Gilbert & LBJ

I have been asked by several of you to comment ASAP on the LBJ announcement.

Without getting into the weeds, this is the ultimate case of an owner, city, media and fans enabling a young athlete for years to do what he pleases, then crying foul when this man-child takes advantage of them one more time as he bolts out the door.

Commandment #1 in sports folks – ROOT FOR THE TEAM NAME ON THE FRONT OF THE JERSEY, NOT THE PLAYER’S NAME ON THE BACK!

We’ve been over this many times. That's why I have never worn a player jersey and never will.

One day I will list all 10 - I promise.

Now back to the train wreck.

From what I have been told, Mike Brown and Danny Ferry, both no longer Cavalier employees, on more than one occasion tried to get Dan Gilbert to say “NO” to LeBron and his posy of friends who had free reign not only within that facility (The Q), but basically within that organization.

The owner did not dare take James’ toys away because he worried that would upset “the King.”

If you continue to enable a child, and never discipline him/her, will they ever respect you? Of course not.

When potentially half your personal wealth is wrapped up in one asset, you don’t rock the boat. And that’s the problem here folks. A sound businessman does not allow it to get to the point where a 25-year old kid and his childhood friends completely determine the fate of a franchise, no to mention the economic status of a major metropolitan city.

What Gilbert did was the equivalent of you or me going to Vegas and putting the bulk of our personal wealth on one single roll of the dice. That’s just not good business.

And of course, when the roll went bad, Gilbert completely flipped and went public. That's something you never do in PR. That’s why we have a "post-game cooling of period” my friends.

To make matters worse, Gilbert, surrounded by puppets himself, had no one savvy enough around him to either be able to talk him out of it or simply crash the Cavs servers so the owner couldn’t make a complete fool of himself.

That would have been my approach, followed by taking Dan the weightlifter out, getting him good and loaded, while no doubt having to listen to his childish bemoaning of what he had done for LeBron, Gloria and company for the past five years.

The truth is as follows – James took advantage of the system – which was his right. This isn’t 1810, its 2010 – slavery doesn’t exist anymore. The guy signed a three-year deal leaving him the out to leave. Then he did it. End of story.

We saw this coming a mile away. Anyone with common sense could see it.

What did you expect? He chose the 12-month out of the year beach and bikinis of Miami over the rustbelt and Ohio winters. That’s the simple truth of it. Think about it – many narcissistic, spoiled 25-year old professional athletes would do the exact same thing.

And no one individual in SPORTS HISTORY has ever been more spoiled than LBJ. A whole city was at his feet. You get what you deserve folks.

By the way, the clearest sign someone is totally self-absorbed is when the start talking in the "third person." James did it throughout the interview with that littel schmuck the oter night and has been doing it for several years now.

I do this for a living, remember? It's called speech class 101. Just actually pay attention to what people say, and more importantly, how they say it, and you'll have most of your answers.

God, how I wish I could fix a leaky roof or overhaul an engine. Instead, I know this silly %$#@. I'd give my left testicle to have a totally different skill set.

By the way, I thought the little schmuck doing the interview (Jim Gray or Grey - whatever) was just incompetent and continuing to just kiss ass, but I heard over the air yesterday that James' people paid him for that interview, not ESPN. No wonder there were no questions about game #5, among other pertinent issues that a professional interviewer should have addressed.

Back to poor Dan - he simply bet on red and it turned out black.

Yes Dan, I know your franchise worth just dropped by 50%. Yes, I realize the Cleveland casino you are investing in doesn’t look like it will be full come wintertime. Yes, I fully understand the on-the-court basketball ramifications for your team – 25-57 here we come.

But you put yourself in this situation and have no one to blame. No one enabled LBJ more than you. And if the kid had chosen to stay, you’d still be so far up his ass right now, you’d be able to tell us all whether he ate fish or chicken last night. So stop being a complete hypocrite. Grow up.

Had Gilbert treated James like an employee on occasion instead of his main enabler, it might have done some good long-term. Perhaps James would had had some respect for his boss when making his decision. Perhaps not. We shall never know.

And if Gilbert and company expected James to be loyal to his city, his team and his owner, they were thinking with their hearts instead of there senses. That’s always a bad plan if you are running a business.

Now man-up Gilbert, shut your mouth, hire some professionals, take their advice and work on trying to make the best of a horrible situation you helped create.

Besides, I don’t feel bad for you at all – you’re still going to be worth millions, just not as many. I feel for those downtown parking attendants, waitresses and cooks who will be out of a job when the Cavs average 10,000 fans instead of 20,000+.

As for you Dan, look at the bright side – you won’t have to put up with Gloria on the team plane anymore.

Anyone want to buy an NBA franchise cheap? I know where you can get a great deal. And with some stable leadership, long-term, it can potentially make you some money.

By the way, I officially begin a new job on my birthday (August 16). I will only have one boss (one school) instead of three. It's 5 minutes from my home and I love teaching/working there. And yes, I will still have time to brighten your week from time to time.

Be good guys. R. Jampo