What we saw, and why it changed us.

I was at a Columbus Clippers game last night.  It was 8:50 and everyone there could not have cared less about the Clippers up with one out and the bases loaded.  Everyone had their phones out and were squinting at the clock to see when "The Decision" would be revealed.  I was among them.  I have no rooting interest in the Cleveland Cavaliers, other than I am born and raised in Columbus, Ohio and love my city and state.  I wanted to know what LeBron James, perhaps the game's best player (cough Kobe has 5 rings cough) was going to do.

 

But everyone really already knew.  They knew it when Chris Broussard said it yesterday morning.  They should have known it when Stephen A. Smith said it last week (no HOWEVAHs necessary).  LeBron himself said that he had only come up with his answer that morning, or a bit earlier "in his dreams".  But he knew.  LeBron was clear on exactly one thing in the past 2 months: this was a business decision and nothing more.  And to LeBron's credit he probably made the best business decision.  The Heat will be very good next year.  So will their Florida counterparts, the Magic.  And the Celtics.  And the Bulls.  And maybe even the Cavs.  And a few more teams west of the Mississippi.  But LeBron will be on one of the best assembled starting fives in the league and has a great chance to win the championship that makes him a billionaire.  That's good business.

 

But that's not all we sat "witness" to last night.

 

There was a line in Aaron Sorkin's "Sports Night" (and in "The West Wing") where Sportscaster Dan Rydell says, "we've come, more and more, to expect less and less of each other".  That sentiment was given a few names and a few faces last night, more so than I ever thought I'd see in my lifetime.

 

Again, I'm not going to pretend that I know what Clevelanders are going through today (a friend asked me if this would be like Jim Tressel leaving Ohio State for Michigan.  It would not, you see, because Tres at least won a championship) but I can say that, as a sports fan, LeBron James may have taken a step forward in the business, but many steps back in terms of who and what he is.  His "Decision" was methodical, calculated and, in a lot of ways, mean.  He told the Heat of his decision a few minutes before telling the world, leaving the Cavs and the other suitors very alone in making the realization that they had lost.  It was a cold move, a low blow, and one the Cavs, the team that made him a superstar, the team that nursed his seemingly indefatigable talent thorough thick and thin, didn't deserve.

 

And maybe that's who LeBron James is.  Maybe that's who he's been since he was wearing bandages over his tattoos in Akron.  It was his show; it always has been.  And that's precisely what we were shown last night on ESPN.  The superstar with neither a ring nor a sense of how deep his basketball talent could be, had a night to himself, on national television before a human meat shield of Boys and Girls in Connecticut. 

 

And he needed it.  His ego needed it.  He didn't say he was going to play for the Heat and for Pat Riley and the fans in Miami, he said, "I'm taking my talents to South Beach..."  He couldn't have sounded any more conceited if he had called himself "The King" in that sentence.  What we saw was the ultimate ego trip, and we saw it on national television and we couldn't look away.

 

And ESPN is complicit in all of this.  When Jordan made his decision to come back, he didn't get an hour of live television with a personal interview (more on Jim Gray later) and a round table with wraparound coverage.  When ARod signed with Texas several years ago, it wasn't anything more than the lead on SportsCenter and a second-day story after.  The only person ESPN has covered as much as (if that) was Tiger Woods, winner of 97 professional championships, 14 of them Majors.

 

The proliferation of ESPN is a double-edged sword in my mind.  On one side, it means the best coverage of sports, with the manpower and ability to tell us more than any of us ever thought possible.  But the other side is equally sharp.  ESPN gave up coverage of the world's biggest sporting event, just days before its championship (one of which, in basketball, LeBron has none) and gave LeBron 3 hours of SportsCenter and an hour on their air.  It was unprecedented and showed how sharp the other side of that sword is.  It showed not only how strong ESPN is, but how weak they are, too.

 

The whole setup was the most bizarre and unprofessional thing I've ever seen watching sports on TV in the last 20 years.  Norby Williamson, Executive Senior Vice President of Studio and Event Production, said ESPN would have the "Decision" in the first 15 minutes.  It took almost 30.  And had two commercial breaks (tangent: the presenting sponsor, if an event like this can have one, was for an online college and it was sponsoring "The Decision" of a guy whose only time on a college campus was for prime time Prep basketball games).

 

And Jim Gray doesn't get a pass.  I can handle ESPN's talking heads putting forth more effort into this show than they did to the draft, but Jim Gray should have his journalism degree taken away.  I thought professional softball ended when Larry King decided to retire, but Jim Gray elevated it to an art form.  I'm not Walter Cronkite, I'm not Anderson Cooper, I'm not Christiane Amanpour (at least I hope not) but Jim Gray proved last night that he isn't, either. 

 

Question 1: "LeBron, where are you playing next year".  It should have been as simple as that.  But Gray let LeBron do what he wanted and eased him into the interview with a collection of follow up questions before THE question was even asked.  It was a pathetic turn and exactly what LeBron, Inc. wanted from Gray.

 

Which brings me back to the point.  Last night was totally, completely and fully about LeBron James and what and how he can command what he wants to the Nth degree.  Miami Heat fans (joke time: all 7 of them!) are running through the streets of Dade county because of their starting three, but they should know that "The Decision" spoke volumes.  Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade had better see that their newest teammate needs the spotlight.  He can't live without it, because he's never had to.  And he may not get it. 

 

What we saw last night was a dagger in the hearts of a great number of people.  LeBron made the strike, and ESPN turned the blade.