WEWS (We Will Suck)

They can burn his jerseys, de-Bron the city, unspeak his name ... but it won't change Leaveland's outlook sans James or its not so happily ever after future with Danny Gilbert and The Little Boy Who Lives In His Mouth.

So 3 Cheers to the new Cleveland, where everybody knows you're lame: WEWS (We Will Suck).

WEWS (Cleveland):

The city of Cleveland has become somewhat of a running punchline following LeBron James departure for Miami. Just like James has faced criticism for his decision to leave the Cavaliers, plenty of jokes have been made about the city itself.

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade is the latest to knock Cleveland. During an interview Thursday night on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kimmel asked Wade if he would have gone to Cleveland to join LeBron. Wade laughed, and said, “No. I wasn’t going to Cleveland.”

His response drew laughter from Kimmel and the crowd. Kimmel’s jokes were the latest on Cleveland, as the city took some shots during the ESPYs. Host Seth Meyers cracked that Cavs fans should have known James was leaving because, after all, “Leave” is in the city’s name.

As Wade was joking around on Kimmel, rapper Flo Rida was introducing a new song claiming that the Heat have already won the NBA finals.

WEWS (Cleveland):

It just won't go away.

LeBron James leaving his hometown for the Miami Heat continues to haunt Cleveland Cavaliers fans. Most recently, rapper Flo Rida wrote a song about the Heat called, " We Already Won ." In the song, Flo Rida rapped, "We already won, we get LeBron James it's already done." The chorus of the rap is "We already won, we already won, ain't no need to play no more games. We already won, we already won, ain't no need to play no more games. Let me hear you say, 'We number one, we number one.'"

While Flo Rida was rapping about the success of the Miami franchise, Heat guard Dwayne Wade was on Jimmy Kimmel Live with a knock on Cleveland.

The Last Word: James v. Jordan

It's a KO. But the chump -- and his Airheads -- don't know it.

The king is dead. Long live The King.


Howard Bryant for ESPN:

Thursday, July 22, 2010

LeBron James: Businessman first

For more than seven years, the sports world has wondered about the full extent of LeBron James' significance. His biggest business partner, Nike, said we were all "witnesses." But to what?

On its face, the answer was supposed to be simple: James would be the next great basketball star and more, the perfectly blended hybrid of the great stars who came before him.

While Michael Jordan was his corporate forerunner, the NBA had never seen an athletic predecessor to James. He possessed the ballhandling skills and court vision of Magic Johnson, the size of Larry Bird. He had the elevation and balance of Jordan, the open-court speed of Isiah Thomas but the power of Charles Barkley. Thanks to Jordan, LeBron also had enough marketing muscle to single-handedly make Cleveland, of all places, part of the national basketball conversation.

Now that the first act of his pro career is over, the James myth having given way to a body of work based in reality instead of corporate prefabrication, it is clear just what we were witnessing: James represented the perfect storm but on a very different part of the map.

The original forecasts have yet to be fulfilled, and to think James merely wanted to be another great player is misreading the map completely. James is not the ruler of the hardwood; he is a two-time MVP but as of yet has never been the league's best, most reliable championship performer. But he is the king and revolutionary of a movement that has finally and completely broken from the Age of Jordan. He is the declarer of victory [over] a war for player freedom that began 45 years ago, 20 years before James was born -- a war that concludes with Pyrrhic consequences.