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Basketball Fan
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 Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 8:12 am Post subject: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote a response to LeBron's return to Cleveland |
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| Quote: | by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
@kaj33
July 12, 2014
LeBron can never really go home to the Cleveland he once knew
In his essay in Sports Illustrated about his return to play for Cleveland, LeBron James announced, “I’m coming home.” And, while his very personal and emotional explanation will resonate with many, others will find it disingenuous and self-serving. Because the awful truth is, as Thomas Wolfe titled one of his most well-known novels, “You can’t go home again.”
Wolfe, who took that title with permission from writer Ella Winter, used it to mean that once we leave home and are battered about by our adventures in life, we become changed. And in our disillusioned minds our “home” becomes a romanticized symbol of our innocence where we dreamed limitlessly and were loved unconditionally. But that home, too, has changed because of our absence. The residents are more wary.
So it is with LeBron and Cleveland.
To some skeptical residents, LeBron’s return to Cleveland is less that of the prodigal son’s triumphant return home than the straying husband who abandoned his longtime partner to chase a younger, hotter, firmer slice having second thoughts. Having realized he traded a deep love for a sweaty romp, he’s coming home with a bouquet of roses in one hand and a diamond bracelet in the other, begging forgiveness for his foolish mistake of lustful youth.
All that doesn’t make LeBron’s desire to return any less sincere. Who hasn’t at some time or other hurt those we loved? And it takes a lot of courage to return to what many Clevelanders might consider “the scene of the crime.” LeBron is one of the best players in the world. He could have gone anywhere, but he chose Cleveland, knowing he would have to endure a firestorm of criticism. Had he stayed in Miami or gone elsewhere, he would have been hoisted on shoulders and paraded through the streets. That testifies to his sincerity.
I’ve had some experience with wanting to go home. After playing with the Milwaukee Bucks for a few years at the beginning of my career, I had a longing to return to New York City. Oscar “The Big ‘O’” Robertson had retired, and without him we had come in last, with no significant draft picks and little hope of turning things around the next year. I didn’t go to the press to negotiate for more money or a better deal. I went to the owner and we had an amiable chat. We shook hands and kept it between ourselves so the team could make the best deal for them and me because we each felt loyalty to the other.
My attempt to return home failed because New York had no players Milwaukee wanted. Instead, I went to Los Angeles (a second home, since I attended UCLA) along with Walt Wesley and the Bucks got four players in exchange: Dave Meyers, Brian Winters, Elmore Smith and Junior Bridgeman.
When LeBron left Cleveland he celebrated it as the Exodus from Egypt and enslavement, and that arrogance left a bitter taste in his fans’ mouths. It was like showing up at a party with his new girlfriend when he knew his ex would be there. Tacky. Even his return to Cleveland might have been seen as more from the heart, as he states in his essay, if it had just been announced as a fait accompli instead of the press and fans waiting in anticipation for the word to come down from the mountain inscribed on tablets.
LeBron’s return to the Cavaliers is good for basketball. Each game now comes with a movie narrative attached: underdogs, redemption, forgiveness. I certainly will be watching. But the “coming home” narrative has been a little too orchestrated to silence the critics and slighted fans. But I think this passage from Wolfe’s “You Can’t Go Home Again” sums up LeBron’s dilemma: “He had learned that in spite of his strange body, so much off scale that it had often made him think himself a creature set apart, he was still the son and brother of all men living. He had learned that he could not devour the earth, that he must know and accept his limitations. He realized that much of his torment of the years past had been self-inflicted, and an inevitable part of growing up. And, most important of all for one who had taken so long to grow up, he thought he had learned not to be the slave of his emotions.” In that way, LeBron can come home because he’s grown up and realizes that being away from home made it that much more valuable.
But in another way, LeBron can’t go home again. At least not to the home he once knew. They may be grateful and joyful, but they are also wiser. Like the betrayed spouse, they will have to wait and see, they will have to be wooed, they will have to be convinced that his sincerity, to quote “Porgy and Bess,” ain’t a sometime thing. |
http://time.com/2977353/lebron-james...and-cavaliers/ |
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LandsbergerRules
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 8:18 am Post subject: |
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Well-articulated points from Kareem here. And it is especially true because of that 2yr deal with an opt-out after 1. It's not going to be like it used to be. He'll always be viewed with suspicion by many there and they'll always have that lingering feeling that he'll leave for a better team in a moment's notice.
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-from Chick: His Unpublished Memoirs and the Memories of Those Who Knew Him |
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unleasHell
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 8:21 am Post subject: |
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Kareem for NEXT Laker Coach, then hire Byron as soon as we get a decent team again...
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“Always remember... Rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools, and accepted by idiots.” |
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dont_be_a_wuss
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 8:21 am Post subject: |
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| That hit me right in the feels. |
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Dave20
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silkwilkes
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 8:23 am Post subject: |
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Any person who is free of contract and/or commitments has the right to choose his next destination... i have absolutely no problem with Lebron choosing where he feels is best for him. It's his life. I didn't like the manner in which he paraded his choice the first time. But the second time... no problem.
Of course, there are consequences to his choices and some people may not like them. But you can't say that Lebron has done anything wrong imo. |
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Black Salt
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 8:24 am Post subject: |
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In Cleveland, it will be exactly how it was before. And if Lebron wins a title there, before wont even exist in peoples mind over there.
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Black Salt
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 8:26 am Post subject: |
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The Decision reported brought in 6 million dollars for the the Boys and Girls club. If that is true, how exactly was it bad regardless of how a bunch of strangers think because some guy isn't playing for their favorite team? You have any idea what 6 million dollars does for orphaned kids?
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pio2u
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 8:26 am Post subject: |
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POINT ON  |
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chubby_1_kenobi
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 8:27 am Post subject: |
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2 years deal with an opt out clause after 1 year.
He's trying to team up with other stars again.
Has nothing to do with where "home" is. It's just a feel good story ESPN trying to peddle.
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Eighth grade key phrases are crucial tools for this type of subterfuge: "team player", "make teammates better", "ballhog", "selfish", "court vision": all dripping with sanctimony and defamation. |
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FreakofNature
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Location: Maui ...
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 8:30 am Post subject: |
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Fantastic letter......
Why oh why he and magic are not in the forefront in the laker FO is beyond me. Dr.Buss, Jerry West, Riles and Pjax are gone.....A figure head like kareem has been overlooked and disrespected far too long... |
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Basketball Fan
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 9:21 am Post subject: |
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| ^ Kareem is not politically correct that will rankle a few feathers. |
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lakersken80
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 9:38 am Post subject: |
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| Lebron went back to Cleveland because they are loaded with 3 out of 4 #1 draft picks and have better long term prospects than Miami. I guess saying he went home is a much better way than saying that he is a mercenary superstar. |
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srm90
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 10:21 am Post subject: |
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Spot on Cap!
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ContagiousInspiration
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 11:08 am Post subject: |
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| Black Salt wrote: | | The Decision reported brought in 6 million dollars for the the Boys and Girls club. If that is true, how exactly was it bad regardless of how a bunch of strangers think because some guy isn't playing for their favorite team? You have any idea what 6 million dollars does for orphaned kids? |
RIGHT ON!!!
Props to the man for using his name power for all its worth..
| Quote: |
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/heat/2011-03-02-lebron-james-decision-charity_N.htm
MIAMI (AP) — The side door to the newly refurbished gym opened, a blast of sunlight splashed into the darkened corner, and 100 children began shrieking in unison.
Heat forward LeBron James, right, sits with Cam'ron Lightbourne, 8, at a new computer during a charity event at the Northwest Boys & Girls Club in Miami.
By Lynne Sladky, AP
LeBron James (FSY) was thrilled.
"It never gets old," James said.
That was the reception Wednesday when the LeBron James Family Foundation and Hewlett-Packard began rolling out what will soon be 1,000 new computers to 59 different Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide. At the Miami club, the roof is getting replaced and workspaces for kids are being spruced up with furniture from the HomeCourt line that James designs with girlfriend Savannah Brinson.
It's all part of the commitment James made last summer, when his hour-long "The Decision" special on July 8, 2010 — in which he said he was joining the Miami Heat— raised more than $3 million for charity. |
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activeverb
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 12:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Black Salt wrote: | | In Cleveland, it will be exactly how it was before. And if Lebron wins a title there, before wont even exist in peoples mind over there. |
yup. People have short memories. And why not?past is the past, so you might as well enjoy the present. |
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Telleris
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 7:22 pm Post subject: |
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My money would be on Washington |
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SDLakersFan
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Damn Kareem |
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doughboy90650
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| Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 10:29 pm Post subject: |
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| ContagiousInspiration wrote: | | Black Salt wrote: | | The Decision reported brought in 6 million dollars for the the Boys and Girls club. If that is true, how exactly was it bad regardless of how a bunch of strangers think because some guy isn't playing for their favorite team? You have any idea what 6 million dollars does for orphaned kids? |
RIGHT ON!!!
Props to the man for using his name power for all its worth..
| Quote: |
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/heat/2011-03-02-lebron-james-decision-charity_N.htm
MIAMI (AP) — The side door to the newly refurbished gym opened, a blast of sunlight splashed into the darkened corner, and 100 children began shrieking in unison.
Heat forward LeBron James, right, sits with Cam'ron Lightbourne, 8, at a new computer during a charity event at the Northwest Boys & Girls Club in Miami.
By Lynne Sladky, AP
LeBron James (FSY) was thrilled.
"It never gets old," James said.
That was the reception Wednesday when the LeBron James Family Foundation and Hewlett-Packard began rolling out what will soon be 1,000 new computers to 59 different Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide. At the Miami club, the roof is getting replaced and workspaces for kids are being spruced up with furniture from the HomeCourt line that James designs with girlfriend Savannah Brinson.
It's all part of the commitment James made last summer, when his hour-long "The Decision" special on July 8, 2010 — in which he said he was joining the Miami Heat— raised more than $3 million for charity. |
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Even Mychal Thompson was for it. If you can bring joy and happiness to a kid's life, then it is bigger than basketball. Well done dude. People always look at the basketball aspect but the real life stuff is he's really matters. Instead of these kids breaking into homes, maybe they'll be at the Boys and Girls Club staying out of trouble. God knows you can't depend on politicians to do this on a regular and that's they're damn job. |
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K28
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 5:00 am Post subject: |
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| Kareem is an excellent writer. That is an extremely well written article. |
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SGV-Laker fan
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 5:37 am Post subject: |
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| inb4 league ban KAJ for life after posting this article. how dare him. |
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K28
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 6:18 am Post subject: |
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Kareem didn't outright say it, but here is what happened.
I read a poll somewhere that 49 out of 50 states were rooting for SA to win the Finals. That's some serious haterade against Bron-Bron.
Combine that with the loss to the Spurs, and LeBron no longer saw staying in Miami as being worth it. Perhaps he was willing to play the villain as long as the titles were guaranteed.
Either way, it's clear he just wants people to love him again....whether it's from insecurity or greed, who knows. Going back to Cleveland paints a nice heroic narrative of redemption for him.
Nevermind, that the grass is definitely greener in Cleveland now (in no small part to his original departure), and now he goes back there to a whole host young talent and assets. |
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Krispy Kreme
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 6:25 am Post subject: |
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| lakersken80 wrote: | | Lebron went back to Cleveland because they are loaded with 3 out of 4 #1 draft picks and have better long term prospects than Miami. I guess saying he went home is a much better way than saying that he is a mercenary superstar. |
exactly. the media is ignoring this. they have a crap load of young talent on that team. young talent that will be running the NBA with Lebron for the next 4-6 years. as opposed to the heat which would only give Lebron a 1-2 year window to win a ring.
he made the decision because when the going gets tough, he looks to jump ship. but the whole "king returns home" is the popular thing with the media right now, so they are running with it.
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activeverb
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 11:30 am Post subject: |
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| Krispy Kreme wrote: | | lakersken80 wrote: | | Lebron went back to Cleveland because they are loaded with 3 out of 4 #1 draft picks and have better long term prospects than Miami. I guess saying he went home is a much better way than saying that he is a mercenary superstar. |
exactly. the media is ignoring this. they have a crap load of young talent on that team. young talent that will be running the NBA with Lebron for the next 4-6 years. as opposed to the heat which would only give Lebron a 1-2 year window to win a ring. . |
The guy's smart. If he had jumped to, say, Houston there would have been a firestorm of complaints and protests. Going back to the Cavs turns his changing teams into a feel-good story. |
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activeverb
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 2:07 pm Post subject: |
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| The more I think about it, it's funny that Kareem wrote this piece. I don't know if there is an superstar in NBA history who played the fan game worse than Kareem. |
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