NBA Heated Homecoming: Cavaliers Owner Dan Gilbert’s Letter to Cleveland
__________________________________________________________________________With less than one week until LeBron James’ heavily anticipated (like a sniper anticipates his next target) return to Cleveland in a Miami Heat jersey, we here at the Big Nasty Athletic Dept. thought it necessary to reflect on the critical events that brought us here.
One thing you’ve got to admire about Cleveland is their resiliency. Only a city so devoid of personal triumph can embody such a trait while its character remains strong.
Cleveland’s toughness comes from the fact that they don’t take anything laying down, not to mention the crappy weather. Cav’s owner Dan Gilberts’ enraged response to ‘the Decision’ was simple proof of just that. 
Throwing caution and discretion to the wind, Dan Gilbert kept the media frenzy, sparked by the decision, spinning out of control with his almost immediate response to what was described as an act of betrayal.
LeBron James was to take his talents to South Beach to play with the Miami Heat, but not before being chased out of town with a pitchfork disguised as a 400+ word e-mail to the city of Cleveland.
In the capitalized (at spots) tirade, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert accused LeBron James of quitting in the playoffs against the Celtics, a sentiment that just hours prior Cleveland natives would only think to themselves.
Gilbert compared LeBron James to a curse, and called the former King of Cleveland disloyal and cowardly all while promising the city of Cleveland an NBA Championship someday.
The hatred that spilled through each carefully emphasized word of the e-rant was so powerful, it was even interpreted by some as racism.
Jesse Jackson lead the random, yet understandable, civil rights charge against owner Dan Gilbert, as he accused Gilbert of seeing LeBron James as a “runaway slave“.
Gilbert’s outrage at the fact that one of his own would betray him so, by exercising his rights as a free agent, justified Jacksons’ accusations in some ways. But race did not seem to be as dominating a factor in how LeBron James was now received by the general media as timing.
Looking at the situation from Dan Gilbert’s point of view, one can easily see an instance of poor timing and inconvenience as the Cavs organization was left with little time to rebound from LeBron James’ exit (both from a personnel standpoint and emotionally) as the free agent market was basically dried up by the time LeBron had publicly punched Cleveland in the stomach in July.
Dan Gilbert’s newsworthy letter to LeBron James was a prelude a budding rivalry between Cleveland and LeBron James that has yet to see what is sure to be a thrilling climax.
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Tags: Dan Gilbert Comic Sans, Dan Gilbert LeBron James, Dan Gilbert Runaway Slave, Dan Glibert Letter, Heated Homecoming, LeBron James Miami Heat
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[...] 400-word Dan Gilbert rant (which would have been oh so juicy) was nowhere to be found following the debut of ‘What [...]
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