July 8, 2011 marks the anniversary of Lebron telling Jim Gray’s forehead that he was heading south on D-Wade to join Wade and Bosh in Miami. This was the culmination of Lebron’s week long teasing of the Knicks, Nets, Bulls, Mavs, Clippers and of course, the Cavs. In a poorly planned moment he went from beloved sports icon shilling McDonalds and Nike to a pariah, shilling McDonalds and Nike. Locally, fans burned jerseys, effigies and bobble heads. Nationally, he was panned by columnists, radio and television personalities (except ESPN, they LOVE him and LOATHE Cleveland).
There were two points in the 2011 season that helped heal my wounds; the Cavs win over the Heat, and the Mavs c-blocking Lebron's weak attempt at a ring. Fans in Cleveland and Dallas helped make the NBA's championship-winning game for the Dallas Mavericks ABC’s most-watched week during the summer season in nearly 10 years. The Nielsen Co. said the Mavericks' series victory over the Miami Heat was seen by an average of 17.3 million people over the six games. That's a little less than the viewership for last year's Lakers-Celtics series, which had the advantage of going to a climactic seventh game. No doubt the large ratings were due to the villain Lebron has become after his decision to rip the collective guts of Cavs fans out on national TV.
It's obvious Cleveland still has a lot of feelings toward Lebron (See ratings in Cleveland for Heat games throughout the 2011 playoffs). My anger has subsided and I've accepted the fact that he'll eventually get his championship not in Cleveland.
U mad?
