The Whore of Akron

Blanked on asking for this for Xmas, read the first 40 pages or so in the bookstore yesterday and laughed my ass off. Profanely, profanely hilarious. The Art Modell lines are priceless.

 

Did you really read the book? I think he made this as clear as anything in the book.

Nobody says he didn't have a right to leave. He's writing about people who just thought this guy was different. That the best basketball player in the world happened to be from Northeast Ohio and that when he said his dream was giving NE Ohio a world championship, he meant it. Those folks were wrong. It hurt like a motherfucker for them. That's what this book is about. So they say really petulant, immature things about LeBron James. They find out he's no savior. He's a 26 year old kid who is lost and unwilling to be what they wanted him to be.

That's what the book is about. Not some high school-level economics discussion of a guy's right to free agency.

A group of people who value loyalty above all else mistakenly and stupidly put their faith in a 26-year old man who didn't value the same things they did.

Again, Raab's book is about the stupidity of Clevelanders just as much as it was about the overgrown adolescent who is LeBron James.

 

Thought the book was about Ted Stepien at first.

 

BYH, you had me at "Modell lines."

 

I think "obsession" rather than "stupidity" is the proper description.

I read the book in one sitting. I'd expect reactions to the book will be primarily influenced by whether the reader is a Cleveland native or Cleveland sports fan. I expect many non-Clevelanders will enjoy it, but I'd expect most won't "get it" in the same manner as Browns/Tribe/Cavs fans.

 

I don't blame him for leaving. Ohio winter weather is a beast. The spring brings tornadoes. And Miami is much more fun to live in. And no state income tax.

But the way he announced it was just awful. An hour-long ESPN special? Just do a news conference, thank the fans for being supportive in Cleveland and go to Miami. I doubt the vitriol would've been as intense.

 

I read the free chapter, and I'm going to buy it now for my Kindle.

Maybe it'll help me truly understand what it means to be a total fanboi.

 

spoiler *** spoiler *** spoiler

OK, the guy begins his machinations toward writing a book on the Cavaliers' season, and one of the first things he does is sit in the owner's office and break down in tears over how badly he wants the team to win a championship.

I'm still trying to truly understand. I understand he's making no claims of being an impartial observer; anything but. Still ...

 

And winning this championship would mean . . . what exactly?

Once you break through this wall of "it really means nothing/my life will be the same regardless" ---- and some people never break through it, I realize --- you can simply enjoy sports as entertainment and a curiosity.

 

Apparently, it means something different because ... they're Cleveland fans.

 

Yup. My family can't understand when I talk about my favorite super bowls and they don't involve the Steelers. I enjoy when they win, yes, but I more enjoy when something awesome and/or unusual happens, no matter who the team/athletes are.

 

Which means they have not had a professional team of strangers win a championship in, well, a long time.

Never mind that the state's collegiate teams have enjoyed enormous success. Nope. If you are an Ohio State alum from Cleveland you have had nothing to cheer about ever. Ever.

And never mind that hundreds of cities in this country have no pro team at all --- are they more or less deserving of pity than Cleveland fans?

Ridiculous.