It's been less than a week since LeBron James made his much chronicled choice of Miami's sunny beaches over Cleveland's lake shore vistas, and since the lights faded out from the LeBron prime time selection special, the anger seemingly has not disappeared on anyones agenda.
The commentaries in the press seem to have been quite largely against the public spectacle that James provided as he ruminated on his B ball future, Maureen Dowd of the New York Times took time off from her usual evisceration of the political and business classes with her thoughts in a blistering column that took LeBron to task, not only on the television spectacle that he unleashed but on his destination of choice. Perhaps she's Knicks fan suddenly aware that 2010-11 is probably going to be a very long year.
Shortly after the prime time special on ESPN, and with the decision to leave Cleveland made, the Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert scribbled together a few notes for the fans and posted them on the teams website, a move that has seemingly created a tsunami of commentary both for and against since it first appeared.
One rather keen reader of the website offering was Reverend Jesse Jackson, who through his organization PUSH, compared Gilbert's thoughts to the days of the old slave owners. The Reverend offered up some uncomplimentary language of his own as he found a few extra minutes of television time out of his timely interjection into the debate.
Needless to say Gilbert disagreed with Reverend Jackson's interpretation of his intent.
NBA Commissioner David Stern, while suggesting that Lebron's handling of his decision probably could have used a bit more sensitivity to it, or as he described the whole circus last week as something that was ill conceived .
He did however come down hard on the Cleveland owner assessing him a fine of one hundred thousand dollars for his vitriolic fuelled account of the day.
Gilbert who apparently has received numerous calls and emails from Cavs and Basketball fans willing to pay his fine for him, fired off a second note on his teams' website, thanking the fans for their interest but advising he would pay his own fine on this one.
Suggesting that if fans are really inclined to forward money that they send it off to the Cavaliers Youth Fund.
Which if taken up as a challenge would at least make someone a worthy winner out of all this, considering the toxic mess that this whole episode seems to have become in such a short time.
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