A south Florida newspaper has the story today that homeless advocates in the Miami area have turned down a donation of LeBron James Cleveland Cavaliers jerseys. A spokeswoman for the Miami Coalition for the Homeless said there was the perception that the Cavaliers jerseys were “tainted goods.”
Even Miami’s mayor was against the jerseys. Miami officials were reportedly against the concept of “Here-take a bunch of stuff we hate!” A Cleveland charitible organization got the idea of sending the LeBron jerseys to Miami after seeing video of Cleveland fans burning his old Cavs uniforms.
Following the signing of the Three Kings (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh) the Miami Heat sold out every ticket to every one of their 2010-2011 basketball games. Team management even went out of their way to praise ticket salesmen working for the club who “refused to go home” and kept selling.
Now those ticket salespeople are going home. For good. The Miami Herald reports that since there are no more tickets to be sold the Heat have laid off 30 sales people. In arguably the headline of the week, the Herald writes,
“Miami Heat fires sales team after season tickets sell out.”
In one of the all-time DOUCHE press releases in sports history, the Heat point out,
“Now that the supply has been exhausted we no longer require a season ticket sales team.”
LeBron James got a paying gig in Las Vegas this weekend. The basketball star hosted a couple of parties at the Lavo nightclub in the Palazazzo casino on The Strip. James was said to be playing Blackjack with $500 chips.
The Great Lakes Brewing Company has decided to “honor” departing Cleveland basketball star LeBron James by naming a beer after him. The Cleveland brewery says “Quitness” will be a “dry and bitter ale” in honor of LeBron.
The company instantly sold out of its first 30 gallons of the new brew.
According to today’s Miami Herald, the Three Kings will be on national television 34 times this upcoming NBA season. The Miami Heat featuring LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and company will be on all four NBA broadcast partners the maximum number of times-10 on ESPN, nine on TNT, nine on NBA TV and six on ABC.
However, there will be no Christmas Day matchup between James’ Heat and his former team the Cleveland Cavaliers. An ABC source says that would be “too negative” and depressing of a holiday theme.
Although it’s been several days since basketball star LeBron James made his fateful free agent decision and signed with the Miami Heat, the fallout continues-particularly in New York. On the same day that the New York Post ran a headline calling LeBron a “jackass,” James was booed while attending the wedding of Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony in The Big Apple. James married longtime girlfriend and former MTV personality Lala Vasquez.
Meanwhile, Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert was blasted by civil rights leader Jesse Jackson on Sunday for treating James like a “runaway slave.” Jackson played the race card chastising Gilbert (who also owns Quicken Loans) for thinking he is the “owner” of LeBron James and not simply the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Given the opportunity to back down from his original remarks, Jackson reaffirmed them in a speech to the United Auto Workers in Detroit Monday. The Washington Post ran a weekend column comparing James to the “Roots” tv character Kunta Kinte.
To the surprise of exactly nobody, free agent NBA superstar LeBron James announced Thursday that he was signing with the Miami Heat. James joins fellow free agents Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in South Beach.
James’ departure (whatever the reason) hit the city of Cleveland hard. In a personal letter to Cavaliers fans, Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert called James’ departure a “cowardly betrayal.” Gilbert also called James’ leaving, “a shameful display of selfishness and betrayal.” Gilbert then posted on the team website (IN ALL CAPS) “I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE THE SELF-TITLED ‘KING’ WINS ONE.” Gilbert then told the AP, “He quit” during this year’s NBA playoffs. Ouch! Gilbert also called James a narcissist.
Even the guy who wrote James’ biography, called the decision to go to Miami “gutless.” Buzz Bissinger also blasted ESPN’s coverage of the James story calling it ”sycophantic idolatry.” Bissinger said the network’s coverage of James was so lame that it should be renamed BSPN.
Meanwhile, ESPN live cameras showed Cleveland basketball fans burning their LeBron James jerseys after his live television announcement that he was signing with Miami. Cleveland fans were shown crying following the announcement.
There is also the economic aspect of the James story - “Lebronomics” if you will. Gilbert is probably so angry because estimates are the value of the Cavaliers franchise just dropped an estimated $250 million with the loss of James. Another article estimates James bolting to Miami will cost downtown Cleveland businesses $48 million annually in the already economically blighted state of Ohio, which also happens to be LeBron’s birthplace and lifelong home. There are even politics involved in the story. The New York Post claims liberal tax policies were involved in James’ decision. Had James signed with the New York Knicks, he would have had to fork over an extra $12.8 million in state taxes. Meanwhile, by signing with a Florida team, James pays NO state income tax. James left $30 million dollars on the table by signing with the Heat and turning down max money on a six-year contract with the Cavaliers.
Oh yeah, the fact that LeBron, Wade and Bosh all signed with Miami proves one other previously unknown fact. Columnist/Fox Sports Radio host Stephen A. Smith is a genius. Smith correctly predicted nearly two weeks ago that his sources had told him that James, Wade and Bosh would all eventually sign with the Miami Heat.
