Bend over Cleveland…LeBron is at it again!
Written By: Mike | Category: Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers | Comments: 55
Yes, that is LeBron James talking to Terrell Owens at yesterday’s Browns game…while wearing a Cowboys t-shirt no less.
I wonder how many people are still hoping that this guy is staying here after 2010 out of loyalty to our region? He doesn’t even care enough about us to pretend to root for the Browns when the Cowboys are in town. Hell, he won’t even take off his Yankees hat when the Indians are playing New York in a playoff series. Yesterday was just another open slap to the Cleveland sports fan base courtesy of flight number twenty-three.
Can anyone imagine LeBron’s idol, Michael Jordan doing something like this in Chicago back in his prime? You wouldn’t see him wearing a Yankees hat while sitting at Comiskey Park and you would NEVER see MJ wearing a Cowboys shirt at a Bears game. Never would happen and the fans in Chicago wouldn’t let him get away with it.
There is a right way and a wrong way to represent yourself as a professional athlete in a city and I honestly can say that LeBron openly rooting against the other pro teams in Cleveland is wrong.
So why should we give this guy another pass? It’s becoming more obvious LeBron is on the first plane out of town in two years and if he actually brings a title to Cleveland before then so be it. Just don’t expect me to be among those to shed a tear when James is wearing a Nets jersey in a couple years.
[Update: The Plain Dealer's Philip Morris has a good post in Tuesday's edition on the same subject. He tends to agree with the author of this topic. ]
Trying to tell if this is supposed to be tongue in cheek or if this is serious. I don’t get why people fly off the handle about this stuff. There’s no law that everyone in Ohio HAS to root for Ohio teams. LeBron grew up a Cowboys fan, and he’s supporting his teams. Big deal.
Wake me up when LeBron is wearing another NBA team’s gear. Until then, life is too short to get all worked up over meaningless stuff like an athlete having fun rooting for his favorite teams.
Maybe if the Browns had won as many superbowls as the cowboys, he’d be a Browns fan. I don’t know what it is that makes someone emotionally attached to any team, but obviously LeBron isn’t into cheering for losers. The Indians were good during most of LeBron’s impressionable years, but no rings. Perhaps it’s a mentality that people used to winning have. Surround yourself with success in order to be successful.
I really don’t care which teams LeBron roots for, or if he’s gone in a couple of years, or if he ever becomes a billionaire, as long as he bring just 1 championship to Cleveland I’ll be happy.
I do not understand this attitude. What makes you think you have any control over what sports teams LeBron James is a fan of? He’s always said he was a huge fan of MJ’s Bulls, the Dallas Cowboys and the Yankees because they were the teams that won when he was a kid. A kid, may I remind you, that did not have a father around to ingrain a sense of hometown fandom into him. It was just him & mom and three teams on TV that won most all the time.
He likes other teams, work with that and move on. If he stays or if he goes it will have nothing to do with the fact he gets text messages from T.O., it will be because he can’t win here or he can make more money elsewhere. That is all you can reasonably expect from anybody, why is LeBron held to a different standard?
My point was/is LeBron’s obvious lack of respect for the fans of this town. He’s done this twice now. Do you honestly think Jordan would have done that? Never.
Hard to say. Who was Jordan’s favorite football team? How big of a fan was he? LeBron wearing Cowboys or Yankees gear has nothing to do with us fans, and it’s quite arrogant to think it should. He’s a Cowboys fan. If I played baseball for the Pirates and the Browns were in town playing the Steelers, you can bet I’d be at that game in Browns gear….and it would have nothing to do with the fans of Pittsburgh….it would have to do with me being a lifelong Browns fan.
And for the record, yes, I 1,000,000,000,000,000% want LeBron to stay in Cleveland and play for the Cavaliers past 2010. Him wearing a shirt or a hat of the teams he roots for isn’t going to change my appreciation for LeBron and what he’s meant to the Cavaliers.
Bron-Bron and I grew up in about the same timeframe, and I was a front-running Cowboys/Yankees fan when I was 12. I eventually grew out of it and began rooting for my (doomed) home teams, but I can’t fault the guy for not being a Cleveland Sports fan. After all, the woe is me bit would get old if I had a couple hundred mil sitting in the bank.
i don’t give a crap about Lebron because he doesn’t give a crap about me or any Clevelander not throwing money at him. He will leave and I will be happy when he does.
No, he doesn’t HAVE to root for the browns, indians or any other Cleveland team, but he is a representative of the CLEVELAND Cavaliers, therefore a representative of the city of Cleveland. I regretfully understand that we’re well past the point when athletes actually get this concept, and are simply after the pay day.
The simple fact is that all Clevelanders should feel betrayed when someone they root for because they are Clevelanders so openly doesn’t give a damn about any of your feelings.
Definitely not a Cowboys shirt. But take what you will from the fact he’s wearing a shirt with his own likeness.
b takes the cake for “Ridiculous Comment Of The Year”. What about Clevelanders who don’t root for the Browns….should they feel betrayed about LeBron? Or should LeBron only care about the feelings of Clevelanders who root for the Browns? Are Clevelanders who root for the Browns more important than all the other Clevelanders? What about Clevelanders who don’t care about sports at all? Is LeBron supposed to care about their feelings, too, or are they worthless in your opinion?
I agree with Rock on this one, just because he grew up liking other teams doesnt mean he’s going to hop a plane to New York the first chance he gets. It just means he’s a fan of other teams. Everyone in Cleveland, and others outside of Cleveland, such as myself, can appreciate everything LeBron has done for us. You shouldn’t get so worked up over something as little as him supporting the Cowboys and Yankees. Now if he had on a Knicks or Nets hat, than yeah sure, you would have a point. But these are different sports and he can cheer for whoever he wants.
If LeBron wins us a championship, he can walk around with a Yankees hat, Steelers sweatshirt, Ravens shorts, and Bengals underwear for all I care.
Ya some of you older guys forget that when me an LBJ and this whole other generation of fans were growing up that we didn’t have a football team to root for. We were too young to realize what was going on with (owner not to be named) and Bellicheck and the organization moving and all of that. Now him being a Yankees fan is beyond me but millions of people like the Yankees so what ever. I was actually a Packers fan as a kid until the Browns came back. I remember my dad got mad at me cause I decorated his work truck with about 100 Packers stickers. The point is that our generation didn’t have a team really, and when we did they weren’t very good. I love the Browns now, but know Why LBJ doesn’t.
I thought this site was too good for articles like this.
Whatever sells I guess.
who cares who the guy roots for?
Swig-
It’s a semi-worthy discussion on an otherwise depressing Monday for Browns fans. If we played the “whatever sells” card, we would just put up porn and get it over with.
This is ridiculous, he isn’t even from Cleveland, why should we think he has to root for teams he has never rooted for in his life. I know we all like to stake claim to Akron whenever something good comes out of it, but its a different city than Cleveland. Everyone there is not as attached to Cleveland sports, and apparently LBJ is one of those people. Why should we insist he should root for the Browns or the Indians when those are not his favorite teams, the Cowboys and Yankees are. I am sure he supports the Browns and wants them to do well, but the Cowboys are his favorite team, its as simple as that. Wasn’t Lebron friends with CC? I don’t think that relationship was hindered by LBJ rooting for NYC. I actually thought this article was being sarcastic at first. Who cares what MJ would do, Lebron is not MJ, he is Lebron. He is his own man. What other people do or did should have no bearing on what he does.
And he actually did eventually take off the Yankees hat at the one game he attended. For what its worth. I actually don’t think this is semi-worthy discussion. Its fodder
So freakin what? Guess what guys? I’ma freakin buffalo bills fan! I’m from akron also and growing up they didn’t tell me hey you have to go for every cleveland team. Get off his sack he can do wtf he want.
So freakin what? Guess what guys? I’ma freakin buffalo bills fan, and they play the browns this year on monday night and the bills are gonna kick the browns ass! I’m from akron also and growing up they didn’t tell me hey you have to go for every cleveland team. Get off his sack he can do wtf he want. Lebron a ohio state fan and as long as he a fan of the buckeye’s he’s not a traitor
This argument is ridiculous. Akron fans (on the whole) claim Cleveland teams as thier own. I grew up there, and I assure you that it is true.
LeBron’s decision to root for the Yankees, Cowboys and whoever else outside of Cleveland is a bit disturbing to me, but not something that I want to run him out of town for. Could LeBron be more sensitive to the Cleveland fan base? Yeah, but Cleveland fans are only a part of the audience that LeBron is after. Whether it is generational, cultural, or even racial- LeBron doesn’t see anything wrong with rooting for teams outside of Cleveland. The sooner we get over that, the better we will be. Either get used to it, or don’t root for him at all.
for the record, and i dont know if its been stated, but lebron is wearing a nike lbj23 tshirt, and not a cowboys shirt.
and here’s a musing about this from dj gallo from espn.com’s page 2:
We all know LeBron James is a Yankees fan. But a Cowboys fan, too? A Yankees and Cowboys fan from Ohio? Goodness. What a pathetic, front-running loser. And while that information might be difficult for Cleveland fans to digest, at least they can rest assured he will never leave the Cavaliers. His favorite NBA team — that would be whoever the reigning league champion is — will never be able to fit him under the salary cap.
“LeBron’s decision to root for the Yankees, Cowboys and whoever else outside of Cleveland is a bit disturbing to me”….I’m sorry, I just don’t get this mentality at all. Why does he have to root for Cleveland teams? I live in Columbus, but I don’t root for the Blue Jackets. I’m closer to Cincinnati than Cleveland, does that mean I should root for the Reds and Bengals instead of the Indians and Browns? No chance. We root for whomever we started rooting for as kids. It doesn’t sound to me like LeBron was afforded the kind of upbringing where his mom or dad were taking him to any of the stadiums to watch teams play. He rooted for who was winning on TV. I don’t see why this should be disturbing to anyone.
i don’t care WHO lebron is a fan of or who he roots for in the privacy of his own home (or even favorite bar)
but to go on national tv not once, but twice now, throwing his front-running ways in the face of the city that he represents (i would argue more so than ANY other athlete in the country represents theirs) is pig headed and juvenile.
Wow. Cleveland fans really need to get over this inferiority complex. This is insane. Now LeBron has to root for his favorite teams only in the privacy of his own home? Wow, sounds like a lot of fun.
“throwing his front-running ways in the face of the city that he represents”….see, you’re just missing the point. He’s not doing this to piss you off. He’s not doing this with you in mind at all. He’s doing this because those are the teams he roots for. It’s not about you or I. It’s not about the city of Cleveland. It’s about LeBron rooting for his teams.
Lmao ^^^ true words. Wtf sense do that make? Oh one of the most famous people in the world can’t wear his teams colors in public? Get the hell outta here. Lebron is the reason espn even talks bout cleveland sports now.
I think I should be run back out of the state too then because I am not a Buckeyes fan. I grew up around Cleveland and will support those teams til I die (I am sitting in an orange and brown room). My dad loves the Bucks but I lived in Knoxville for 7 years and came out a vols fan.
My point is, it isnt that big of a deal what teams he likes as long as he wants the cavs to win and plays hard to make it happen. At least he doesnt like teams in our division. Dallas is in the freakin’ NFC! We are not going to play them every year and even if we did it would only be once.
When Bron-bron becomes a Steelers or Whitesox fan, then I might be slightly miffed.
This is the dumbest most ridculous story and article I have ever read or heard about. LeBron represents Cleveland everytime he steps foot on a basketball court that is is duty. He does not have to pretend to like the Browns or the the Indians. He is keeping it real. So you people from Ohio hating on LeBron should think about what he has brought to your state.He is a global icon and everytime his photo is taking CLEVELAND is on his chest.
I think the most important Cleveland team he should root for is the Cleveland Cavaliers. Aside from that the only concern I have about LeBron respecting Cleveland is in terms of a community (i.e. the Bicycle program he does every year, just to name one). LeBron just doesn’t like some Cleveland team. So be it. We can all collectively say “What’s your problem!?”, but the truth is, if he’s wearing a Cavs Jersey and brings titles to Cleveland, he gets two big thumbs up from me. If he leaves, he’ll be lumped in with other great athletes not in Ohio….namely the “Other” pile.
However, on the flipside, I see nothing wrong with trying to persuade the guy.
It just doesn’t matter to me – he is a SPORTS fan, doesn’t HAVE to be an everything Cleveland fan. Hell, I live in Boston now, and Tom Brady has been seen around town wearing a Yankees cap and David ortiz has been seen in NJ Nets jerseys. Who gives a crap.
BRADY WEARING A YANKEES CAP!!!!! Get out of town!!!! I bet the beaners had something to do with his injury yesterday. Pay back for wearing that hat!!!
WHO CARES!!!
Try this: a guy who is loyal to the teams he grew up loving may also be loyal enough to stay in Cleveland. You see Lebron in a Yankees cap, talking to TO, and you only see DISloyalty to Cleveland teams. Maybe you oughtta be focusing on the LOYALTY to the teams who captured his heart as a kid, and extrapolate from that he has the capacity to commit, and stay committed, to the Cavs?
What a corny article. Who cares what Lebon wears. If his high school buddies weren’t his marketing guys and he had pros running it the ridiculousness of this garbadge would cease to exist. This is what happens when you let your friends run your business. No one has the good sense to tell the golden calf he may be doing something idiotic and stupid
That doesn’t appear to be a Cowboys t-shirt. LeBron may be from Ohio, but he’s never been an Ohio sports fan. And he always makes a point of emphasizing that he’s from Akron, not Cleveland.
What does that mean?
I don’t know.
Forget about the Browns or Indians, James didn’t even grow up a Cavs fan. LeBron was a Bulls fan — Cleveland’s most bitter rival during LBJ’s childhood.
I’m just sayin…
I wonder if Atlanta Falcon fans were upset about all those years Hank Aaron spent in the bleachers at Municipal Stadium rooting for the Browns.
Geez, he was there before they even called it a Dawg Pound.
Whats up Ohio? How bout them Cowboys? I am an avid reader to your site ever since I went to Cleveland on Memorial day and am an avid reader of Deadspin.com.
Lebron is not wearing a Cowboys shirt. I myself did not see the footbal game yesterday as I was watching the Boston Red Sox Pummel the Texas Rangers as I am the last diehard Rangers fan. When I was in Cleveland People seemed to love the browns at the Stadium and in the community. The Texas Rangers, not so much.
So buck up, at least you don’t live in Cincinnati or Detroit.
Enjoy this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6Qyz2dAjEQ
Mike-
Are you serious? This post is a freaking joke! Just because he roots for the teams he has been rooting for his whole life and won’t change for anybody means he’s on the first plane out of town? What do his allegiances with teams outside of his own sport have to do with what he does for the Cavs? And if he hated Cleveland so much, why would he have re-signed with them in the first place?
Get a grip, man. You’re better than this. I know you are. Please show it more.
I missed the part where Lebron’s contract said anything about what clothes he can wear in public concerning his support of other athletic organizations. Betraying Cleveland? These are some of the most absurd comments I’ve seen around here.
I was gonna write something about the quality of the article, but Amar said it pretty well.
Hoy
LBJ doesn’t have to wear Cleveland gear. Nothing in his contract states he has to do this. He is a fan of everything NOT Cleveland. So what??
I’ll tell you what.
Bron and every other supposed sports fan here who supports the “King’s” motives don’t understand what it means to be a TRUE sports fan in Cleveland. Nobody outside of the “Mistake by the Lake” understands this city’s misery. Black eye after black eye in every sport to grace this city. Is it too much to ask for one superstar player to give the smallest S*** about the fans when there’s a camera around? Money, money, money… Just as long as he wins… Screw that! Lebron is an egotistical money-grubbing loser. Just go to New York where you belong. But he signed with Cleveland again. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!!!!!!! Pay enough, they’ll ALL stay. Jim Thome stated he was going to finish his career in Cleveland no matter what. He was insistent! He was offered a few bucks more in Philadelphia. BOOM, gone! F*** Bron. F*** sports, and F*** this forum! I’m done.
Reading some of these comments makes me wonder what some of you people are on. There are actually people who want LeBron to leave? Are you serious? LeBron is THE bigeest athlete in this town since Jim Brown, and all you people want to do is bash him? As long as he has a Cavs jersey on when October comes around, i could care less if he walks around in a U of M jersey, Cowboys hat, and Yankees shoes.
Ease up guys!!
LOL…..get a life, Dood. Seriously, if a player for the Cavaliers wearing a Yankees hat makes you this mad, perhaps it’s best to get a new hobby so you don’t die a young man from a heart attack.
Do you guys think all the Browns players are OSU football fans now, since they play in Ohio? Let me tell ya, you’d be retarded to think that.
I’m a Cavs fan, but not an Indians fan, and definitely not a Browns fan.
I’ll admit, I am a Bengals fan
But allow me to give you guys a word of advice. Bitching and crying about stupid things like this is the absolute wrong thing you want to do regarding a player of LeBron’s caliber. We nearly lost Chad Johnson this offseason, and a big part of it was how a lot of fans turned on him for stupid reasons. He felt unwanted in Cincy and wanted out. Thankfully he is still here and trying to earn back the love of the fans.
Bitching about endzone celebrations and comments to the media, while trivial, doesn’t even compare to how trivial it is to complain about a dude’s wardrobe off the court.
Fans in New Jersey or New York wouldnt even take time out of their day to even mention something like this. Keep that in mind.
[...] In either case, I think it’s a good example of an argument I just don’t get (from Waiting for Next Year): I wonder how many people are still hoping that this guy is staying here after 2010 out of [...]
I stand by my words. The second LeBron leaves town in two years, you all will turn on him faster than you can say “Jim Thome.” Don’t let your fears of offending him keep you from actually taking a local sports hero to task once in a while. It’s our right to question from time to time.
To question him for not being a Browns fan? Really? What right do any of us have to tell anyone else who they should root for?
Its not so much for NOT being a Browns fan as IS the fact that he’s out on the sidelines with Dallas and yucking it up with Pac Man and T.O. and openly rooting for them to beat Cleveland. Throw in the Yankees stuff from the playoffs and it should be clear: He doesn’t care about the fans of this town and never will. He’d rather be a global icon than represent Cleveland. That is my issue Rock.
In my opinion, if it doesn’t rub anybody the wrong way (at the very least), then maybe everyone has sold out their emotions for the sake of enjoying his final two years here. Enjoy.
Mike, no offense, But you’re exactly the type of fan that gives Cleveland fans a bad name.
OF COURSE HE’S ON THE SIDELINE ROOTING FOR THE COWBOYS…..HE’S A COWBOYS FAN!!!
Who says he doesn’t root for the Browns against the other 30 teams in the NFL? So he doesn’t root for the Browns when they play the Cowboys. Oh my gosh, woe is me, LeBron doesn’t like me, blah blah blah. Maybe you should root for the Cowboys to show how much you “care” about LeBron. Wait, you were rooting for the Cowboys to lose in that game? Oh my gosh, you just don’t care about LeBron.
Pffft…..give me a break.
All this is, is a guy rooting for the team IN ANOTHER SPORT, that he has rooted for his whole life. This isn’t about “emotions” or whatever you’re trying to make this out to be. I’ve criticized LeBron PLENTY for things he has done ON THE COURT. But this is football. Or baseball. Two sports that LeBron doesn’t play, and should be free to cheer for as he pleases. You don’t take him into consideration when you choose which teams you root for, why does he have to take you into consideration when he chooses which teams he roots for? You’ve already made it perfectly clear you don’t like him and don’t care about him, why should he care about you?
This is the dumbest argument in sports history, and I’m done with it. I’ll give you the last word. I’ve said my piece. You know how I feel…you think I’ve sold out my emotions, I think you’re being absolutely irrational.
Mike –
Taking out years of frustration caused by Cleveland team underperforming on Lebron is unhealthy. Lebron is loyal to Cleveland in the ways that count. He plays his butt off for the Cavs and gives back big time to the community. I personally couldn’t care less who he roots for outside of basketball.
“i could care less if he walks around in a U of M jersey”… Ok, that’s taking it a bit too far.
If Clevelanders have to base their value on what their sports personalities wear, or don’t wear, then it’s over. Find a good therapist, and bitch slap your parents for not giving you a better sense of self worth.
Let’s get back to what’s really important (comment #16)…..
so are you saying porn has a chance?
On a serious note, I think it’s gone a little off the deep end, when people feel like he has to hide his fandom in public because of how sensitive various fans of other Cleveland teams are. The idea that “he can root for another team, he just can’t flaunt it” is ridiculous. What’s the point in being a fan if you can’t take joy in the actual sport. When the Cavs come to LA I go to every game even though I can often see more on television. Half the fun is watching the Lakers fans leave dejected (or at least last year).
Rock-
You know you’re my boy, and your tremendous posts on here have just cemented your status as such. There’s really nothing more I can add to this after reading your takes on here. Job well done. Job WELL FREAKING done.
DCBucks-
As an OSU alum, it’s true: I couldn’t give a rat’s you-know-what if LB walked around in a Michigan jersey. What in the bloody heck does that have to do with ANYTHING?!?!?! The guy is paid to help the Cavaliers compete for an NBA championship, and he does that job better than any one of the other stooges on the roster (with the exception of a few, of course). This guy is going to spend at least – AT LEAST – the next TWO seasons trying to bring a parade to YOUR city, a city that hasn’t seen one in 44 years. Beggars really aren’t choosers, and in a city that hasn’t won anything IN anything in my lifetime (plus another 20 years), it’s alarming and comical to see people openly saying that they want to run him out of town because of this.
Newsflash: Neither of the two teams that he’s “rooting against,” the Indians or the Browns, can even sniff the level at which LeBron has taken the Cavs. A second-round exit is a tremendous disappointment for the Cavs, while a second-round exit for the other two teams in itself would be a reason to throw a parade in Cleveland. Yet, people take issue with him just being himself. Get a grip, people.
Thanks Mike
I’m 100% in agreement! I like what LeBron does on the floor for the CAVs but that’s it!! I’m also an OSU alum (class of 71) and I’m usually on the same side as Amar but we are polar opposites on this one. When he (LeBron) is gone, I won’t miss him.
[...] to the media frenzy that insues whenever LeBron James wears a Yankees hat, or finds himself on the sideline of the Dallas Cowboys. However, there is an obvious difference in the two situations: Eric Barton is not LeBron [...]