I do not know Dan Gilbert personally, I have met him a grand total of one time while he was out here in San Diego a year or so ago. He talked to me directly, seemed like a really nice guy. He had a charisma about him that I would assume billionaires would have. After his “letter” yesterday after Lebron decided to trash the city of Cleveland in a prime time hour long train wreck. I have gained much more respect for the man. I am proud to work for someone that has the fire and the passion that he exhibited in the “letter.” I am use to the comic sans emails that he sends out every now and then to the family of companies, he is a solid motivational writer and I must admit, I have drank the Kool Aid. I am fired up by it. It almost makes me want to shed the Clipper fan moniker and jump over to be a Cavs fan.

What was Lebron thinking? Actually, what was anyone thinking in regards to this live one hour special? ESPN loved it, they were not going to get much bad press (even though they basically mortgaged their credibility) over it. This was all going to be on Lebron and his marketing group. How can one of the most likable guys in the NBA fall so flat on his face. He fell so hard that his face went through the ground and he buried himself. This had nothing but bad written all over it.

I can understand him leaving Cleveland. I totally can understand it. He is 25, all he really knows about living is in the Cleveland area. He wanted to spread his wings a little bit, live in a new environment, taste what was out there. That is totally understandable. I did it when i was 21, I moved from Los Angeles and went to San Diego, away from the thumb of my family. All I can say, it was the worst decision of my life, it probably set me back a number of years, cost me finishing off my education, just for the perks of partying hard and learning that people are really out for themselves.

Will that happen to Lebron? Probably not, but I do think in retrospect, in about 10-12 years after he has left the NBA he will look back and say that it was probably not a good choice. He has basically villified himself to the people that adored him. His relationship to his home town will never be the same. He is going to be seen as the straw that broke the camels back. He was Cleveland. He made the people of Cleveland believe in something. He gave that region something to hold on to. Now they are not back to where they use to be, but they are far worse off.

It is not that he left Cleveland, it is how he left Cleveland. He basically created a 60 minute infomercial where if Cleveland were a woman, that stayed by his side through thick and thin, may not have been the prettiest, but she would look past your faults and be there whenever you needed her, dragged out in front of the nation, if not the world and was basically told, you are not good enough for me and got replaced by some hot big titted woman wearing a tube dress that could probably be on the cover of any magazine cover. It was just so public, it was just so damning. It was the worst possible way to do that, especially to the people that had followed him for so long, to people that adored him to no end. It was just downright disrespectful.

If Lebron just held a press conference in Miami and said that he signed with the Heat and left it at that. The backlash that he is getting right now would not be so horrific. It would be understandable, it would be something people could swallow. It would have been painful, but not as horrific as what he actually did.

I live in San Diego, the Chargers had a player that was beloved, #55, an Oceanside product that went up to USC to play college football, drafted by the Chargers in 1990. Junior Seau, one of the best linebackers in history. He stayed in San Diego, he probably could have gone off and got more money going somewhere else, but he stayed true to his city, to his fans. He lives here today, even though he did not end his career as a Charger. The difference between him and Lebron. The Chargers traded him away. It stung, it really hurt losing him, but it was a decision by management and he went on to play in the super bowl with the Patriots. He is still loved and endeared in the community. Lebron will NEVER be loved in the great lakes region ever again.

Lebron will win titles, I am almost positive of it. But his name will never be mentioned along the greats. He is never going to be thought of as being able to play in the same stratosphere as Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan. He has in affect signed away his legacy to be the Scotty Pippen to Dwayne Wades Michael Jordan. He is Pau Gasol to Kobe Bryant. He will not be the billionaire that he has wanted to become. He has proven that he can’t do it on his own. He needs someone that can carry him over the top. Sadly the people that will carry him over the top are just better than he is.

He has in essence become Dwayne Wade’s Robin. He will most likely not get any Finals MVP’s, he will most likely not get any regular season MVP’s. Dwayne Wade is the leader of that team and if he really thinks that Dwayne Wade is going to step aside to appease a meglomaniac, I seriously think Lebron has another thing coming.

He went to Miami to play with the dream team. The only problem is that they are not going to be beating up on Angola every few days. When one of them start to see their numbers dropping, that will eventually create tension between the big three. It may be all good for a season or two, but by the third year, when they are starting to look at a possible contract again in two years, you will see some serious issues with those three.

Bye bye Lebron, I really hope you grow up and start being what you were meant to be, a damn good basketball player, but I am not sure that will ever happen with the decision that you made.