All Together: Cleveland, Band Together
By Cody Norman
It seems very difficult for Cavaliers fans (and haters) to understand how LeBron James could ever get hurt. On the basketball floor, James daunts a striking resemblance to an otherworldly animal whose biceps would struggle to squeeze into a size 8 Authentic Indians baseball cap. And as big as he looks on TV, I can personally guarantee that he is only that much bigger when you see him up close.
We’ve fallen under the hypnotism that LeBron doesn’t take hits – he just gives them – and has filled Chuck Norris’s international role as the ultimate bad arse in the city of Cleveland. And I think that’s why we were so astonished by his left handed free throw last night.
And while checking my fantasy team on Yahoo! this afternoon, I stumbled across an article written by Trey Kirby that was followed by an absurd response from nearly half of more than 900 readers. I stopped reading after 25 comments because I was so disgusted with the reaction but take a look at what a few people had to say about LeBron:
"1. Posted by Blair Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:07 am EDT Lebron was doing that to show off. The elbow excuse is just a cop out because he didn’t make it. Like Kenny Smith said, there was no grimace in the initial free throw. I guarantee his arm will be good to go against Boston. He’s always doing garbage like that. Dancing on the sidelines, throwing powder in the air. Who even wants to see that stuff?"
"6. Posted by airwalk Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:56 am EDT lol he was tired of getting all the attention kobe was getting playing with a broken finger. he wants the attention of playing with a bad elbow"
And my personal favorite:
"3. Posted by Travis Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:10 am EDT Just to make it clear: LeBron doesn’t respect his opponents or the game."
I wrote a piece a few weeks back questioning all the personal jabs being aimed at LeBron James for changing his number. But, although I didn’t agree with the personal attacks, I understood the argument against LeBron changing his jersey number because, quite frankly, it’s very possible that he decided to change his number in an attempt to sell more jerseys – so what? But when a guy steps to the line in obvious pain and takes an off-handed free throw attempt with his team up four and is heavily scrutinized, I just do not get it.
And then I read an article about the Cleveland Indians – in which DeepLeftField.com’s Ed Carrol was quoted – and was completely blown away by the response. Outside of one season about four years ago, the Indians haven’t truly had a World Series contending team in more than ten years. They haven’t had many (if any) players caught taking performance enhancing drugs. And they really do not have a hard-nosed rival in the entire MLB. Whereas, outside the regions of New York and Boston respectively, the Yankees and Red Sox are either hated or loved – there’s just no in between. So why in the world are the Cleveland Indians the nation’s most despised baseball team? And what has the city of Cleveland ever done to merit such extreme dislike?
And in no way do I intend to plead our case for the rest of the nation to hear. I am not begging for sympathy. I am simply attempting to rally our troops of Cleveland fans to…
Win together – Believe together – Band together