The Decision!

Now that we've had some time to process some of these recent developments (Tiger's the modern day Wilt Chamberlain, LOST and 24 are really over, that was a superb college hoops tournament, World Cup rules, and Pat Riley has created the first real life NBA Jam team) it's time to take a closer look at LeBron's Decision.

Let's look at the facts: he killed himself for months carrying the load on back-to-back 60+ win Cavs teams that fizzled out before the Finals both years because of inept coaching and a subpar supporting cast, the one time he made the Finals with Cleveland he got swept rather easily by Duncan, Popovich, and the Spurs, Kobe just won back to back titles. Suddenly those consecutive MVPs don't shine so bright. He was too competitive to stay in Cleveland. Chicago would've made sense on paper, but he didn't want to constantly be in the shadow of Jordan's legacy there. When you think of the Bulls uniform, you'll always think of MJ first. Which is why New York made sense to me: good coach who likes to play up-tempo, All-Star big man as a running mate, the ideal city to further his dream of being a global icon, the mystique of Madison Square Garden, garnering the primary credit for saving basketball in New York and bringing the first championship to the Mecca since the 1970s. But ultimately, no point guard and Amare's sorry defense closed that door. So why be 2nd fiddle to D-Wade in a city that isn't even starving for a championship? For 3 primary reasons:

1. It's South Beach dude. LeBron even said as much himself by mentioning South Beach before Miami when he finally announced his Decision on his ESPN Sportacular Special. After growing up in Akron and playing pro ball in Cleveland, Will Smith's song lyrics never rang so true.

2. He wanted to create an army strong enough to battle Orlando, Boston, and LA in the playoffs. This wasn't a move for the regular season, they don't care about the Bulls' 72 win record, this was specifically for the post-season. It's not too tough to pile up wins against the Knicks, Nets, Pacers, and 76ers every season but you don't have that luxury in a 7 game series against a good, defensive-minded team with a smart coach who can gameplan for days specifically to stop you. Different story now with this Heat super-team. Pick your poison.

3. I don't think this was focused on enough in the media: he wanted to play with his friends. People underestimated how much LBJ, D-Wade, and Bosh bonded the last few years from All-Star weekends (all together on the East team) and especially the 2008 Olympics. This is the same guy who fired his big name agents years ago in order to hire his high school friends to represent him. Haven't you seen the clips of him yukking it up with his Cavs teammates on the court before games and during timeouts? He's a man-child. He hosted SNL. He likes to have fun with his friends, and in this case one of his better friends happens to also be one of the three best players in the league and is just as competitive as he is.

When cameras showed LeBron ripping off his Cavs jersey in the Boston tunnel leading back to the locker room, I figured that wasn't a good sign for Cleveland fans. Ultimately he Decided to sacrifice some alpha-dog status in order to gun for multiple titles with his boys in a warm weather city while easing some of the wear and tear on his body. People have reacted like these guys are the modern day nWo (with Wade and Bosh as Scott Haul and Kevin Nash and LeBron being the shocking Hulk "Hollywood" Hogan crossover to the darkside making them an unstoppable villanous force). It's not like he had a Cavs shirt on the whole time and tore it open at the last minute to reveal a Heat shirt, then clobbered Jim Ross, er Jim Gray over the head with a steel chair while mocking the crowd and flexing with crowd boos raining down on him. He was a free agent, FREE agent - he didn't demand to be traded with 2 or 3 years left on his contract or something. Was the ESPN Primetime Sportacular Super Special Decision a little insulting to the Cleveland front office and fans? Maybe, but for an athlete who has repeatedly stated he wants to be the first global icon, the ratings he garnered and Tiger's sudden plunge from grace suggest he's well on his way.

Woooooooooooah Boomshakalaka!