'ac game,' happened, game one of the spurs/heat finals in san antonio where something went wrong and the arena's air conditioning system stopped working. throughout the game we were given temperatures to explain how hot it was in the arena and saw glimpses of fans fanning themselves... and then at some point late in the game, lebron caught leg cramps and had to sit out. and just like that, a big ol' can of lebron james hate was reopened worldwide.

as we await game two of these finals, fans have gone into a frenzy over lebron's legs. memes and tweets are coming from all directions taking jabs at the king. fans are questioning his toughness and using words like, 'weak,' and, 'soft.' comparisons are being made. what would jordan do? (the answer is: no one will ever know because jordan NEVER found himself in this situation so it's a moot point).

no one in the history of the game has ever found themselves in this situation. game one of the finals, the ac goes out, and now they're playing in a 90 degree environment. lebron james is the best player in the nba. no one's out there hustling or working harder than he is. no one else gives what he gives to the game. no one knows what it's like to be on that level because there's only room for one. no other nba player, coach, analyst, or fan can claim to know what to do in that situation. if your legs cramp up, you can't run. if you can't run, you can't contribute. no one else experienced this cramping probably because no one else was putting as much intensity into the game to begin with. there's only one lebron james and it's impossible for anyone else to fathom what it takes to be that good.

lebron james is a monster. he won't tell you that. and now that he let a leg cramp sideline him, fans will have a harder time believing it. and lebron james won't argue with you. he isn't one to talk much smack off the court. he's gonna let his game do the talking. all this hate is provoking a sleeping dragon who's gonna wait till he gets his next chance on the court to show the world who's soft. if i was any member of the spurs, i'd plead with the outside world to keep it down, don't make too much noise. if you've projected any negativity towards lebron james in the past few days, you're going to be partially to blame for the massacre when he decides it's time.

whether you love or hate lebron james, it really is just best if you leave him alone.