Return of the King

It’s been four long years since Cleveland fans first heard the phrase, “I’m taking my talents to South Beach.” It’s been four long years since fans burned No. 23 jerseys in the streets of Cleveland, and Dan Gilbert scorned his “cowardly betrayal” in a scathing open letter.

But now LeBron James — the King, the Chosen One, The Whore of Akron — is coming home.

Today, in a letter published on Sports Illustrated’s website, James announced his return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Still, it’s hard to forget the agonizing four years that he spent in a Miami Heat uniform. So before we parade through the street, let’s take a minute to remember how we got here with these Cleveland Magazine excerpts.

His mom, Gloria, called him a “hometown boy,” but fans were still expecting the worst leading up to his first Decision.

      “It panders to our deep-seated insecurities, our feelings of abandonment and inadequacy. And why shouldn’t it? This kind of stuff has been going on for quite some time. Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller bolted Cleveland for New York. BP America packed up and left for Chicago. Hell, even Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was a Clevelander before he became the man who bankrolls our most hated baseball rivals.” — from “King of All Media,” February 2010

For Cavs devotees, it was bigger than James, and it was bigger than sports. James’ move meant we had lost our chance to silence the critics.

   “We've always wanted to surprise the rest of the country with Cleveland's greatness, and he made it happen. People saw us differently because of him. Then, when we ran into a tough time and really needed him, he was gone.” — from “Our Miserable Year,” December 2010

James instantly became the most hated figure in Cleveland sports history. While some made the argument that no one could be more hated than Art Modell, the notorious owner that moved the Browns to Baltimore in 1995, Esquire writer Scott Raab, author of The Whore of Akron, dismissed that idea. 

   “Any Cleveland sports fan who believes in karma forgets that Art Modell won a Super Bowl. Had the Browns not been restored, Modell would stand alone as the most hated figure in the city's sports history. Now, LeBron stands alone.” — from “Raab Rage,” March 2011

A year later, Cleveland fans were comforted, as James lost his first championship appearance with the Heat. It seemed Dan Gilbert’s promise to “deliver a championship to the city” before James might come true, but former managing editor Jim Vickers knew better.

   “We'll be the first to admit, the nationwide LeBron James bashing that followed was fun. The piling-on was epic, previously unimaginable, really. It felt good. Demons were exorcised. But let's be clear: If we stay at this party much longer, we're going to end up with a nasty hangover.” — from “Letting Go of LeBron,” August 2011

Then, James won two championships with the Miami Heat, and the Cavaliers didn’t make the playoffs. Fans’ hatred hit new heights, but the honest among us were able to admit that they really just wanted him back.

   “Even the world’s harshest critic would welcome back the world’s best player.” — from “The Indecision,” August 2013

Now, the decisions and his days in a Heat uniform are all in the past. James and Gilbert have made amends, and fans have welcomed James back with open arms. As fans storm the city to celebrate the return of the King, there is only one quote to hang onto.

    “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.” – from “I’m Coming Back to Cleveland,” Sports Illustrated, July 11, 2014

Literature, comedy vie for top billing at Wise Up!

Is Cavs owner Dan Gilbert an unacknowledged literary master? Or just an unintentional comedian? I wondered that after Sunday's Wise Up! literary festival at Nighttown, where comedy and song vied with literary ambition as the top draw.

Actor Nick Koesters, billed as Gilbert, took the mike and performed an anxious, wiry, bug-eyed reading of the Cavs owner's anti-LeBron screed. As Koesters barked out Gilbert's "NEVER will betray you" line, you could almost hear the Comic Sans. He also joined Eric Schmiedl, his co-star in last year's Cleveland Public Theater play Browns Rules, for a Kingston-Trio-esque comic song about superhero-quarterback Otto Graham.

Directors Regina Brett and Derdriu Ring (pictured, left), like good variety-show emcees, kept the benefit for Cleveland Heights' libraries moving with quirky introductions built on the performers' best memories of libraries and wildest ambitions for them. Newscaster Leon Bibb (pictured, right) recited his poem comparing his mother's clothesline to a chorus line. Charles Michener read the quiet but finely observed conclusion to his New Yorker piece on the Cleveland Orchestra. Steve Presser contributed quotes from the buttons and bumper stickers he sells at Big Fun. Between readers, pianist Joe Hunter and vocalist Doris Long sang old standards, including Cole Porter's "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," which advises men to memorize the Bard of Avon to woo women.

Former Cleveland Heights poet laureate Loren Weiss contributed the best combination of a literary eye and a sense of place. In his poem "Looking Through Glass," he sees a couple embracing, then fighting, inside the Coventry parking structure's glass elevator. Then a truck obscures his view. In the last stanza, his coffee turns bitter and he heads back into Tommy's for another, hoping "for a better ending." Ironically, his was just right.

10 Reasons to Love Cleveland

TV3's Good Company asked us to come up with a quick list of 10 Things We Love about Cleveland. Easy, right? You bet.

Every month, the Cleveland Magazine is filled with things to love about our town, so the only problem was limiting it to 10 (we cheated a little and dropped in a few cameos of old faves). We take pride in bringing our readers what's new and interesting about the city -- or at least seeing old favorites in a new way. So, our list might surprise you -- but that's the point. Feel free to add your own, oft overlooked reasons to love Cleveland as well.

10. Accordion Museum — Every knows and loves the Rock Hall, but not as many know about Jack & Kathy White, whose love of the accordion, turned their Rocky River basement into the largest collection of accordions in the world (more than 450). Cleveland has a rich musical history with the accordion, where Frankie Yankovic was the polka king and in the 1920s and '30s, Cleveland was home to four accordion manufacturing companies. Polka not you kind of music? Hit the Beachland Ballroom or NightTown for great live gigs.

9. Jonathon Sawyer’s Crispy Chicken Wings Confit — We all love Michael Symon’s infectious laugh and his food, but Sawyer’s wings (and his Greenhouse Tavern) make us really smile.

8. Cleveland Museum of Art’s Chalk Festival — Coming up in mid September, the chalk festival is the perfect place to express yourself & a great excuse to see the museum’s new galleries. More than 40 are on view including the new East Wing. Or just make a day of it and hang out in University Circle.

7. Danielle DeBoe’s Made in the 216 Events — Proof that you can be creative and succeed in Cleveland. She had about 60 Cleveland-based designers at the June event and even timed them up with the Discover Gordon Square Days and Parade the Circle (you could take a trolley to University Circle and vice-a-versa) and partnered with Happy Dog (another thing we love — ½ off dogs during happy hour all month long) for after parties, etc.

6. We used to be rural. — Our proximity to farms gives us access to an abundance of farm-fresh delights, everything from the Chef’s Garden in Huron, where Farmer Jones ships his produce across the U.S. to some the country’s best restaurants, to Mackenzie’s Creamery in Hiram, where they make artisan goat cheese, to creative brews at Great Lakes Brewing Co., where locally grown pumpkins are used in the pumpkin ale. Yes, we have great farmers markets too.

5. Festivals that help us rediscover our town — Ingenuity Festival — annual festival of music, art and technology — is moving to the lower level of the Detroit-Superior Bridge this September, to take inspiration from the architecture of the bridge and the fascinating ruins of the W. 25th subway station. Their preview party, Speakeasy 2.0, is July 23, next Friday night, in the bridge and subway. Also, the Burning River Fest, next weekend, July 24-25, at the old Coast Guard station at Whiskey Island, another underused landmark. Green living, bands, and Christmas in July: Christmas Ale.

4. Green City Blue Lake movement — Whether its our pursuit of wind energy and green manufacturing jobs or the efforts of Entrepreneurs for Sustainability or the push to add a special lane for bikes and pedestrians to the proposed Inner Belt Bridge, the shift in mentality from old industrial to looking at a more sustainable future for our town. And since we’re on the topic …

3. Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park — We’ve got a lake, a completely awesome body of water, enjoy it. The Fairport Harbor beach is smaller that Mentor Headlands or Bay Village’s Huntington Beach, but there’s an open water swimming lane, dog swimming area, kayak rentals and plenty of places for the kids to play.

2. Towpath Trail from Brecksville to Peninsula — Manageable distance (about 12 miles) with a lot of different terrain all squeezed in between. Stop about half way at the Boston store for and continue on to the finish for your reward at the Winking Lizard in Peninsula. Don’t overindulge though, you’ve got a 12 mile trek back.

1. Dan Gilbert — While we may not completely agree with his “open letter,” he expressed what we were all feeling in the wake of “The Decision.” And no one is going to question his will to win.

'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.

Is Cleveland coddling LeBron?

Are we coddling LeBron James, trying too hard to get him to re-sign with the Cavs? Jim Rome thinks so. The radio host says the city's embarrassed itself with the new "Please Stay, LeBron" video -- and ruined our chance to keep the NBA MVP.



Rome's rant:

Look, Cleveland; I’m not here to pile on. I’m on your side. I want the guy to be there. ... But dropping some crazy, cheesy, embarrassing video with a few politicians, a weatherman and a Real Worlder begging him to stay is going to push him over the edge. And if he hadn’t decided already, he has now; he’s gone.

LeBron is like the hottest girl in the school; if you’re to have any shot, you have to step to her with confidence and swagger and own it. You roll up on her like that, all beaten down, and begging and she will crush you.

Lebron's biographer, Buzz Bissinger, says LeBron is "too loved," "too coddled," and "too easily forgiven" in Cleveland. In an op-ed in today's New York Times, he argues that LeBron needs to leave for New York to grow. He points to the debacle that was Game 5 against the Celtics:

In missing 11 of the 14 shots he took, he simply looked as if he had given up, astounding not only for James but for any professional athlete competing at the level of the playoffs. It was inexcusable, whatever the circumstance.

In a place like New York, the tabloids would have screamed “LeBomb James!” In Cleveland, there were a few boos, but they amounted to nothing compared to the desperation of the fans to keep him for next season and beyond. In such an atmosphere, human nature inevitably takes over: you stop constantly pushing yourself because there is no real incentive...

No one in Cleveland talks like this. We assume LeBron wants a championship as badly as the city does, and we figure that's motivation enough. Does LeBron need someone to challenge him? A tougher coach? An entire city?

Or an owner? I wonder what Dan Gilbert will say to LeBron as free-agent negotiations near: Only what LeBron wants to hear, or some version of his challenge to the team after Game 5?

Our entire franchise has done everything in its power to put all of our players and its coaching staff in the best possible position to execute when it counts. And to deliver to the highly supportive fans of Cleveland a proud, intense, impassioned all-out drive to achieve a championship. The last two home playoff losses and the manner in which we lost these games does not come close to being anywhere near the high expectations all of us have of our organization. Our fans and supporters deserve more.

Dan's the Man

Cleveland Magazine editor Steve Gleydura sat down with Dan Gilbert to talk Cavs, casinos and more during today's Corporate Club luncheon at Executive Caterers at Landerhaven. Gilbert, who explained his team's approach to everything from crafting a casino proposal to expanding the Cavs marketing potential in China, had the crowd laughing and learning from his experiences. Here's a few highlights:

On yesterday's trade for Antawn Jamison:
"Trading rumors are almost completely true."

On the controversy of removing water fountains from the Q:
"Bottled water sales are up. Without sales of bottle water, trades like this don't happen."
(Note: Gilbert drink of choice throughout the event? A bottle of water.)

"We are feeling better about our overall water policy at this point."

On the casino:
"We hope to have a shovel in the ground this calendar year. By 2013 we could be up and running."

On the negative comments about him during the casino campaign:
"Three things always come out: the sun, the moon and the truth."

On winning an NBA championship:
"Basketball at the end of the day is a ball and that ball can bounce the wrong way."

"All that we can do as an organization is put people in the right places."

"When you have LeBron James, Shaq and Antawn things look pretty good."

On doing whatever he can to keep LeBron in Cleveland:
"We are doing everything we can to make our organization great regardless of who's here. LeBron will be attracted to it. Period."