Let It Go

Ok Coco, take some Alieve, a glass of water and a down-pillow and go lay on the couch; it’s going to be OK. Truth is, I’m tired of hearing about these guys too; however, I won’t get my wish and neither will you if you don’t stop hating on them.
Think about it, if everyone loves you, you probably won’t make headlines, let alone the cover of SI (i.e. Joe Mauer, Albert Pujols, Tim Duncan, and Chase Utley). Now most of these guys have been on the cover of SI, but they like to stay out of the media’s watchful eye for the most part.

Now let’s examine why people hate the threesome in the first place: they held a summit in the off-season, and eventually all signed together in one of the biggest stories in sports history, they’ve made the 2010 Heat look like Steinbrenner’s Yankees (R.I.P.), and two of the three – Bosh and James – seemingly alienated their old teams as well as fans to go down to South Beach.

Can you really blame them though? Miami is a beautiful city with even more beautiful women and Pat Riley has got to be about the most swagged out President of any NBA franchise in history. Everyone is jumping down LeBron’s throat for going to Miami; but, if you take out his pompous, 1-hour primetime TV special, you can see that he made the best move for himself. When a team releases a player or gets rid of a beloved player like the Lakers dumped Shaq in ’04 – you don’t see nearly as much fallout or hatred for an owner. Where were the fans burning season tickets or pictures of Jerry Buss? Why didn’t Shaq release a spiteful, barbed letter in crayon like Dan Gilbert? Because the NBA is a business, and that business is all about winning.

LeBron’s best option to win immediately was to join Bosh and Wade on the Heat and hope that ‘A Pimp Named Slick-Pat’ (Boondocks reference) could put together the right pieces to make the team a champion. I mean if the Fonz walked up to you in an Armani suit, puffing a Cuban cigar, leaning back in a chair made from imported Italian leather proposed that you join the top two free agents in one of the most perfect cities for a 25-year-old celebrity, would be able to say no? Me neither, and that’s what Bron-Bron and Bosh did. Now, I’m not saying that what he did to Cleveland or what Bosh did to Toronto is right – it was a low move on each of their parts – but I cannot say that I blame them for wanting to win an NBA ring.

So, I implore everyone who hates on Miami, LeBron, Pat Riley or anyone else involved to just stop talking about it like they wouldn’t have done the same thing in any of their shoes. When it comes down to it, they really had no choice anyways.

What was the last team to take the top-3 free agents during the offseason? The New York Yankees, right before the '09 season; nobody liked them either. Their results: the best record in baseball (103 - 59) and a World Series Ring. The ace of that team, not so ironically, was C.C. Sabathia - formerly of the Cleveland Indians and Milwalkee Brewers. That is to say, LeBron isn't the first player to leave Cleveland for greener pastures and he likely won't be the last.


If he wins a championship this year, it justifies him leaving and makes his "decision" much more understandable; however, we'll have to reserve all judgment until next April. For now, everyone should give it a rest and go back to talking about Brett Favre's 'annual' un-retirement.

By Aaron Hilton
Follow me on twitter @Way_2_Tall401