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August 3, 2010
I realize this may be a little premature, but this is something that’s been brought up a lot on Twitter lately, and with the leaked info of the NBA schedule, it seems appropriate to talk about it now.
As we now know, LeBron James will make his first return to Cleveland to play the Cavaliers on December 2, 2010. What remains to be seen is how Cavs fans will and should react to seeing their former King play against them.
We know there will be plenty of yelling, lots of jeers, a bunch of booing and probably more than a fair share of rude obscenities being sent LeBron’s way. Some fans, though, have wondered if a more organized effort was appropriate here.
Some have suggested the Cavaliers should hold a “Z Appreciation Night” to stop the game and make LeBron sit there and watch as fans show their true appreciation for a true sports hero. I’ll admit, that’s not a bad idea, and I have to believe it would irk LeBron and make him a little uncomfortable.
The idea that has been the most prevalent, though, has been the walk out idea. There are several variations of the same theme, but the main idea is that Cavs fans should show up for the game, cheer for the Cavs in the pregame and boo LeBron when team lineups are announced. Then, at some pre-determined time in the game, all the fans are supposed to get up and walk out as some kind of misguided show of solidarity to show LeBron that he’s not even worth it, or something like that.
I cannot stress enough what an awful idea this is. What is the point in walking out on the Cavaliers? No matter what your intent might be, that’s what the result would be. The fans would be turning their back on the players on the Cavaliers who are still here. The ones who will still be fighting for us fans this season.
None of the Heat fans in attendance (and there will be Heat fans….or at least LeBron fans who took their allegiances to South Beach with LeBron’s talents) will walk out, and it would thus leave Miami with a home crowd advantage. LeBron would probably love nothing more than for all the Cleveland fans to walk out and thus leave him alone.
No matter what way you look at it, this walkout idea is one of the single worst ideas I have ever heard. I implore Cavs fans to not be suckered in by cheap ploys and/or gimmicks. The best way to “get back” at LeBron is to show up and cheer our hearts and scream our lungs out for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Boo LeBron whenever he touches the ball, come up with funny/unique/creative chants to use during time outs. Yell at LeBron when he’s on the bench to distract him. Above all else, though, help support the Cavaliers on the court and see if we can’t will them to a victory. Because in the end, the single biggest way to hurt LeBron now is to beat him and to beat the Miami Heat. It may be a long shot, but it’s better to show passion and loyalty to the actual Cavalier players no matter what the outcome of the game is. That’s true loyalty, and that’s what being a fan should be all about.
90 Comments
I agree with this sentiment. Don’t walk out. Throw beer, boo, yell stuff about Delonte and Gloria; yell stuff about that guy Bryce Something or other who claims to be his dad. Yell stuff about Arash Markazi and Jordan Crawford.
“The fans would be turning their back on the players on the Cavaliers who are still here.” I agree 100%, bad idea.
Nearly impossible to pull off but I think it would be awesome if everyone (except the 5 a-holes you know will show up in Heat gear) turned their backs to the court in silence when Lebron was announced.
Chant: “Akron hates you” clap, clap, clap-clap-clap
What they ought to do is just have dead silence when he’s announced. And then any time he touches the ball, or makes a play, nothing but quiet. Nothing would hurt a narcissistic egomaniac more than not even acknowledging that he’s there.
Anyone who shows up in a #6 Miami jersey deserves to leave on a stretcher
I used to be in favor of the walk-out idea, but I think you put it well into perspective. It is much more important to support the Cavs than to let LeBum affect us. That said, I think turning our backs on him during intros is a great idea.
I don’t see this happening considering how ridiculously expensive Cavaliers tickets are. Retire Z’s number at the game and boo the crap out of that other guy and his… well, let’s be honest, it’s not HIS team, now is it?
We need a twitter chant ringleader, similar to what Bill Simmons did during the playoffs resulting in the “New York Knicks” chants we heard when LeBron was at the free throw line.
It’s Cleveland v Miami Dec. 2nd, but also Dec. 5th when the Browns play the Dolphins.
Here’s hoping for an early Christmas present in a Cleveland sweep.
When the PA announcer announces the Heat’s starting 5, he just says “Power Forward” or “#6.” Makes no mention of LeBron’s name.
I love the idea of having a Z appreciation night when Lebron makes his return. i’d love to see “Z” signs all over and the crown go nuts when he’s introduced.
Maybe the Cavs could organize a reunion of the greatest Cavs of all-time? Of course, an invite wouldn’t go out to Lebron.
i dunno… i’m still bitter, sure. but anything the fans should do would mean so much more if it was a unified effort.
1. To heck with Z.
2. I would not like to see any planned, organized effort of any kind. That stuff is too cheesy.
Our expressions of disgust should be raw, gutteral, deeply personal, and spontaneous. The closest thing to an organized effort should be an ear-splitting ***-HOLE chant every time he goes to the line, which hopefully is often.
Man, listen to me! I’m one of the guys who complained about obnoxious, boorish, f-bombing Browns fans yesterday.
/hypocrite’d
Walk Outs remind me of Dawg Pound Mike. That worked well didn’t it. LOL Z won’t agree to a stoppage in play. A long standing O for Z will be plenty
I agree, but I DO think that any fans who are dumb enough to throw anything onto the court or try to get into any sort of physical confrontation with anybody (you know there will be a few), should go ahead and walk right out before starting lineups. Boo him, Yell whatever you want, but lets try not to engage in behavior that makes lebron look like a good guy or justified for leaving.
I think throwing beer and physical violence are both bad ideas. Then it becomes a Browns game.
Dear @cavswitness, I love your idea of the walkout for the first Cavs/Heat game. Signed: Dog Pound Mike and High School Seniors
All fans in attendance should wear black clothing signifying that Lebron is dead to Cleveland and after that game we should never talk about him again.
That dude in the picture looks like he’s really going poo-poo in his pants-pants.
Maybe the Cavs should put one of these on every seat for the fans to wear that night: http://kissmyasslebron.bigcartel.com/product/you-can-head-south-but-your-mom-rides-west
Rename the team the Akron/Cleveland Cavaliers for a game and make some fancy new unis with that name as well.
Through all this crap, the one thing I thinnk is the most bizarre is that #6 does not realize that all of his Akronites are Cleveland fans.
Titus Pullo, good idea but A Quitness shirt on everyseat would be cool
Chant Ideas anyone?
“Your Wade’s Pippen! Clap clap clap clap clap – My Favorite
hi, i was one of the guys who was a proponent and participant in rowdy Browns behavior.
I am really not much of a basketball fan, the Indians are in fact my favorite team, so since Yankee hat incident, I have been vehemently anti-Lebron. Just like with everything that idiot does, it’s not THAT he does it, but HOW (in that case, using the Indians’ front office to score seats and special treatment for him and his posse, then openly rooting against my favorite team while “representing for new york”) Because of my indifference to bball, it was easy for me to hate lebron, and I’m thoroughly enjoying how my bandwagon went from 1 to 10 million overnight.
That being said, and in discussions with basketball-obsessed people, I have no idea what’s going to happen with LeDoof comes back. This is a set of circumstances that put together has never been seen before.
-The ultimate betrayal and CONTINUED face-spitting (today’s ABJ thank you w/o a Cleveland reference is just the latest)
-An obsessed fan base in a championship-starved city that just lost its best chance
-the fact that LBJ built himself up to be worshipped like a god, and having to face the people who have been left without a hero.
-the economy and other factors creating a general depression in town.
-the chance to claim 15 minutes of fame by doing something outlandish (thanks, Matt Bellamy)
-the fact that basketball, unlike any other sport, puts the fans literally within arms reach of the action without entering the field of play
I don’t hope that this happens, but I fully expect there to be a physical reaction to Lebron, ESPECIALLY if he tries to show us up and score 60 points. It just takes one crazy a-hole to stick out a leg as LBJ is coming down the court, one scorned former witness with a carefully aimed projectile towards his head. Again, I hope that people can control themselves, but I just can’t possibly fathom that they will after all this.
All in all, I really don’t think he has the guts to show up. He will cite safety concerns, and by December 2, the Heat may already be 15-2 or something close and he can just skip the game. After all, he is a completel female doggy.
Whoops “You’re Wade’s Pippen” not “your”…my grammar teacher would be so upset
The more I think about this the more I’m realizing there is not a good way for this to end well for the city of Cleveland. There’s only a handful of ways this can play out, right?
1) A complete mish-mosh of protests, with some solid coordinated booing involved, resulting basically in Cleveland fans coming off as confused or inept at best, dumb as rocks at worst. I call this the “best case scenario.”
2) MrCleveland’s example of earsplitting vulgarity that makes everyone long for the days of vuvuzelas. Broadcasters at the game drowned out to the point that calling the game has to shift to the studio with constant apologies for the utter boorishness of Cleveland fans. Sentiment becomes “wow, Lebron was right to get away from those psychos.”
3) The “Jaguars/Browns 2001” scenario – stuff gets thrown on the court to the point of disrupting the game at multiple points. Sure we frown on this, but it just takes one moron, and the anger is going to be so close to the surface that you know a bunch of copy-cats will follow.
4) “10 Cent Beer Night” (aka “Artest in Reverse’) – complete chaos to the point the game simply cannot be played for fear of safety of the players.
Perhaps I’m too negative in how I view this, but this has the potential to make one long for the atmosphere at Browns games as discussed yesterday. And I think this is why the team is going to do everything they can to ignore the game – in theory I love the idea of having a “Z night,” but all that does is feed the anti-Lebron sentiment that’s going to already be boiling over.
How does this game happen and still have the city, the fans, and the franchise actually look good? Hasn’t that ship sailed, and now we’re looking at how to make everyone look “less bad?”
i think dec. 2 should be “Delonte West remembrance night” with 20,562 delonte masks with a lipstick kiss on each one
1. I hope Gilbert hasn’t calmed down by this date; any sort of team sanctioned display of hatred is improbable, but I’d like to pretend that he’s savvy/fun enough to plan a good punch at lebron from the entire organization
2. The simmons/twitter blast idea is solid if you have the right guy manning it… a solid 20,000 shouting any variation of quitness/gloria west/f*** lebron should be high comedy
Rather than booing him everytime he touches the ball or complete silence or anything like that, why don’t we just give that treatment to D-Wade. I can only imagine the look on Lebron’s face when he doesn’t he even get the away team superstar treatment. Let him know that he is a role player now, and that he doesn’t matter.
but in reality I’m for just showing up and watching the game, booing him every time he touches the ball
there is no way we can play it off like its no big deal he’s in town. The rest of the country wouldn’t even believe Marlon Brando in that role.
Any organized display of hate is going to look foolish and desperate. And it would show how much people are still agonizing over him one way or another.
I say, just go to the game and boo him like any other star that has left here, nothing special for a not so special guy.
But there’s no reason that everyone within shouting distance shouldn’t try and screw with his head in any way possible
The PD should publish a special edition paper, just big enough to be a fold-out, re-printing whatever headline was used the day after the so-called “Decision.” Every fan in attendance should receive a copy. When #6 is announced, everyone should hold it in front of their face, as if reading, in dead silence. This should continue each and every time #6 touches the ball, shoots a foul, ets. Dead silence. Nothing but thousands of printed announcements of his leaving. Sends the message, but doesn’t waste fan money or dishonor the current Cavs.
Value of this idea = 2 cents.
“ets” means etcetera in my lexicon.
NO QUESTION that the best thing to do would be to have twitter ringleader for chants. SG is right on the money with that.
I thought that same thing immediately. It allows you to get everyone saying the same thing.
The other thing that we have is time – we could work on coming up with what the best chants would be from now to December.
Yeah, I really hope nothing gets thrown on the court, and I hope there’s no violence in the seats. If he shows up and tries to show Cleveland up and score 60, I hope the Cavs’ players take care of that with some hard fouls.
I say let people boo and chant without everything being organized, and maybe have some anti-LeBron stuff on the scoreboard or the guy who yells things during timeouts.
I’m new to posting here, but I’ve been an avid reader of this blog for some time now and I feel I have to comment on this particular article.
I’ve lived my whole life in Toledo, but I’ve been a fan of Cleveland sports ever since I was eight years old…and witnessed The Drive. I’ve read what seems like hundreds of opinions about LeBron in the last month, so I’ll spare you mine; it’s nothing that hasn’t been said before.
Back on topic: I was supportive of the walkout idea until I read this article. I agree with Andrew 100% about this, and thank him for helping me look at it from a different perspective. Would walking out on the Cavaliers inspire them to play better basketball and try to squeak out an upset over the Heat? Probably not. I’d rather see the Cavs fight LeBron’s South Beach Superfriends tooth and nail, even if it turns out to be a losing effort.
I like #2’s idea of the fans turning their backs in silence when LeBron’s name is announced; it’s very symbolic. Somebody should start a Facebook page to promote the concept. What should it be called?
@1
DON’T THROW BEER OR THE HATE BRIGADE/TEAM NFL LIBRARY/TEAM TENNIS WILL HIKE SOUTH FROM CBS AND SHAKE THEIR HEADS AT YOU AND WRITE MR. GILBERT AND TELL HIM WHY THEY AREN’T COMING TO THE GAME! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
An ode to Delonte would be amazing, but unrealistic.
Honoring Z and being completely silent would be the most effective. LeBron craves attention, and has shown in the past to get just as rilled up for boos/heckling as for cheers. Giving him nothing, while at the same time pouring praise on someone else would be the most effective.
@36: December 2 should be labeled as “LeBron Depreciation Day” if both of those ideas were to be implemented.
call pappa johns i bet they have “crybaby” idea for the game
Sit behind the Heat bench and during a timeout yell to LeDonkey “Hey lebron delonte just called. He wants to know what time he should drop off Gloria”
A couple of scenarios to be worried about:
If Lebron is having a great game/torching us and dives for a ball out of bounds and goes into the crowd there could be a bit of trouble.
Also might be a bit of trouble when he does his powder throw at the beginning of the game.
Hopefully nobody gets out of hand.
I started reading this article and when It got to “walking out” I wasn’t sure whether you were for or against it and all I could say to myself was “No no no no no!”
I do like the Z appreciation day though!
WE’RE GONNA BURN THIS CITY TO THE GROUND!!!
I say take away the powder at the scorer’s table on 12/2 and 3/29, or replace it with baby powder. LeBron wouldn’t know what to do if it were missing, and baby powder would be fitting.
Gilbert needs to get on the web now and proclaim that night LeBron Demolition Night. What’s the worst that could happen?
I think we should of kept Delonte, maybe sign him to a 10-day deal if he’s a free-agent… and have Delonte West appreciation night.
Actually, I disagree with this piece. This game will very likely be nationally televised. A walk out would be an appropriate gesture that exemplifies an appropriate response….to the point that Ohioans are upset but not violent.
@45 can’t you see that we would be walking out on our team? LeBron would eat that up, and like Andrew said just leave LeBum and Heat fans in the building. Utterly pointless.
“LeBron would probably love nothing more than for all the Cleveland fans to walk out and thus leave him alone”
lest we forget, LeBron loves the attention. he doesn’t care if it is negative and he is the villain or it is positive and he is the hero.
he will feed on the jeers and fully enjoy them.
i agree that a walk-out is likely not plausible though. it would have to be that fans sell-out the game and never go in. get E9th street businesses to offer discounts on stuff with a game ticket to help make up for it some. and, even that is not likely as this will be one of the most hyped NBA games of the year and people will want to see the game.
@ Tim – how about some powdered sugar? That would be a fine mess once he starts sweating during the game…
I’m with @25.
A walkout or boycott may not be the best idea but I’m afraid the alternative is another spectacle of Cleveland sports fans acting boorishly and immaturely.
Much as I dislike what James did, an over the top display of hate, vandalism, vulgarity or worse during that game is only going to generate sympathy for him.