First, like most folks, I am not crazy about the whole free agency thing in sports. All one has to say is “Yankees” to know there has to be a better way. But it is not going away. It is capitalism at work.
Second, since I lived in South Florida for a few years, I kind of like the Heat. So good for them. They played the off-season game to perfection.
Third, although Cleveland has to feel like a dumped ex-lover, James did fulfill his contract with the team. I have a bigger problem with players who are under contract that hold out or somehow fail to live up to what they had agreed.
Now here are the real problems I had with the entire announcement on ESPN:
First, James announcement certainly was anti-climatic after listening to 20 minutes of analysts telling us that their “sources” indicated James was going to Miami. It was like opening a Christmas present that somebody had already told me what was inside the wrapped package. Imagine if ESPN/ABC knew the winner of a football game that they were going to air. The announcers tell you who will win the game. Then they finally show you the game that was played earlier. I felt cheated that 4 guys in suits at the ESPN studio told me the decision before LeBron did. If that was going to be the case, just announce it on Sports Center.
Second, if these “sources” could notify the ESPN talking heads of James’ decision ahead of time, why couldn’t James let the folks know who had offered him multi-million dollars? Either notify them out of respect, or maintain a complete information silence.
Third, did Jim Gray really think that I tuned in to hear him ask James if he chews his nails? Where was Howard Cosell when you needed him?
These are my thoughts. The only way I can see this effecting my life at all, is that I will want to tune in when Miami travels to Cleveland for the first time next season. Now that should be entertaining.
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You’re right on…As a fan, I don’t like free agency, but every other American worker has the right to seek different employment if he’s unhappy or underpaid at his current job, so why shouldn’t professional athletes have the same freedom. It does sort of taint the legacies of some, i.e., Joe Montana with the Chiefs and Emmitt Smith with the Cardinals. I didn’t like the fact that Lebron didn’t have the decency to call all those that made him offers and tell them that he would be signing with Miami, especially Cleveland. A couple of years ago we had a young man from our high school accept a scholarship offer to play basketball at North Carolina. After this young man called Coach Williams to accept North Carolina’s offer, his father made him call all the coaches from the other schools and tell them that he was going to North Carolina. In any event it was a crazy week in the NBA.
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