I know. I know. Not only did I miss a “Friday Favorites” posting, but I have not added a new post in a week. Lagzors! No excuses but… well, Santa is coming and… ah heck! Here we go!

Women and Children First

There’s no big uproar. No out cry. There will be no hate or animosity either. When LeBron James leaves Cleveland, the fans and city will move on as soon as he signs with New York. King James will be just another character in what is the tragedy of Cleveland, Ohio. Well, not exactly.

LeBron is a local. He grew up in Ohio, and not the racist Cincinnati area (Timothy Thomas). Most Clevelanders, or locals to Cleveland, grow up watching the Indians, Browns, and Cavaliers hoping and praying for a victory. A win. A championship. We grow up watching clips of “The Fumble”, “The Drive”, Willie Mays’  “The Catch”, Jose Mesa’s blown save, and Michael Jordan with “The Shot” over Craig Elho. We continue to lose, yet we still dream for a victory just the same. We may be kicked around, but we are loyal and we never waiver. We know our inevitable fate but continue the Cleveland love anyway. Most of us anyway.

Will the local kid make good?

James has openly admitted to liking the Yankees and Cowboys. Conveniently, these are the teams who were winning when LeBron was young. James not only admits liking those teams but he even wore a Yankee hat to Cleveland’s opening playoff game in Cleveland against the Yankees.

When I think of what LeBron James represents to Cleveland I think of the film Titanic. In the film the ship is going down. Titanic has way more people on board than there are lifeboats. Thus, we hear the crew yell out “women and children first”. There is honor in allowing the (at the time) weaker to get away to safety. The ship is sinking and this brings no pleasure for sure (dieing is usually not desirable), but it is our ship and we are all our own lesser captains. And so, like the Titanic captain, we go down with our ship: the S.S.Cleveland.

James is weak. Physically he may be strong, but mentally he is the rich guy who jumps on the life boat when the officer is looking away. James wins games for Cleveland currently, and that’s great.  But if he decides to go after another treasure other than the heart shaped necklace at the bottom of the sea next to his ship, than he will cement himself as the biggest front-runner in history.