Story of Lebron James... sort of
Before we begin, I confess I haven't followed the NBA in a long time. The first time I heard of Lebron James was the Desicion. I thought his name is familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I didn't know why he is so important or why people in Cleveland were THAT angry. I searched Youtube for him, and wow, this guy is really good. I asked a friend about him, and he explained the whole thing. And I start to watch the NBA a little bit.
When Lebron James joined the Cleveland Cavaliers, he wanted to be the hometown hero, the one to bring glory to the champion-starved Cleveland. But he realised, as we all did, that Cleveland was cursed and he can't break it. Staying in the Cursland Cavaliers means his dream of championship will never come true.
When he became a free agent, lots of teams are trying to sign him to their team. New York, New Jersey, Miami, Chicago, LA, all wanted him. Cleveland especailly wanted him to stay. His teamate & friend from Team USA gold medal Olympic team, Wade, wanted Lebron to join him in the Heat, and even got Bosh to join earlier to sweeten the deal. In the end, Lebron joined because of promises of champion ship rings, more talent so he don't have to carry a team by himself, warm weather, beaches full of girls in bikinis, and what clenched it, a promise that all of them will go to Disneyworld. That sealed the deal.
So Lebron left Cleveland to Miami because we wanted win the championship. But he didn't realise that Cleveland wanted it a lot more. He may wanted it for 20 years, Cleveland been waiting for over 40 years. So they got mad. Really, REALLY, mad. After Lebron signed a six year contract with the Heat, he felt invicible and bragged about bringing eight championships. I'm not entirely sure how anyone can win 8 championships in 6 years, so maybe he'll stay longer.
Going to the 2011 championships, the Heat were favored to win. After the loss to the Dallas Mavericks, Lebron was sad and humiliated. He realised it takes more than talent to win. He had to dig deep into his soul. He had work hard, sacrifice, and need more teamwork. In 2011-2012 season, we see a change in him. Less arrogrant, more serious. We see better teamwork overall. Yeah sometimes it seems like a team of 2-3 guys and in Game 6 in Boston, it's a 1 man team. For 3 quarters, the only thing Lebron miss was the bench. But in the end, teamwork provails. Chalmers and Miller stepped up their game in the finals. Against the Thunder, which is an extremely awesome team, talent, teamwork, and experience won the championship. Watching him celebrate, I couldn't help but feel happy for him. Lebron learned valuable lessons, and the joke about ending sentences with "in my pants."
James: I just won the championship... IN MY PANTS!!!
Wade: LOL!
And that's the story of how Lebron James learned that joke...
oh yeah, and earned his first ring.
As for the fear that this will start a horrible trend of star players joining up to form unstoppable teams and easy championships, I don't think that'll happen. Winning requires teamwork and play styles that compliment each other, not giant egos that clash and stars can't share the spotlight. I could be wrong, but I don't think these guys like being overshadowed.
