Lebron to Miami: A First Response

As most of the readers of this blog know, I'm a pretty avid Cleveland fan. Having grown up in Northeast Ohio, my childhood and early adult years were filled with terrible sports teams. I remember vividly being excited for the 1986 Cleveland Indians team...a team that went on to lose 100 games. In the few and far times when Cleveland sports teams have not been terrible, the teams offered hope enough only to cause the Cleveland fans the most pain possible: The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot, the 1997 World Series that saw the Indians one out away from a coveted title and the Browns leaving town. In more recent history, the 2007 Indians took a 3-2 advantage into game 6 of the ALCS against Boston before falling flat, the 2002 Browns were one Dennis Northcutt drop away from burying the hated Steelers on the road in a Wild Card matchup and the Cavs were a missed Flip Murray rebound away from sending the former NBA champion Pistons home for the summer. Somehow Lebron leaving is worse than all of these.

Let me set one thing straight before going forward: I don't blame Lebron for leaving. He's got to look out for himself and do what's right for Lebron. I get that.

What I do hate is the disappointment. The disappointment to know that one of the three major Cleveland teams will probably not compete for a championship for a long, long time. The disappointment to know that the Cavs may actually never recover from Lebron leaving (it's not inconceivable that the Cavs could have so little interest in economically strapped Northeast Ohio that they could leave for greener pastures). The disappointment to know that it's looking more and more likely that an entire generation of die hard Cleveland fans may die without knowing the feeling of seeing a team that represents them walk away as champions. The disappointment to get close time and time again, only to fall short every time.

Anyway, like the title says, this is just my first response. I've got more to say, more logical arguments, but I'm really just too bummed to get them straight in my head.