I thought maybe it was just getting to the point where it was one of those situations where I only thought there was a story because the media made it a story. I know that people whined enough about Lebron leaving Cleveland at the beginning. But that's because people are big babies and always need something to whine about. Oh, Lebron's such a bad person. He owes Cleveland. What does he owe Cleveland for? What did they ever give him? Not a championship team. Not the money he could have been paid in New York. And apparently not the respect to recognize him as anything other than a commodity to which they felt entitled without any cost on their own part. And Dan Gilbert was by far the worst. Is that guy an 11-year-old girl, or what? What IS his deal? Did he seriously think that he could curse Lebron via the internet and that some deity would support this curse until Lebron saw the error of his ways and made amends enough to cancel out all the supposed bad kharma?

I'm not even going to try and organize these thoughts in a coherent fashion. This is definitely a rant. Sure, I'm falling victim to the old saying, "Arguing on the internet is like the special olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded." But holy crap, are people seriously that immature? First of all, basketball is the worst sport ever. If basketball is a "meaningful" part of your life, then your opinion means as much as that of a person who owns all the Twilight and Harry Potter novels. Ok, maybe even less. Crying about Lebron leaving? And then talking about how bad the Heat are... Because they lost 7 or 8 games at some point. Well guess what. Now they've only lost 10 total.

Oh, but James was orchestrating all this media attention because of his insanely large ego. Yeah, I know the last time I wanted to feed my own ego and let everyone know how cool I was, I decided to make a giant sum of cash to donate to a charity organization like Boys and Girls Club. And according to reports, all proceeds were to go to Boys and Girls Club estimating to benefit them $2.5 million. I couldn't find the final total after the event in my quick search for information, but it's unimportant. Yes, a lot of other money got thrown around, but that was for "costs". We could debate the legitimacy of "costs" claimed by businesses and individuals involved in the planning, but regardless Lebron wasn't one of these people. In fact, it wasn't even Lebron that put this together. Part was his business manager and the rest of the plan was carried out by an executive of another company entirely. Lebron James is the Antichrist incarnate for getting millions of dollars for a charity organization by putting his face on a television product. Why can't he endorse something superficial like Nike or Viagra? Burn him at the stake!

Anyway, part of what reminded me of this was talking to a friend that was visiting from out of town. The Heat were mentioned and they had just lost their 10th game of the season and he responds, "Good. I can't stand Lebron." To which I ask him, "Why? Because he wants to win a championship? Or is it because he earned millions of dollars for the Boys and Girls Club of America? Or is it because he wanted to play for a team that actually recruits players that wouldn't get stomped by a community college basketball team from Guatemala?"

These "debates" as they are called, are just painful. I know 5-year-olds that have a better grasp on reality than people who have complaints about Lebron James. In summation, this is what Lebron James did. 1) He tried to move up in his profession by finding a better position (and even took less money to do so). 2) He agreed to let some other people stamp his face on a publicity stunt to make MILLIONS of dollars for a charity organization. What scum.

Links:
Reports: LeBron James Event Raises $6 Million In Ad Sales, $2.5 Million For Boys And Girls Club
LeBron Announcement Special To Benefit Boys & Girls Club