Mark80 Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Definitely got chills when I read it. I agree with your sentiments 100%. I don't know how anybody who is a fan of Buffalo and the Bills could not love that letter so much. I always root for Cleveland, esp. the Indians and Cavs, because I feel like they are our sister city. Sharing the same lake - same history. Everything. This is so awesome: I want kids in Northeast Ohio, like the hundreds of Akron third-graders I sponsor through my foundation, to realize that there’s no better place to grow up. Maybe some of them will come home after college and start a family or open a business. That would make me smile. Our community, which has struggled so much, needs all the talent it can get. In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have. I’m ready to accept the challenge. I’m coming home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireChan Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 (edited) i cant follow basketball until semi-finals, so I dont know much about cavs. What is the rest of the team like? w/ James who/what else do they need to be a contender? Kyrie Irving is a scoring PG similar to Westbrook (on the Thunder). He won ROY two years ago, and is really talented. They just took Andrew Wiggins, a super athletic and good sized SG, first overall. Their big men are where they're lacking. Varejao is 31 now I believe, but he's only average and has been in decline. They lost Spencer Hawes, a 5 who has great range with his shot. They have Tristan Thompson at the 4 who is young, but hasn't shown much in terms of talent besides below-average to average. Anthony Bennet is their other PF, first overall pick last year, but he hasn't panned out yet. Already regarded as a possible "bust." Dion Waiters is an above average SG. And I don't know if they have an NBA quality SF, besides Lebron. If the Cavs trade Wiggins to get Love, an idea already floating around rumor reports, they'll be a really good contender for a title. Without Love, it might take them a year. Their only weaknesses are depth/rotational guys and their big men. Other than that, they're pretty nasty. Edit: Can't believe I missed those other two posts that said the exact same thing. Crap. Edited July 12, 2014 by FireChan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maury Ballstein Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Lebum. The anti Jordan/Duncan/Cal Ripken/Dirk Keep leaving teams and crying for calls. Wait for Cleveland to acquire 50 #1 draft picks and I will magically show back up. Nice letter but I was done with this loser years ago. 2011 Mavericks whooped that royal arse just like the Spurs. You ain't no king. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark80 Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 (edited) Lebum. The anti Jordan/Duncan/Cal Ripken/Dirk Keep leaving teams and crying for calls. Wait for Cleveland to acquire 50 #1 draft picks and I will magically show back up. Nice letter but I was done with this loser years ago. 2011 Mavericks whooped that royal arse just like the Spurs. You ain't no king. Someone substituted their coffee with haterade this morning huh? Jordan, Duncan? OK. Ripken (a baseball player out of nowhere) and Dirk? Well, they each only had one title. LeBron has two and I'm willing to venture a guess that he'll add at least one more before it's over. So every player needs to play for only one team their entire careers for you to respect them? Guess you don't know much about Dirk then for a guy that has him as his user pic, huh? The guy abandoned his entire country where he was playing professionally for DJK Wurzburg from 94-98. But I guess selective memory is OK when you're trying to make a ridiculous point. 2011 Mavs: Jason Terry - Atlanta Hawks draft pick Caron Butler - Miami Heat draft pick Shawn Marion - Phoenix Suns draft pick Tyson Chandler - LA Clippers draft pick Jason Kidd - Left Dallas for the Suns and Nets before returning to Dallas again Once again, selective memory my friend. Oh, and Jordan, he abandoned basketball all together, in his prime for a couple seasons, remember? Edited July 12, 2014 by Mark80 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewEra Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Someone substituted their coffee with haterade this morning huh? Jordan, Duncan? OK. Ripken (a baseball player out of nowhere) and Dirk? Well, they each only had one title. LeBron has two and I'm willing to venture a guess that he'll add at least one more before it's over. So every player needs to play for only one team their entire careers for you to respect them? Guess you don't know much about Dirk then for a guy that has him as his user pic, huh? The guy abandoned his entire country where he was playing professionally for DJK Wurzburg from 94-98. But I guess selective memory is OK when you're trying to make a ridiculous point. 2011 Mavs: Jason Terry - Atlanta Hawks draft pick Caron Butler - Miami Heat draft pick Shawn Marion - Phoenix Suns draft pick Tyson Chandler - LA Clippers draft pick Jason Kidd - Left Dallas for the Suns and Nets before returning to Dallas again Once again, selective memory my friend. Oh, and Jordan, he abandoned basketball all together, in his prime for a couple seasons, remember? I read both yours and Ryans posts and must side with Ryan on this one. I think you're scraping the plate for crumbs. Young basketball players dream of playing in the nba. Young players from ALL countries. Saying dirk "abandoned" his country actually made me laugh. Comparing LeBron leaving Cleveland and Dirk leaving Germany are 2 completely different situations. No reason to compare. Not sure what Jason terry, Caron butler and the rest have to do with Lebron. They are completely irrelevant to the conversation, whether you'd like to believe that or not. Believe that. LeBron may go down as the 2nd best player ever. He has a chance to go down as the best ever. Doesn't change the fact that he isn't Jordan, Duncan, Ripken, Dirk. It's called class. Something Lebron has yet to discover. I've met him on many occasions. Including his rookie season, when he tried to punk the GM of Rain nightclub at the Palms in Las vegas for not letting him in the club.....when he was 18. That was my first of, I believe, 12 encounters with him. Each and every encounter he was "that guy". That guy that you'd backhand slap if you were his mother because you were embarrassed of the person he had become. Easily the most egotistical and classless person I've taken care of. This week, he demanded that the Wynn hotel stock his cabana with sprite soda.....and to make sure each can had his face on it. Then didn't show up for his cabana either day. To reiterate. LeBron is not Jordan, Duncan, Ripken, Dirk.....jeter, Magic, Bird, Montana, and the list could go on forever. He's just a different breed, whether its the medias fault for making him into a super hero before his 16th bday, his upbringing or something else all together. He's a complete jerk and hope that he fails. But god has blessed him, so he's got a chance to become a top 2 or possibly, dare I say it, the best ever. He is that good. I do love the fact that he's 2-3 in nba finals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maury Ballstein Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 (edited) Really. Gonna bust out tears for Wurzburg ? Left for the NBA ?? That's the goal mcfly. Lebron gets smoked in finals, don't get all emotional because he's on the run again. Dirk Cal Duncan etc all don't run. Dirk should have 2 rings. Tim donaghy jacked one from them w phantom Dwayne Wade fouls in 06. I don't like Lebron. I have that right. Jordan would hang himself if any of this stuff transpired on his watch. http://dailylounge.com/the-daily/entry/lebron-james-vs.-nba-playoffs-a-history Very unkinglike. Edited July 12, 2014 by Ryan L Billz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gugny Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 In fairness to James ... no one knows how many rings Jordan would have won without the supporting cast he had. Jordan was lucky enough to be on a team that built around him very well. LeBron didn't have that in Cleveland, which is why he chose to pursue the ring elsewhere. I think LeBron took the Cavs as far as they could go with the team that they had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dib Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 thank god he's gone, I'm sick to death of "the big three" and "King James". Also tired of hearing about a multi millionaire high school basketball player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowery4 Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Honestly, I haven't watched Basketball except some PO games (especially when Jordan was on the Bulls) since the Braves left. %stillmadaboutit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truth on hold Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 I don't know how anybody who is a fan of Buffalo and the Bills could not love that letter so much. I always root for Cleveland, esp. the Indians and Cavs, because I feel like they are our sister city. Sharing the same lake - same history. Everything. This is so awesome: I want kids in Northeast Ohio, like the hundreds of Akron third-graders I sponsor through my foundation, to realize that there’s no better place to grow up. Maybe some of them will come home after college and start a family or open a business. That would make me smile. Our community, which has struggled so much, needs all the talent it can get. In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have. I’m ready to accept the challenge. I’m coming home. I know they're professionals and everything, but still I wonder how a Daryl Johnson, for example, whose from WNY and grew up a bills fan, felt about tearing bills fans hearts out in 2 super bowl losses. Especially playing for an obnoxious coach and owner who just belittled us. I'll never have the talent to play for a pro team, but still I can't imagine coming into the Ralph and playing against the bills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark80 Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 (edited) I read both yours and Ryans posts and must side with Ryan on this one. I think you're scraping the plate for crumbs. Young basketball players dream of playing in the nba. Young players from ALL countries. Saying dirk "abandoned" his country actually made me laugh. Comparing LeBron leaving Cleveland and Dirk leaving Germany are 2 completely different situations. No reason to compare. Not sure what Jason terry, Caron butler and the rest have to do with Lebron. They are completely irrelevant to the conversation, whether you'd like to believe that or not. Believe that. LeBron may go down as the 2nd best player ever. He has a chance to go down as the best ever. Doesn't change the fact that he isn't Jordan, Duncan, Ripken, Dirk. It's called class. Something Lebron has yet to discover. I've met him on many occasions. Including his rookie season, when he tried to punk the GM of Rain nightclub at the Palms in Las vegas for not letting him in the club.....when he was 18. That was my first of, I believe, 12 encounters with him. Each and every encounter he was "that guy". That guy that you'd backhand slap if you were his mother because you were embarrassed of the person he had become. Easily the most egotistical and classless person I've taken care of. This week, he demanded that the Wynn hotel stock his cabana with sprite soda.....and to make sure each can had his face on it. Then didn't show up for his cabana either day. To reiterate. LeBron is not Jordan, Duncan, Ripken, Dirk.....jeter, Magic, Bird, Montana, and the list could go on forever. He's just a different breed, whether its the medias fault for making him into a super hero before his 16th bday, his upbringing or something else all together. He's a complete jerk and hope that he fails. But god has blessed him, so he's got a chance to become a top 2 or possibly, dare I say it, the best ever. He is that good. I do love the fact that he's 2-3 in nba finals. Well, at least I can respect someone's opinion who has actually met him on numerous occasions and had bad experiences with him. Everyone else who's been negative has been saying vague things like I've read that he did bad things without providing any specifics whatsoever. Also, let's be clear here, I am not a Cavs or LeBron fan. I just like what he did here and think / perhaps thought that he got a bad rap for only one bad PR mistake that he made. I root for the Pacers after having lived in Indiana for the 5 years until I just recently moved back to Buffalo. It was the first area I ever lived that had an NBA team nearby so I picked them up after previously being a Super Sonics fan (loved me some Schrempf and Perkins). As far as Ryan's post. He could have easily said what he wanted to say and made valid points without saying "LeBum," "keeps leaving teams and crying for calls," "loser," and the Mavs whooped his arse just the like the Spurs or whatever non-sense he was spewing. He's flat out the best player in the game right now (sorry KD, but he is), he's won 2 titles, took a team that to a finals that one just 19 games two years later (the year after he left) when they won 60+ the previous two years with LeBron. That shows you the kind of talent that was around him there. When Jordan left mid run to play baseball, the Bulls won 55 games and made the Conference Finals without him the next season. That shows you the kind of talent he had. And if you don't think Jordan every pleaded for calls, then you didn't watch basketball in the 90s. They just didn't have dozens of cameras recording every angle and non-stop sports coverage like they do now back then. And Jordan did abandon his team for his "dream" of being a baseball player for whatever reason, he did. I'm not saying this scars his legacy at all, and he's amazing, but if Ryan is going to point the finger at LeBron for leaving and use Jordan as a reference, then I'm sorry, I don't respect his argument. And to your point of Bird and Magic. How many other hall of famers were on those squads? Kareem, Worthy, McHale, Parish, Dennis Johnson, McAdo, and Wilkes. 7! yes 7! LeBron never played bad in any finals that appeared in. His team may have got smoked a few times, but he was never the problem. The guy had to carry the weight so much the last two years in Miami that one of the most finely tuned athletes in the world couldn't even walk at the end of two games because he had exerted so much energy during the course of the season, the playoffs, those games that his body simply broke down. Some call him a wuss, I would argue that this is a guy that gave his absolute 100% he had to give. It he wants to link an article from 3 years ago that points out a few games and a few shots that he missed, whatever, so be it. He's made plenty of clutch shots during those years and plenty more since then. Nice objectivity though buddy. Perhaps he'll read this article to see what i'm talking about, but I doubt it. (can't post link but just google lebron james clutch performances and there is a nice bleacher report article on it, with some breakdown). The Dirk comments, sure a stretch, no doubt. But one could also say if he was loyal to his first team and country, why didn't he stay and help build an NBA caliber team / league over there? Another stretch, yes, but similar to saying why didn't LeBron stay in Cleveland and just build the Championship caliber team there? The answer to the questions are the same, at the time it was simply impossible. The rest of the Mavs I brought up was just to show that pretty much every NBA player moves around (including a hall of famer that was very important to their team that year who was on the Mavs, left and came back in Kidd) and his high and mighty Mavs certainly were no different than everyone else. I will never bad mouth Duncan as I went to Wake Law and I love him and everything he stands for and is. A true gentleman on and off the court in every walk of life. Bringing Ripken is was just completely out of left field as he doesn't even play basketball. Apples to oranges in my opinion. Thanks, I've made all the points I care to and am done with this debate. Edited July 12, 2014 by Mark80 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maury Ballstein Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 (edited) Why so serious ? Millions of other rabid basketball fans dislike Lebron. He's a big boy and has been criticized soundly often. In my house he's lebum. Him and d-Wade mocked Dirk like little schoolgirls then Dirk murdered bosh and the heat while his tongue wagged like MJ. He does cry for calls and is lucky Ray Allen hit that 3 to preserve Lebrons legacy a little. And yes the spurs did lay an epic record breaking embarrasing beat down on the big 3 FTR. Nothing wrong with some facts. Edited July 12, 2014 by Ryan L Billz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 (edited) ... Bringing Ripken is was just completely out of left field as he doesn't even play basketball. Apples to oranges in my opinion. Shortstop. GO BILLS!!! Edited July 12, 2014 by K-9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark80 Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Why so serious ? Millions of other rabid basketball fans dislike Lebron. He's a big boy and has been criticized soundly often. In my house he's lebum. Him and d-Wade mocked Dirk like little schoolgirls then Dirk murdered bosh and the heat while his tongue wagged like MJ. He does cry for calls and is lucky Ray Allen hit that 3 to preserve Lebrons legacy a little. And yes the spurs did lay an epic record breaking embarrasing beat down on the big 3 FTR. Nothing wrong with some facts. Ha! Your criticisms are so thoughtful, logical, well-reasoned, objective, and "sound" too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbb Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 I know they're professionals and everything, but still I wonder how a Daryl Johnson, for example, whose from WNY and grew up a bills fan, felt about tearing bills fans hearts out in 2 super bowl losses. Especially playing for an obnoxious coach and owner who just belittled us. I'll never have the talent to play for a pro team, but still I can't imagine coming into the Ralph and playing against the bills. As a fan, I know what you're saying. I remember being mad at Ron Jaworski for kicking our butts in 1981 - haha................But, obviously it's different to be the athlete. And, BTW, Darryl Johnston wasn't even a Bills fan growing up. He was a Dolphins fan - which really ticked me off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 If you are bored or have 15 minutes this is hilarious. Dustin fox is a former Bill who does a radio show in Cleveland. He parodied lebatards bit from the big 3 coming to Miami in 2010. It is great. @mpopovichREP: .@LeBatardShow in 2010. https://t.co/CSo8BYhvVh @AnthonyLimaFAN and @DustinFox37 in 2014. http://t.co/IUn8HikzkJ Man, I love radio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Lebum. The anti Jordan/Duncan/Cal Ripken/Dirk Keep leaving teams and crying for calls. Wait for Cleveland to acquire 50 #1 draft picks and I will magically show back up. Nice letter but I was done with this loser years ago. 2011 Mavericks whooped that royal arse just like the Spurs. You ain't no king. Put it away. Nobody, but nobody cried for calls like Jordan & nobody got away with more. You don't like him, don't invent excuses why. Shall we talk about Dirk's road lizard of a few years ago? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truth on hold Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 As a fan, I know what you're saying. I remember being mad at Ron Jaworski for kicking our butts in 1981 - haha................But, obviously it's different to be the athlete. And, BTW, Darryl Johnston wasn't even a Bills fan growing up. He was a Dolphins fan - which really ticked me off! How the heck could someone be a miami fan growing up in WNY? Youngstown's proximity to Toronto have something to do with it? Always seem to be a strong Miami following there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbb Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 I doubt it. I think he was just an ahole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truth on hold Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 I doubt it. I think he was just an ahole. Lol true just like that whole team. He's a terrible announcer too offers no insight and his excitable high pitched voice is unbearable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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