A Letter to LeBron James

Dear LeBron,

I'm from Cleveland. Go ahead...laugh. I'm sure that knife you drove into our back was for the hardcore fans who take things too seriously like me (sometimes). Just knowing you ruined so many people's lives over something so trivial probably made you giddy as a school boy. To be accurate, you took another piece of my heart that has been devoted to Cleveland sports since I was a little boy watching Indians' games back on Channel 43 in 1984. You didn't ruin MY life...but you certainly made things even harder for me as a sports' fan to even give two shits about professional sports in this city.

I've loved you and I've hated you this year. To be fair, I hated you before you made that decision on national TV. I couldn't believe the feeling I got out of that Boston series where it seemed like you could care less about playing like dog shit in some of those games. The writing was indeed on the wall. Shame on me for thinking it was written on Derek Rose's wall and not D-Wade's wall. But nevertheless your ego needed to prove a point. The point was, you were bigger than the Cavs and the city of Cleveland...and while you wanted a championship badly, you were too good to try and do it with the team that drafted you and bent over backwards for you since you were an 18 yr old rookie.

Further, you turned your back on a region that lived and died for its sports and hungered for a championship for 45+ years in exchange for a soul-less region of the US that has a large percentage of displaced sports' fans from other cities and multiple championships in recent memory that some folks down there have most likely taken for granted.

No matter what you think, you sold your soul to the devil and ruined your legacy. Yeah take mental notes asshole. I'm a nobody to you. I get it. You make more money in half a day than I make in a year. That makes my opinion worth a pile of dog shit to you. But I speak for a larger group of people than the shitheads that kiss your ass on your Twitter page.

Winning multiple championships in Miami with your band of dipshits (and I include Zydrunas Ilgauskaus in that group) that sold their soul to the devil like you did is not going to change the fact that your legacy was forever tarnished...even moreso than a guy like Kobe Bryant, who despite his legal troubles and unfaithfulness in marriage, was still able to man up and win without a big time sidekick with the same team that he started with.

Yeah...your mental notes are worth a bag of used up diapers. What's there to prove dude? Even those of us who can't stand you right now expect you to win a championship with that team, so what in the world do you have to prove? You're not going to prove me wrong. I know that for a fact. I expect at least a couple championship with you and your good-time buddies down there.

That's not the point. You won't be winning them in Cleveland...where we've been kicked while we've been down for decades. So while you're down in South Beach hoisting up trophies, know this: not many of us will be tuning in up here, so you can rest easy knowing that little old Cleveland is not paying attention.

In closing, I'd like to say this: you were the worst thing to happen to this basketball franchise up in Cleveland. Why? You were a mirage. We thought you really were the "Chosen One"...a local boy who would come to the Cavs and make it a desire-able place to play in the league. You were the man who would end decades of frustation and bring Cleveland championships. You even promised a championship and wouldn't go ring chasing. A lot of good those words ended up being.

Instead, you became the biggest cock tease in basketball history...a man whose name will sit atop the Cavalier record books despite not really caring one bit about the franchise, nor the city that you played for.

You sir, among all your great basketball talents and future NBA championship trophies, are a disgrace. Enjoy your charmed life. Karma is coming.

Sincerely,

Chris

Cleveland Sports' Fan

What's Good?

Been a while. I originally did this as an outlet. Then we got noticed by folks. Then we wanted to get serious. But like many people, once things got serious with day jobs and all, it sort of became a pain in the ass. I suck at writing anyway. Nevertheless I will return to my roots. This site is getting resurrected.

I am a software engineer who wants to separate myself from that and just express my opinions online. That is all.

See Ya At Bitterfans

For at least the time being (and possibly for good), this site will be gathering dust while Bitterfans has expanded its scope to cover all sports. If I find something interesting to put on here that doesn't have to do with sports, I may put it here, but otherwise, my coverage on the Cavs, Browns, and other sports' stuff will continue over at Bitterfans. Keep checking us out over there as we continue to grow:

www.bitterfans.com

Cavs Drop Game 6

It was painful to watch last night. Had it not been the fact that Detroit grabbed 4 offensive rebounds in a row, I would of felt better about losing to the Pistons. Unfortunately, that's what happened, and I was never as frustrated as I was during those last 2 minutes of the game. Before you knew it, the stage had been set for another Cleveland letdown.

It was even more frustrating last night knowing that Cleveland had kept it close, like the 3 games they won before only to let Detroit be the one to get a 2 point win on our homecourt. It couldn't have been scripted any better for failure. Visions of Elway, Byner, Jordan, Mesa, and so much else came to mind. To top it off with a cherry, that stupid asshole Rasheed Wallace was money from downtown, which helped put it away.

Just like the end of Game 5, it's important to remember it's not over yet. Game 7 is tomorrow in Detroit. But the golden opportunity that the Cavs possessed after Game 5 seems to have been squandered. Detroit played much better defense in Game 6, and manged to regain their confidence and swagger. In the process, they snatched momentum away from us and the chances of us advancing now appear to be slim. It's going to be an uphill battle now. I'm not expecting us to win, but I'm still going to be rooting for it. It's not over yet.

CAVS WIN GAME 5!!!

Amazing! I can’t come up with any other word than that to describe the Cavs win against Detroit to leave them 1 game away from the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. The middle finger goes out to all the guys who have given us no chance: Charles Barkley, Rasheed Wallace, BJ Armstrong, Stephen A. Smith, Brent Musburger, and a whole lot of other people haven’t had too much good to say about the Cavs. Now they are changing their tune. Charles even had something nice to say about us tonight! HOLY SHIT! Stop the press! Shit…I’ll even give myself the middle finger for picking the Pistons to win in 6. Stupid ass me. It’s a great feeling right now to know we have a great opportunity to put the Pistons and arrogant asshole Rasheed Wallace on TNT’s Gone Fishing. Maybe they can all come onto the TNT set and have some group sex with Barkley.

I’m really happy right now, but I know it’s not over. Now…we have to put them away at home in Game 6. The pressure is on us now. Can we handle it? Can we continue to keep momentum? Those questions will be answered on a big Friday night matchup at the Q. It’s time to go celebrate. I can't wait to see what Wallace has to say now.

Game 5: Bring It On

It’s been a successful playoff swing for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season after being absent from the marathon playoff format for so long. Even if the Cavs drop the series to the Pistons now, they can honestly say that they made the series competitive and gave the Pistons a handful. For those who constantly make the Michael Jordan/Bulls comparison to the LeBron James/Cavs, LeBron has already done Jordan 1 better in his first series against the Pistons. Jordan’s Bulls lost 4-1 against the old Piston bad boys. The Cavs are tied 2-2 against the new powerhouse version of Detroit. That’s a rather silly comparison to make, but it is still good knowing things in this series didn’t turn out like it looked in Game 1. This team has grown a lot during this playoff stretch and can build on it going into next season.

It sounds like I’m content doesn’t it? Well I sure as hell hope the Cavs don’t feel the same way about this. The series is 2-2, and the advantage lies with the experienced Pistons, who have 2 of the final 3 games at home. That shouldn’t stop the Cavs at taking a real run at upsetting these guys and moving onto the Conference Finals against the Heat. It’s not out of the question now. It CAN be done. It will be very hard, but if the Cavs can play a great game tonight in Game 5 IN Detroit, and LeBron can rise up, they can put the Pistons on the ropes and have a shot and putting them away at home. They have a bit of momentum going their way right now. Since the Game 1 ass pounding the Cavs took, they’ve improved each game on the defensive end, and have figured out how to play with the Pistons. The ultimate test of that will be back in the Palace tonight. Let’s see if the Cavs can continue to play the Pistons’ style of basketball and keep the game close. If that happens, look for LeBron to go for the kill in the 4th quarter. I’m a fucking witness and I believe in these guys now.

Cavs Tie Pistons!

HEY RASHEED: GO FUCK YOURSELF! You illiterate asshole. It’s 2-2 and the GAURAN-SHEED suffered its first failed prediction. I couldn’t ask for anymore with the Cavs right now. They tied it up and got 2 wins from the great Pistons. Nobody really expected this. Charles Barkley, Rasheed Wallace, and every other dick sucker can shut their fucking mouth now and give the Cavs some respect. My wish of Rasheed leaving the court injured was picture perfect. If only it was more serious. Even if the Cavs lose the series now, they came to play hard and gave the arrogant Pistons a run for their money. We’ll only get better bitches so look out. Game 5 is Wednesday in Detroit. I’m ready for that one. Go Cavs…

You've Got the Wrong Guy!

The vagabond coach of the NBA had to hit a snag somewhere during his tour of the league over his many seasons. Ironically enough, it was THE Dream Job of his that has proven to be a total nightmare. We’re talking about Larry Brown; the man who has worn his ability to turn teams around in short order like a badge on his chest. His recent trip to the New York Knicks has proved one thing: even great coaches can’t turn around a horrible situation that has been marred by terrible personnel moves.

Fans of the Knicks were salivating in 2003 at the thought of finally dumping former GM Scott Layden for a new mastermind to help turn the sliding franchise around and start winning consistently like they did so many years in the past. Unfortunately, Isiah Thomas was Layden’s replacement. Layden was certainly not a good GM, but somehow, Isiah has made it even worse. Over the past couple of seasons, the Knicks managed to put themselves in a horrible salary cap situation, and have managed to put players on the roster that aren’t necessarily synonymous with a winning formula.

When you consider a backcourt of Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis, it will tell you all you need about the prospects of this team winning games in the NBA. When a team gives up high draft picks to acquire a player with a heart condition in Eddy Curry, you also wonder how they can consistently win games. Even when the team has acquired players who have had good success on winning teams like Quentin Richardson, it has backfired on them. When you summarize the roster, it is stocked with individual players who don’t really choose to play together as a team.

That’s why you can’t really feel bad for Larry Brown right now. He knew what he was getting into. He knew the salary cap position this team was in, and he had to know that coaching a player like Stephon Marbury would prove much tougher than coaching a player like Allen Iverson. Brown, despite naming the Knicks as a dream destination, should have considered the current situation of the franchise. Now he is suffering for it. The most likely culprit for Brown’s decision to ditch the powerhouse Detroit Pistons that he helped win a championship was his pride. He’s turned every team around he has coached. He had to think he had the skills to get players like Marbury to turn thing around and play his winning style of basketball. Lesson #1: Those who don’t want to learn can’t be taught. Larry should have known all about that by now with his numerous stops as a coach.

The onus is now on owner James Dolan to fix a broken situation in New York. Rumors are flying that the Knicks want to buyout Brown’s contract and even consider moving Isiah Thomas down to coach the roster that he’s assembled. Despite the fact that Larry Brown has made a bad decision to take this job, letting him go would be another horrible decision for this franchise. You’ve got the wrong man Dolan. Take a look at your compadre in the front office, Isiah Thomas, and get this guy out of there if you want this team to be successful again. Thomas was a great player, but he’s done nothing particularly good since moving into an executive position in basketball.

Thomas has ruined a whole basketball league while overseeing the CBA, he stunted the progress of a good Pacers’ team, and he has made a bad situation even worse in New York. What is Dolan thinking? Is he insane? Keep Brown, ditch Thomas, hire a guy like Kiki Vandeweghe, and reshape this roster for Brown by finding other franchises to dump off guys like Marbury. How could they even think about going in the opposite direction? We may find out their fate in the next couple of days. I'm no Knicks fan and I'd prefer to see them continue making bad decisions, but it's still appalling to see some of the decisions they make.

Thank Goodness For the Cavs

The Cleveland Indians have successfully put me into seclusion. What a fucking mess that is. The truth of it is that I’m too disgusted to write about them so that’s about all I have to say about that. Moving on to more pleasant topics: For those stuck under a rock and cut-off from the world, the Cavs beat the Pistons this past weekend to setup a crucial Game 4 tonight in rain soaked Cleveland. The Cavs have successfully managed to at least match what the Bucks did in the 1st round, so we won’t have to hear how the Bucks fared better against the Pistons. The Cavs showed me a lot in Game 3. Can they take another one? We’ll see.

With the series now set at 2-1, Rasheed Wallace, the literary scholar from North Carolina, has predicted that the Pistons are going to ‘bust some ass’ tonight and it will be the last game played at the Q this season. My new wish: to see Rasheed get hurt on the Cavs’ home court and see him get ushered off the court by roaring boos and several thrown objects. Here’s hoping something very bad happens to him soon. For the most part, I respect the Pistons and their players…except for this douche bag. The man sits on the bench and laughs at us when the Pistons are winning, bashes our droopy center’s head in and doesn’t get disciplined for it, acts like he never fouls anyone, speaks like a bum off the streets, makes assinine comments,

OK…now that I’ve had my classless moment of the day, I must get through a long day of work to prepare for the big Cavs game tonight to see my team get their ‘asses busted’.

OK...MUCH BETTER???

I’ll take a 6 point loss over a 27 point shellacking any day. Beggars can't be choosers...right? The Cavs dropped their second in the series to the Detroit Asskickers to dig themselves a nice little hole in the second round. Despite the bleak outlook, I personally feel that the Cavs made a lot of progress between Game 1 and Game 2. What seemed to be a carbon copy of Game 1 was erased after a nice late comeback by LeBron James and the good guys. When all looked lost and void, the Cavs managed to work out of a 21 point deficit late in the game to make it interesting in the 4th quarter. Before you knew it, Cleveland was poised to get within 7 or 6 points of the Eastern Conference dominators, before Detroit managed to come up with a couple of nice plays on both ends to put it away and keep it at 6 points. Here’s a nice little lesson for the Cavs: Don’t let these guys go on a big run any more you dicks! We kept it close early in the game, and before you knew it, Detroit made a couple of nice stops and went on a tear. As I discussed before the series started, Cleveland cannot afford to get down big against the Pistons. Their defense is too good for the LeBrons to make a big comeback for a win. You have little room for error boys.

The Cavs now go home for 2 against the behemoth Pistons, and I expect them to take at least one game. From an optimistic point of view, I think they can build on Game 2 and take 2 at home. When I take the rose colored glasses off, I truly think this will go 1-1 in Cleveland. Regardless of all that crazy talk, I think the Cavs can really build on this going into the 06-07 season. To support that claim, check out Scoop Jackson’s article at ESPN.com for his take on LeBron and the Cavs. He thinks that whatever ass-kicking the Cavs take, LeBron and company will learn from it and come back even stronger next season. Let’s hope that is the case. I don’t think I can stomach any more rapings like I saw in Game 1.

In other news, the Indians are losing to the Royals again. Time to blow my brains out. Ughh...

Site Update

This is long overdue, but I would like to give props to a couple of blog site links that I have recently added:

1) Overtime! - Hockey is the one sport that I truly admire and respect but barely have enough time to watch since I am so engrossed in football, basketball, and baseball, and the 800 other things I barely have time to do. On top of that, I'm married, so I have to be a good husband and allow the TV to be something other than sports at times. I wish I had more time to get into it, but that's life. If you are looking for a Hockey diehard though, check out this guy's site. He's from our friendly neighbor up north, where Hockey is a religion. He's doing a great job keeping up to date on playoff hockey.

2) God Hates Cleveland Sports - This is by far, the best name for a Cleveland sports' blog I've seen and he does an awesome job writing articles and digging deep into the horrid Cleveland sports' history that we Cleveland fans have struggled with. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already Cleveland fans! He's got a good article on the Trent Dilfer trade that chronicles some of our recent QB flops over the last couple of decades.

Aside from that, stay tuned to more cosmetic site improvements over the next few weeks. You stay classy....readers.

NBA Playoff Mini-Rant

Cavs vs Pistons:

The Cavs were bent over, and screwed by the man who can’t read (pictured) and his teammates. The NBA…It’s FANTASTIC! Nice job Cavs. We actually had a 12-7 lead in this game. Then the brown stuff hit the fan. Those dicks from Detroit decided to shoot 10-11 from downtown in the first half to put the Cavs away BEFORE half time. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again. Damn! That was hard to watch. I still think the Cavs can steal a game or two, but you can’t expect these guys to come back and take the series from the Pistons. Detroit looks like they are on cruise control to the Finals. A message to the Cavs: Get your act together you stupid assholes!

Mavericks vs Spurs:

Just before the Cleveland massacre took place, I saw one of the dumbest things I’ve seen recently in an NBA game (Not since Ricky Davis shot at our own basket for a Triple Double.). Jerry Stackhouse, who played well off the bench for the Mavs, had an open lane to the basket after a tipped pass by Manu Ginobli. Ginobli was BEHIND him as Stackhouse got the ball and was facing the basket. He even had Eric Dampier blocking off the only Spurs’ defender down low. An easy layup would have tied the game. INSTEAD, Stackhouse stepped back to get behind the 3-Point line to shoot for the win. Ginobli had time to recover and get right up in his face. Stackhouse shot the 3….NO GOOD. The Spurs win the game. MORON! If the Mavs lose this series, they can blame it on Jerry.