The Chosen One

One of the recurring themes of Richard Russo’s Empire Falls is the idea that one must take advantages of opportunities when they are presented or else life gets in the way—life has a way of killing dreams before they ever get started. More than once, we are told that Miles Roby, the protagonist, makes his mother, Grace, furious because he drops out of college to care for her while she is terminally ill. Grace is emphatic about her desire for Miles to escape the small, formerly industry-filled succubus of a town in which he grew up; Grace wants Miles to get out, live life, and find happiness. He has dreams, and she is afraid that by staying and caring for her, Miles will lose his chance to fulfill them. She tells him that choosing to stay will get him trapped in the town forever, and that he will never get another chance to escape. The desire of the novel’s antagonist is to keep Miles from leaving home and chasing any of his dreams.

Who can’t relate to that story? Only a bad parent wants for his/her child to grow up and never leave home. Only the most selfish of parents want to keep their children from living out their dreams.

Similarly, it is only the bad and selfishness in humanity that allows people to be upset at LeBron James for leaving Cleveland. I’ve heard a few people say they aren’t upset that James left, but rather by how he left. These people are just ignorant to the reality that brought about the one-hour ESPN special that occurred last Thursday night in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Do you remember how hard it was to leave home the first time? It can be a frightening convergence of excitement, sadness, fear, and melancholy. It is an emotional event. Only in rare circumstances can it be called easy.

Have you not yet left home? Do you know someone who has never left? As each day passes by, it gets much more difficult to make yourself walk out the door. It is very much like trying to quit smoking. Or ending a bad relationship. Let’s ride with that metaphor for a minute. Who hasn’t been in a bad relationship? Sometimes they are easy to end. Others, not so much. We’ve all known that person who was in a situation everyone knew was damaging. Yet, that person stays. And stays. And eventually, that bad relationship just becomes part of who that person is. That relationship becomes his/her identity. We don’t know that person outside of it. If only he had gotten out of it early, we wish. She should have left him months ago, we lament.

Well, that’s what LeBron did. He got out. The Cavaliers were a bad situation for him. Seven years was long enough for us to see that team management could not build a team that was going to win a championship with him. At the end of each postseason, though, all he hears is how Jordan would have won with that roster. That franchise—more specifically, that city—could not attract high quality free agents. Really, how many of you would choose Cleveland when more attractive destinations are on the table? As far as basketball goes, Cleveland was a losing proposition for LeBron. Why wouldn’t he leave?

Cavalier owner Dan Gilbert said to Sports Illustrated’s Ian Thomsen, “For him, I think he does not like that burden, that pressure…” To quote Thomsen: “Now he wonders if the burden of leading his hometown franchise was too much to ask of James.” Of course it was. The man was a boy when he was drafted first overall by his hometown team. From the moment the Cavaliers won the draft lottery in 2003, the burden placed upon James was to (a) revitalize Cleveland’s economy, (b) stimulate the downtown area around the arena, (c) resurrect interest in the failing basketball team, (d) lead the Cavs to NBA championships, and (e) be the bright and shining face of Cleveland for the whole world to see. That is a lot to ask of anyone, especially a teenager. To his credit, LeBron embraced it all, though.

As the years went by and the playoff losses mounted, it had to wear on him. Optimistic as he may have been three years ago, the past two seasons had to have taught him the reality. His team’s management wasn’t doing a good enough job of building a champion. He had to wonder if they ever would.

After Game 4 of the Celtics series, I believe he knew his chances to win in Cleveland were over. Do you realize how heartbreaking that had to be? I do not at all excuse his listless performance in Game 5, but I most definitely understand it. He had to be asking himself, “What more can I do?”

Meanwhile, the city put together a video begging him to stay. For me, that would have been the final straw. At 25 years old, could I have forced myself to remain in a situation that led me to lose at my job with little to no hope for winning while being held responsible for the economic fortunes of so many people?

LeBron wants to become a global icon. How exactly was Cleveland helping him achieve that goal?

He had to go. If he didn’t leave now, when was he going to? In 2013, when he was 28 and even more firmly entrenched in the community? He never got to leave the area. Not for college, like Derrick Rose. Not for a stint in the minor leagues like Joe Mauer. If LeBron James did not walk away from Cleveland in the summer of 2010, he was never going to leave. Never. You know I’m right.

The decision to leave Cleveland, I imagine, was one of the most difficult of his life. Frankly, I did not think he would have the balls to go through with it. That is why I always thought he would go back to the Cavs. I applaud him for joining the Heat. I have a lot more respect for him now than I did this time a week ago.

Once he made that decision, he had to deliver the news in a cold, calculated manner. There could be no press conference in Cleveland or Akron. That could have made it impossible for him to walk away. Just as Miles’ mother told him to stay at school and not come visit her, I would have advised LeBron to make his announcement as far away from Ohio as possible. The smallest measure of emotion may have been too much for LeBron for him to allow himself to go through with leaving. He knew he was creating ill will. But he had to do it. That slight moment of emotion when the fans burned his jersey looked like a slip-up to me. He expected it to be bad. He had practiced his stone face. But when the moment arrived, he lost control for the briefest of moments. It meant something to him. If that event took place in Ohio, I don’t believe for a moment he could have spoken any team’s name other than Cleveland. He did what he had to do to preserve his dream for his life.

By choosing Greenwich, Connecticut, LeBron made a statement. Greenwich has the highest per capita income of any American city with at least 50,000 residents. LeBron had given his all to Cleveland, but it was time for him to move on to bigger and better things.

Maybe people are upset because they know they are neither bigger nor better. Perhaps they are just jealous that he was able to get out and chase his dreams while they never had the opportunity. Do these people really feel justified in trying the lock a young man into a bad situation just because he happened to grow up there? How un-American is that?

Like many of us, Miles Roby was never able to live the life he wanted. LeBron James has the chance. I know I’m rooting for him.