'Mission' signs at E. 9th and Euclid

"We want to keep him at home," said the woman at East 9th and Euclid wearing a T-shirt that read "Home" and carrying a sign that read, "Mission." She and three other black-clad mystery figures staked out the intersection's four corners at lunchtime today, the first day of LeBron James' free agency.

A few blocks up East 9th, LeBron himself sat in the IMG Building, meeting with Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov and hip-hop star Jay-Z, owners of the New Jersey Nets. New York Knicks representatives passed Jay-Z's towncar on his way out. (See cleveland.com's story here.)

The signs and shirts bore the familiar designs of the More Than A Player publicity campaign aimed at convincing LeBron to stay in Cleveland. It's the same group that launched last month's Tower City flash mob.

The sign lady wouldn't give her name. The sign guy across East 9th wouldn't even let me take his picture. They said they were volunteers. But the Plain Dealer's basketball reporters wrote that Cavs employees made up a sign-waving crowd staking out the IMG Building. Sounds like Dan Gilbert's not waiting until Saturday to lobby his star.

Last Chance for Change: Jay Z Concert hosted by LeBron James

When I heard that Jay-Z was giving a free concert in Cleveland I figured it would simply be him jumping behind a DJ booth at a local club and rocking it out to just a few of his most popular hits. I would have been fine with that, overjoyed actually, after all he is my favorite hip-hop artist/business mogul. But when I heard it was for the Barack Obama presidential campaign and would be hosted by LeBron James, I knew it was going to be huge, monumental even. How could you go wrong LeBron James and Jay-Z together in one night sharing the same stage, it doesn’t get better than that. However, I never imagined in a million years it would be such an amazing event — complete with a live band, a DJ, an awesome light show and a video message from Barack Obama.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen Jay-Z in concert, but this is definitely the most memorable. The first time was in 1999 during his Hard Knock Life tour while I was an undergrad at The Ohio State University. Now that was a great show, but it was only his second album so he didn’t have very many songs to perform. Tonight was an entirely different story. He rocked songs from his first album, released in 1996, to his latest hot single, “Jockin' Jay Z”. Fans of all ages got down at this concert and my 12-year-old son, Jordan, and I surely did. We left the show sweaty and voiceless. This was his first concert and one that I doubt he will ever be able to top. Jay-Z is a tough act to follow.

Special thanks to LeBron James, Shawn “Jay-Z" Carter, and the Chance for Change campaign for taking the time to put on such an awesome event and for encouraging people to vote.

Jay-Z and LeBron Rally for Obama at The Q

LeBron James is appearing with seven-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist Jay-Z at Quicken Loans Arena Oct. 29 to rally Barack Obama supporters and encourage early voting. (The event will include a special concert by Jay-Z.) The 6:30 p.m. event is free and open to all Ohio residents and students, but (you guessed it) you need to pick up tickets early at Obama "Campaign for Change" offices across Northeast Ohio. Tickets will be available starting noon tomorrow