The Ballad of LeBron James

Bill Simmons’ July 11th article about basketball star LeBron James is entitled “God Loves Cleveland”. Everyone remotely interested in basketball knows the story of LeBron and Cleveland: his wunderkind prowess, his straight-to-NBA (Cleveland Cavaliers)-from-high school (St. Vincent–St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio) journey, his Herculean accomplishments with the more often than not hapless Cavaliers, his stunning exodus in 2010 to alluring and sunny Miami, his maturation and MVPs, and two NBA titles in four astounding seasons. And yesterday, the long rumored but still startling announcement of his homecoming, a return to the Northeast Ohio of his youth.

While even casual fans know who LeBron is, sports buffs know about the trials, tribulations, and curse of Cleveland: the longtime dismissive nicknames (“mistake on the lake”), the deep gloom hanging over its rusty factories and brutal winters, its underdog sports teams that try again and again to reach the hallowed heights of a championship, the plight at being labeled one of the poorest big cities in the nation, its habitually corrupt local government, and the struggles of an education system, lacking basics such as textbooks and sealed roofing.