I'm in Cleveland right now. It's my hometown. I can assure that black people are (over)reacting to this news. The city, after all, is more than half black. So local coverage shows a lot of black people. They ripped up posters and tore up a few things too. And because this is Cleveland, there are the veiled threats to his safety if he comes back. I think that at least one person on each local newscast uttered the FCC-friendly equivalent of f...@$ LeBron. There are guards now protecting the mural as people gather to destroy their gear. It's bizarre and really said. There's a lot of difficulty and poverty here. There have always been rabid sports fans and they have so little.
I'm not sure what the national coverage has been. But there was a serious push to get him to stay that included playing back his own words about his home town on TV and radio outlets. There were rallies. And a lot of people put their kids up to it. He spent the last few days at his basketball camp and at some boys and girls clubs as he typically did during summers with kids begging him. Just watching the desperation is sad. In some ways, the comedians were right about the city. The population is maybe 40% of what it was when I was a kid. Houses are boarded up and those left sometimes can be had for the price of a mediocre used car or even for trade in some neighborhoods. Detroit gets more coverage, but it's bad here too. What most fans are saying about the press conference is that it's embarrassing to be dumped publicly. I think something without the fanfare would have stung them less. On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 7:47 AM, Keith Johnson <[email protected]>wrote: > > > Thanks. I'm listening to comedians Gary Owens and Kevin Hart on the Tom > Joyner Morning Show . Gary Owens--he's the white comedian married to a black > woman who often jokes about that-says only the white guys in Cleveland are > tripping on this level. "You don't see no Brothers burning their jerseys", > he joked, "only the out-of-shape white guys with one beer in their hands". > Hart suggested now's a good time to start a business in Cleveland 'cause you > can do it on the cheap, prices are now going to be so low.He said they're > going to shoot "Soul Plane 2" in Cleveland for only 50K! He's decided to > start a trucking company up there. He can't drive a truck, but since Hart > figures there'll be no traffic on the streets of Cleveland, he'll be just > fine. > > I'm still not sure which is funnier/sadder to me: the dude literally crying > like a baby while his (drunk) friend consoles him, or Mr. "LeBron is *dead* > to me!" > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Martin Baxter" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Friday, July 9, 2010 6:20:31 AM > Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Hoopla Around James Stranger than Fiction > > > > Keith, the First Laugh of the Morn Award, long unrewarded, finds a worthy > mantle in yours. > > So sad a little mess all around. > > On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 1:12 AM, Keith Johnson > <[email protected]>wrote: > >> >> >> Who'd have thunk that "King James" would be able to out self-promote the >> likes of Madonna, Paris Hilton, or Spike Lee? Talk about overblown, >> overhyped, and overlong. It was just a freakin' decision for where a rich >> b-baller will go to try and win a championship. Did it really demand an hour >> long special on ESPN? And, growing up as I did in Fort Worth, you can't beat >> me for being a fan of stuff like all things Dallas Cowboys, but come on: >> there were dudes in Miami jumping up and down with joy (what, are they >> getting paid for this?), folks in Cleveland were burning his jersey, one >> dude was crying and saying it was the worst day of his life, and another >> disgusted fan said "I hope the Heat never win anything. James is dead to >> me!" >> >> Man, I find myself wondering again what aliens would think of us, >> watching from on high: >> "They have multiple armed conflicts raging...they are systematically >> destroying their own biosphere, with no way to reach or terraform other >> planets...they still fight conflicts based on skin coloring and belief >> systems--yet millions of them are watching in concert the decision of one of >> their own concerning a spheroid object involved in one of their ritualized >> sports?" >> No wonder we haven't been invited to join the Federation yet... >> >> Still, given how the hometown crowd was acting, it would have been fun if >> James had made the announcement *in Cleveland*! >> >> > > > -- > "If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell > wrote the script?" -- Charles E Grant > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik > > >
