BELIEVELAND Columns

THE PORT AUTHORITY

LEBRON – IS HE, OR WAS HE EVER

by Tom Stroup - May 31, 2010

We love Lebron James as a Cavalier. He’s the best player in the game today, and someday will be in the discussion as the best player ever.He is unselfish, and makes everyone around him better. He is a class act on the court and off. He is one of us – a rare homegrown talent playing for his local team.

The overused quote of Richard Bach says, “If you love something, set it free; if it comes back it’s yours, if it doesn’t, it never was”. Who knew he was talking about Lebron?

While he is free to leave, Lebron’s best option is to stay at home, in Cleveland. There are a handful of reasons:

1. His work’s not done here. He rose to Kingdom on the expectation of his delivering the Cavaliers their first championship. That Boston series was disappointing, but looking at how the Celtics opened up against the Magic, it appears the Cavs simply ran into the wrong team at the wrong time. Only one team can win it all each year. There are no handicaps given out for the fact that a team or city is overdue for their ticker tape parade. Each year lives on its own – this one, again, wasn’t ours. There’s still work to be done.

2. Championships. The word is that Lebron’s decision will be based on where he has the best chance of winning multiple championships. Champions are built, not bought – see the NY Yankees and Washington Redskins. There is proof that the Cavaliers will assemble a team around him to accomplish that, and that proof has resulted in the league’s best record in each of the last two years. The Cavs free agent pickups and trades were being heralded leading into the Boston series. There is no better example than the Cavaliers of a team doing a methodical build to a championship boil.

3. Money. By NBA rule the Cavs can pay Lebron $30M more than any other team. As for endorsements, Lebron’s deals are already national; they’re not for the West Side Market or Brook Park Chevrolet. According to Forbes most recent annual rankings of athlete compensation – including salary, winnings and endorsement - Lebron is tied for #6. The rank and earnings of Lebron and those above him:

Tiger Woods: $110M (big changes in next rankings – Florida based)
Kobe Bryant: $45M (coming off a championship at time of rankings)
Michael Jordan: $45M (considered the best ever – but now 47 years old)
Kimi Raikkonem: $45M (downshifting performance – Switzerland based)
David Beckham: $42M (one wheeled soccer star)
Lebron: $40M (tied with Phil Mickelson and Manny Pacquiao)

It could be argued that everyone above Lebron on that list is slipping, while Lebron is entering his prime earning period. The difference between what the Cavs can pay in salary versus anyone else will alone move him up the list.

4. Legacy. Outside of Cleveland, legacy will be harder achieved, and only associated with championships. Think about Bernie Kosar in Cleveland - whose legacy in New York might be compared to his, despite Bernie never bringing Cleveland a Super Bowl? I asked that of a friend who is an avid New York fan (he has the Yankees’ logo tattooed on his leg), who answered:

“NY has a bunch of revered guys...Yogi Berra probably way up there..Willis Reed, Phil Simms, Bill Bradley, Don Mattingly, Tom Seaver, Dr. J (NY Nets days and HS legend), Whitey Ford, Joe Torre, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, I could go on and on.....”

Exactly. New York confuses reverment with appreciated, and often doesn’t even deliver appreciation in real time, saving it for the history books. In other cities, no matter how bright a flash you might be, the pan is frequently replaced. In Cleveland, Leborn’s Kingdom will be his for a lifetime.

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Despite these reasons for staying in Cleveland, Lebron may be gone. There’s no reason for delaying his announcement – and there’s his already-proclaimed number change that would prepare him to wear number 6 (versus Jordan’s 23) in Chicago. Lebron knows that there will never be another number 23 in Chicago. If he leaves, however, the Cavs should quickly re-assign number 23 to a player who is excited about being in Cleveland.

Some of the luster may have already worn off the King’s crown due to his playing out the drama of the decision – one that he has undoubtedly already determined. That routine was fine during the season; it would be fine if its purpose was to play the negotiating game to his greatest favor. But the season is over, and there is no negotiating game. The numbers are set, dictated by league rule.

Cleveland is a final destination; it is not a stepping stone. Clevelanders are a loyal bunch and they expect the same in return. Jim Brown is wrong in his assessment that the fans have under-appreciated Lebron James. Cleveland has heaped a whole lot of love upon him, and so far he has returned it.

Now Lebron’s free, and its time to renew the vows. The Cavs and Cleveland’s fans have expressed themselves; now the ball is in the King’s court – to see if he is really ours, or if he ever was.

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NO BROWN OUT FOR ME
LET'S SEND A DIFFERENT MESSAGE

by Tom Stroup

Dawg Pound Mike’s heart is in the right place – he is one of many that want a return to the proud and glorious days of the Cleveland Browns that many of us remember. His head is in the right place too – that it is time for the fans to send a message of their dissatisfaction to the Browns most senior management.

Unfortunately, the tactics Dawg Pound Mike proposes for sending that message – an empty stadium for the kickoff of a Monday night, nationally televised contest – are all wrong.

The color commentator for ESPN that night will be former Bengal Chris Collensworth, always willing to accept an opportunity to sucker punch Cleveland.

The market that will likely generate the greatest audience for the telecast will be our rival, baltimore. I don’t think they will be feeling our pain with any empathy.

The national media – hell the local Browns media – loves giving Cleveland a black eye when it is deserved and when it isn’t. Be assured that with or without the help of the Cleveland faithful, neither the Browns senior management nor their fans will be happy with that Monday night telecast.

A Monday night game is an opportunity for a city to put on its best face – to light up the town. What should Cleveland be most proud of? How about its resilient and optimistic people? Not blind, not accepting, not dispassionate – back to that later – but positive, enduring and even encouraging.

So what’s to encourage? There’s a 50/50 chance that the opening kickoff on that Monday night will be being returned by Josh Cribbs. I’ll root for the effort and the outcomes of Josh Cribbs. I don’t want to be standing in the concourse while Josh Cribbs returns an opening kickoff in a Monday night game against the ratbirds. Josh Cribbs is a great representative of the proud and glorious days of the Cleveland Browns.

What message would we be sending the Browns anyway, as we help give Cleveland another kick in the kidneys? Is it that if things don’t change for the better, this is what they can look forward to – an empty stadium? I don’t think so – not in the world of investments in PSLs, and loss of PSLs if season tickets aren’t purchased. Don’t want to show up – that’s OK, just remember to buy your tickets first. I think that Dawg Pound Mike would agree that someday OUR Browns will return in full (again, some of OUR Browns are already here – Cribbs and Joe Thomas among others) and I want to be there when they do.

THE ALTERNATIVE
So how do we send a message? How about not buying anything? Anything. Eat and drink before you come. No beer – they’re going to stop selling at halftime anyway. Nothing in the team shop. Nothing to eat. Nothing to drink, unless water if needed. The truth is, that will send a louder signal to the Browns, because they are a business, and one that already has your ticket money whether you’re in your seat or not. It is the loudest message that could be sent to the Browns business trust, and yet is one that is silent in terms of the national media and how Cleveland is presented to a national audience. The problem is that it’s unfair to the vendors who earn much of their living on tips – so give them a tip.

On Monday night the game is going to play out as it will. It’s going to be on national display, along with the fans reaction to it. We have a say in part of that script, and in what the national audience thinks of Cleveland Monday night, and for the rest of Monday’s to come. Anyone who thinks about my seat during the Monday night kickoff is going to be thinking “that guy was loud”.