Mother Nature or God?

I recently saw a report on the news that the reason for the quick cleanup of the BP oil disaster was due to a new organism that developed out of nowhere that eats the oil. The woman being interviewed said "Isn't Mother Nature wonderful?" I said to myself that it sounds more like the work of God.

The Day Cleveland Died

I was so glad when LeBron James used his brain and decided to leave Cleveland. The people of Cleveland didn't deserve him and pretty much let him know they didn't like him. but he was the only hope they had in a city with no hope. Having lived there for most of my life, I know how desperate these people are for attention. It is a city where misery loves company, and since LeBron was from nearby Akron, which Cleveland had no ties to before LeBron, they expected him to stay and wallow in misery with them.

But the picture became crystal clear to LeBron when Chris Bosh told him that he would love to play with him, but not in Cleveland. For seven years LeBron gave his heart and soul to the Cleveland fans in an effort to win an NBA championship. He took them as far as a one man team could take them. After losing in the NBA finals to San Antonio, the Cavaliers tried to get free agents to come and play with LeBron to help get that championship, but there was never the right free agent available. This past spring featured the strongest free agent crop maybe in NBA history. If Cleveland could have landed at least one of the available players, he probably would have stayed. That's why he waited so long to give them his decision. When Bosh stated he was going to Miami, LeBron knew he couldn't win a championship in Cleveland any time soon because the other teams were getting better and Cleveland was satisfied with just having him.

Earlier this year, it was announced that Cleveland is the least desirable big city to live in in America. Unemployment, crime, bad weather, ragged streets and houses make it a terrible place to live. I inherited a house that in 2000 was worth $90,000, but now if it was in excellent condition would probably get me $25,000. What professional athlete would want to live there? The city is plagued with home and car break-ins. My little brother was trying to defend Cleveland by saying this was happening everywhere, but when I asked him would he go to a game, he said "Hell no, I don't want my car broke into," and he drives a hooptie. For those of you that don't know what a hooptie is, it is a car that is only appealing to the one who owns it, or basically a car just good enough to get you where you want to go.

There were key statements made by LeBron during his special when he made his announcement that everyone disregarded because of their selfishness. First and foremost was he didn't want to spend another six years in Cleveland with no ring and wind up with bad knees. That was a reference to having to carry a team and a city on his back. When Orlando beat Cleveland in the 2009 playoffs, they set the blueprint for stopping him by making him do everything. Bring the ball up, set up the play and take the shot because no one else can hit a jump shot when it counts. His teammates were nicknamed the gang that couldn't shoot straight. So in the off season they went after free agents that could shoot from the outside and acquired a couple more average players that you wouldn't even want on your fantasy team. They also acquired Shaq in a trade, which they thought would help take pressure off LeBron by presenting an inside force, but Shaq has trouble making layups and dunks these days.

I can remember growing up as a child in Cleveland, being brainwashed in school by the slogan "The Best Location in the Nation." But every time we went on vacation, everywhere was better than Cleveland except Pittsburg, Detroit and Milwaukee, but even those cities had major sports championships, well Milwaukee has one thanks to Kareem and Oscar Robertson, and they left right after winning it.

But LeBron took note the last three years of the free agents he wanted to come to Cleveland and play with him. Trevor Ariza, Ron Artest, and as I said Chris Bosh sealed the deal. The thing that is so shocking to everyone is the best player usually doesn't go join another team, other players join him. Oscar joined Kareem, Moses Malone joined Dr. J. for example. This just shows you how unattractive a city Cleveland is to play in. Yes, Cleveland fans love their sports teams, look how they fought to keep the name Cleveland Browns when they ran Art Modell out of town, but their fickleness is unattractive to any free agent. When is the last time a free agent has signed to play in Cleveland in any sport? Look how they treated LeBron for leaving. If you know anything about Cleveland sports talk radio, you know they talked bad about him while he was there.

The Cavaliers owner showed his true racist colors by his statements when LeBron left. He truly thought he owned the man. Deep down he really didn't care about winning a championship, he was revelling in the money LeBron was bringing him. He fought hard to get the casino bill passed in Cleveland. LeBron brought big money and big name celebrities to Cleveland and he was looking forward to those celebrities spending money in the casinos he invested in. All of the white owned businesses downtown thrived off of the money LeBron was bringing them. Oh, the fans will still support the Browns no matter how bad the team is, but let's face it. All three major sports teams are nothing more than glorified expansion teams now.

And don't hate Miami for getting him. The Celtics and Lakers have always attracted the best players. If Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen had joined Paul Pierce at a younger age, who knows how many rings they would have. Maybe more than Bird, Parish, and McHale. They had players like Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge and Bill Walton join them to fight off the Lakers who had Magic, Kareem, Keith Wilkes, James Worthy and Michael Cooper in their nucleus. No one gets mad at the Yankees when they sign the best free agent available every year.

LeBron is a totally different player than Kobe or Michael Jordan. Those two are ball hogs that want to be one man teams. LeBron gets just as much pleasure passing the ball as scoring. He loves getting triple doubles. He wants to be more like Magic Johnson than the other two and his experience on the Olympic team with Wade and Bosh was a dream come true. They also played together in AllStar games, so this is a combo that is already familiar with each other. Now they get to do it every night.

The other statement LeBron made was he was glad to go to a team where championships are the goal, not just the most regular season victories or home winning streaks. Is there any doubt he can achieve all these goals now? Think quick, now that LeBron is gone, who is the star of the Cavaliers? Who are they going to market as the reason to come see the Cavaliers? Dan Gilbert, do you really think you can win a championship before LeBron?