We see this sort of thing from sports fans whenever they feel they've been "wronged" somehow by a player, a coach, an owner. It's the graphic equivalent of the sputtering, red-faced outburst, "You SUCK!"LeBron James left the North Coast for South Beach in decidedly (or at least arguably) arrogant fashion. Cavs fans can be forgiven for being pissed about that, even for hoping that he fails miserably in Miami.
As often happens, though, the vitriol has gotten way out of hand. To paraphrase Stewart Mandel's observation of another group of fans after they watched their football coach leave for fatter paychecks:
"Don't you see what you've become, Cleveland? You're the psychotic ex-girlfriend."Last night the Cavaliers hosted the Heat, James' first game against his former team since his departure. Predictably, Cleveland fans behaved like a bunch of spoiled third-graders.
James responded by scoring a season-high 38 points -- that's ten more than the Cavs' entire starting lineup -- despite not playing at all in the fourth quarter.Star-studded Miami won, 118-90, raising its record to an admittedly disappointing 12-8. LeBron-less Cleveland, however, falls to 7-11.
Whatever happens from here borders on irrelevant. This was a moment, a righteous moment, a winner-take-all game in which hordes of juvenile fans got owned by the best baller in the business.
And by the way, Clevelanders, this is a business. It's not about your bruised feelings -- it's about winning.
Right now the score is LeBron James 1, Psychotic Ex-Girlfriend 0.
