LeBron-A-Thon
By CRS Staff
Now that we are in Year Two of the LeBron Era of Cavaliers Basketball, it's
time to come to grips with reality for a franchise that was previously so uninteresting even Shawn Kemp's large family couldn't
salvage attendance. That reality is the mega-watt star power of The Chosen One, and his impact on the team and
fans. Now I know what you're thinking - isn't having a superstar the likes of LeBron James exactly what this town
needs? And, you'd probably be right. But before you accuse me of being a Cleveland sports pessimist
(which I wholeheartedly am, by the way), just hear me out. As a fan base, for decades we have not had a standout star
that had any real recognition east of Ashtabula or west of Lorain, at least not for doing anything positive (for negative
recognition, see Jose Mesa, Kevin Mackey & Andre Rison. OK, so maybe it's a little cruel to include Rison in that
group, but since he took Art's last $17 million and ultimately forced the move to Baltimore, he should get some recognition
here. But I'm getting off-topic). Not since the Browns era of greats in the 50's and 60's has Cleveland offered
a bona fide sports celebrity that conceivably was just as recognizable around the country as right here in northeast Ohio.
Even the promising Cavs teams of the late 80's and Indians teams of the mid-nineties were built around a group of talented
players, but not a single star. Oh sure, there have been some candidates for stardom, but before you disagree with
me, let me mention one from each of Cleveland's sports teams and tell you why they never made it to that
next level:
Albert Belle - Changed his name from Joey and
developed a split personality to match. Despite gracing some magazine covers, being quite intelligent according to most
accounts and providing some memorable semi-national moments (pointing at his bicep in the playoffs vs. Boston comes to
mind), he will forever be known as the guy who could've owned the town but refused to accept the key. Any
national attention he garnered fell by the wayside when his hip forced him to retire early. Too bad too, because the
trick-or-treaters in Baltimore never even got to see him in a car chase.
Bernie Kosar - Beloved by many in Cleveland (or as
my mom strangely called him, "The Great White Hope"), few here hold him accountable for the near-misses in the 80's.
Despite that affection, Byner's fumble, Schottenheimer's conservatism (and by that I don't mean Marty was against gay
marriage), and the Browns lack of an NFL-caliber offensive line in the early 90's (hey wait, that's STILL our biggest problem!),
Kosar was never really mentioned in the same breath nationally as Elway or Marino. Even Bernie himself used to brag
that he liked going to hockey games in Detroit because people didn't recognize him there. For that reason alone, he
does not qualify as a bona fide national star. And since I liked Bernie, I'll even leave his scrambling ability (or
lack thereof) out of my argument.
Shawn Kemp - A Top 5 NBA star in Seattle, he packed
on the weight to fill-in for an injured Zydrunas Ilgauskas at Center (at least that's what he claimed anyway), and never left
the buffet line even when Z came back. The SI announcement that he fathered like 35 children (OK, so that's a slight
exaggeration) did not exactly help his national reputation while in Cleveland. Bottom line, fat people cannot be huge
sports stars unless they're named Shaquille O'Neal.
So as you can see, we here in Cleveland just aren't used to having a huge
star light up the marquee like LeBron does, at least not in the last twenty or thirty years. Until we are, seeing a
guy with 'Cleveland' printed across his chest doing commercials for Nike & Sprite is going to be a stranger sight
than seeing a Cavs, Indians or Browns player hoisting a championship trophy, at least to this fan. In the
event that LeBron brings a title to town I'm sure I'll get used to it, but in the meantime, maybe somebody should remind LeBron
to stay out of the buffet line just in case, OK?
