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Behind The Scoreboard
By Claude Vinson King James’ big choice It
was advertised as an hour-long special to be aired on ESPN last
Thursday evening to let the world of sports hear from the “horse’s
mouth” just where Cleveland’s not so favorite (anymore) would be taking
up his new residence (or should that be kingdom?). Actually, it lasted
a lot longer than the proposed hour. Throughout
the broadcast, yours truly kept waiting for the channel’s front men to
liken the saga of LeBron James to that of the famous “Iliad” attributed
to Homer. Not to turn this into a boring history lesson, a certain
Helen of Sparta, supposedly bound by an oath put into place by Ulysses,
was to be wed to the choice selected by a panel of nations. This was
thwarted when the Spartan King Menelaus married the beauty. To right
the wrong, Prince Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, kidnapped the new
bride and spirited her away to Troy. The states of Greece mounted a
fierce armada and besieged the Trojan Empire for ten years. Legend has
it that upon laying eyes on the daughter of Zeus for the first time,
Priam’s queen remarked, “The face that launched a thousand ships!” So,
I was patiently anticipating something like, “The name that launched a
thousand reporters to converge on the one time seaport of Greenwich,
Conn., to proclaim the announcement to the whole world.” Totally
unlike Helen, James’ fame had been solidified by his prowess, straight
out of high school, resurrecting the Cleveland franchise and giving the
city hope for a national title which it has been without since 1964.
Six teams were waiting in the wings, practically drooling with the
Pavlovian prospect. The notion surfaced early
Thursday morning that King James was leaning toward the Miami Heat. The
notion proved concrete about 30 minutes into the broadcast when James
admitted that he was headed for South Beach. The decision brought
immediate response from the Cavaliers’ owner, Dan Gilbert. This column
is not long enough to mention all the adjectives mouthed by Mr.
Gilbert. It suffices to say that they were not complimentary. Of
course, lest we forget, James was an unrestricted free agent. He has
had seven years in the big league, all of them with Cleveland. So far
he has no ring. Does he have seven more years
which would match the previous? Does he have enough time left to attain
the status of “multiple championship winner”? Remember, he has an
Olympic gold medal and at Miami he will be reconnecting with two other
medalists from that 2008 team. Chris Bosch was acquired from Toronto
and Dwayne Wade is already a part of the franchise. All three stepped
up the wealth ladder. None of the trio seem to
have super egos (yet), and given the proper supporting cast, this just
might translate into a basketball dynasty for South Beach.
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