The Man Did Himself No Favors

I can't believe LeBron did himself or his brand any favors Thursday night. Probably the only faction of fans in the country that didn't wince are those who root for the Miami Heat. It was painful to watch him kick Cleveland to the curb. It was tougher to see how nonchalant he seemed about the whole thing. You would think after all of the rallies and fan love he's seen over the past months, he would understand how devastating this is for the Cleveland fans. But he seemed to wave it off like a guy late for work waves off a panhandler. He seemed robotic and unable or unwilling to grasp the disappointment of northern Ohio. That was disappointing. He has every right to go, but I would have felt better about him if he could have shown a little more compassion. Maybe there's no easy way to do it, but taking one hour in prime time to do it on ESPN seems cold to me. LeBron should know this: He can forget being seen in Michael Jordan's class. While Jordan stayed put in Chicago and elevated those around him, LeBron took the easy way out and joined forces with a bought and paid for trio of All-Stars. If he wins with them, it was expected. If he doesn't win, then what? I like LeBron, but I didn't like this went down. I can't help but think a lot of fans around the country feel the same way. I know a certain owner of the Cavaliers has a problem with the way it went down. His open letter is something else. Enjoy!


Good for the fans for voting Joey Votto into the All-Star game. 13.7 million votes! I know the process was fairly easy to lock in a lot of votes, but I never in my wildest dreams could have predicted 13.7 million. Considering Nick Swisher won the American League Final Vote with 9.8 million, you have to be impressed with Votto's total. That tells me two things: Reds fans went wild voting for Votto. and so did the rest of the country. Good for Joey, he deserves it.