The city is used to not getting the girl, missing the glory and waiting until next year.
It has endured The Drive, The Fumble and The Shot.
But The Decision might be the last slap in the face for Cleveland. LeBron James’ big "F-you" to the city (only LeBron and his inner circle know if the disrespect was intentional) could finally end the decades of suffering for Cleveland sports fans.
The self-aggrandizing way James went about making his decision has left a bad taste in the mouths of many sports fans outside South Beach. At the same time, it’s given sports fans with any heart cause to sympathize for Cleveland.
Call it The LeBron Effect.
His decision could be the event that triggers a chain reaction of good fortune for Cleveland.
James was unable to bring a championship to Cleveland when he played for the Cavaliers, but by leaving the team and spurning the city, he could be the reason the Cleveland Curse becomes history.
When James chose Miami, he became Darth Vader, Ivan Drago and the New York Yankees. Cleveland became the Rebel Alliance, Rocky Balboa and Hickory High basketball team. The underdogs get empathy. The villains get booed.
James can’t win. No matter what he does in Miami – no matter how many rings he collects with the Heat — people won't forget how he stepped on Cleveland and treated the city like a cockroach. He could have picked Miami in an understated way, thanked Cleveland and moved on with grace. No one would have faulted him. Everyone would have understood.
Now the disgust for LeBron James is inversely proportional to the hope for Cleveland.
Sports fans all have their personal rooting interests. Most are based on where a person was born and raised. But when NBA fans aren’t rooting for their hometown (or favorite) team, they will be rooting for Cleveland. It will be like the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. Diehard Red Sox fans root for two teams – the Red Sox and whoever is playing the Yankees. The Cavaliers just got about 100,000,000 more fans rooting for them. Maybe more. And the Miami Heat just got that same number rooting against them.
Everything that has happened since The Decision has only reinforced the "One for Cleveland, All for Cleveland" mentality of the sports world.
First, Jesse Jackson compared Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to a slave owner after Gilbert let the world know how he felt about LeBron’s decision in an impassioned open letter.
Then, NBA commissioner David Stern fined Gilbert $100,000 for the reaction.
Getting the Rodney Dangerfield treatment is nothing new for Cleveland, which has been the butt of jokes and insults for years. Google "Cleveland sucks," and you’ll find a litany of aspiring Jim Jarmuschs offering an ode to the city.
But Cleveland has a lot of heart. Ian Hunter dedicated an entire song to the coolness of the city on Lake Erie, which has suffered a lot since 1964 — the last time Cleveland won a championship, when the Browns beat the Baltimore Colts to win the NFL title.
Now Cleveland is the ultimate underdog. It is the kid who gets picked on, beat up, bullied, made fun of and mocked. Think Lucas, but only more miserable.
In the 1986 cult classic, the supernerd wins the respect of the whole school in the end.
In real life, the Cavs have the power to start their own slow clap. Besides getting four future draft picks from the Heat, they have the majority of the sports world rooting for them. And positive energy can be a powerful force. Ask the 2004 Red Sox.
Cleveland will rock again. When it does, the city can thank LeBron James.
