LeBron James, the man who took his “talents to Miami” yet misplaced the formula to winning somewhere along the sandy shores of south Florida, will return to his Cleveland hometown on Thursday, Dec. 2 for arguably the most anticipated regular-season NBA game in many years.
But instead of fans unfurling good old-fashioned nastiness, hate and rage at LeBron, they are urged to “laugh” at King James every time he touches the ball, rather than booing him as is the tradition for hated athletes. The rationale being that mockery will jolt James and further injure his already bruised ego. LBJ’s face has worn the mask of supreme embarrassment since the Heat limped out of the starting gate instead of racing to the top of the NBA hierarchy.
Additionally, fans are asked to get up and turn their backs in unison at Lebron when he traditionally smacks powder on his hands and throws it up in the air before games. The idea to flip the script on LeBron was hatched from a Cleveland Twitter user who is actually a Celtic fan from Boston.
“[LeBron’s] trained to let the boos roll off his back, so he won’t be able to react to laughter,” David Acosta, who writes about basketball for two blogs, told the New York Times. “Friday morning, Cleveland is going to be talked about, and I don’t want them to wake up with a black eye. Laughter will be effective and classy.”
In other words, Acosta and others want to create an atmosphere that will make LeBron — called “LeBrat” by another Twitter user — to wish he really was back in South Beach.
What do you think? How should Clevelanders respond to King James’ return to Ohio?
Whatever the outcome, the spectacle will make for great theater and outstanding ratings for TNT. Hopefully, as the episode unfolds on the edge of frigid Lake Erie, a basketball game will actually break out. –terry shropshire
