Cavalier Owner's Open Letter Ripping LJ

112288 wrote:

Sinus,

Who took the biggest risk. Gilbert by investing $$$$illions to buy a franchise with no financial guarantee especially in a small market city, or James who got a guarantee $$$$$$illion dollar contract and had the team spend millions on promoting his name. Sounds like the thief was King Shame who took all the free advertising an guarantee contract.

112288

112288,
I think you misunderstood my analogy. I was referring to well established opinion that Gilbert was shifting all the blame onto LJ while being equally guilty.
As for the risk Gilbert took - I don't see much of it: he bought a team with a super-star that'd insure sold-out arena that he didn't have to build. Plus the market is not that small.

AK

Sorry that I read it wrong, my I send you my sincere mea culpa! As for Cleveland it is a funny market as it takes in Northern Ohio to a point before Indiana Pacers take over. Forget Penn, that college and pro football territory, not to mention that Cleveland is a Brown Town, both basketball and baseball take a back seat!

112288

For those who believe that lebron's reality TV show was inappropriate, Gilbert's letter took this saga to depths beyond comprehension

Gilbert acted like a gilted lover who got left at the party without a date.

Forget the fact that the Cleveland franchise has double in value (easy money sometimes is never appreciated)

Gilbert is a moron. Why because the NBA is a fraternity among the players. Going after lebron in the manner that he did does not serve the best interest of the cleveland franchise and their ability to attract players that want to be there.

Perhaps he is just trying to rally the fans and convince them to 'support the team" But the fans already know that the formula to win was the wrong equation. If this is good PR then the fans in Cleveland are not very sofisticated.

His letter was one of those letters that needed to be written but never sent.

Perhaps his anger is really directed at himself because he was the one to ignore the warning signs.

dboss

Unless Lebron asked his PR team to RUIN his image, this whole prime time special fiasco should not have happened at all. There was a classy, high road way to do it - and he didnt go that way.

I mean really, can you imagine Larry Bird or Michael Jordan sitting back with their hands folded behind their head, saying to every team with cap space - please come dazzle me, give me a lap dance and court me like some mythical prince. The whole courtship of Lebron James was truly the most disgusting display of hubris I have witnessed in years, maybe ever.

It was the ultimate low road, and then he went even further and broke the heart of Cleveland fans on national television. He went from the most popular player in the world, to one of the most hated. Not for his decision to leave, but for the way he did it.

If Lebron, Wade and Bosh win the championship - it will be a big WHO CARES - kind of like CC Sabathia and Mark Texiera winning with the Yankees - Yeah, you SHOULD win a championship with that much talent...who cares?

Pumpsie was right in calling it totally classless - but he had the WRONG person in mind. It was Lebron who was the one without tact and class - and he just hurt his image BIG TIME.

A friend of mine is a Lake fan. I saw him last night and he cheered Dan Gilbert. He said that Gilbert actually said what many people think and he was glad he came out and said it.

bob

.

Glad to hear that Bob.

People have questioned why Gilbert was so hyped up in the way he blasted LJ. The thing that fueled his open letter was "Passion" and that can only be aroused through a personal & intimate relationship beyond business.

I hate using this analogy but look at some of the most violent crimes that have taken place. The ones where passion and intimacy were involved. Case in point OJ Simpson and his ex wife Nicole. If there was no deep seeded passion and intimacy between them and he just decided to kill her, it would not have been so brutal. I mean he decapitated her and then some! He wanted to mutilate her beyond just being dead in a very aggressive way!

So with Gilbert, he being a lawyer and schooled in self containment, why was his response so cutting, so aggressive, so hell bent on mutilating LJ. Passion and intimacy? I believe there was some real personal relationship between him and James and I think Gilbert may have gone beyond James' contract to help him. Remember Gilbert owns a mortgage company which is publicly traded. Was James given a sweet heart mortgage (Below Market rate) financing for his homes ($illions of dollars) for investment properties ($illions of dollars) etc? Was James given stock in the mortgage company that would someday vest with him when he retired? Was he given other things beyond the normal NBA player/owner relationship.

Did James mail in his performance against Boston so as to use the loss as an excuse to leave? I think so, look at the tapes of the games ! I think coaching staff & Gilbert knew also! I believe it myself. All of this was the root of Gilbert's passion and his explosion. He's not a nut or a wacko, he's an attorney and a huge businessman who knows self control. His actions was a result of something deep seeded, personal and intimate with James.

112288

The people to pity are folks like many of us, who feel they have passion for many things in life (virtually unmatched passion in certain cases I'm aware of) but who somehow feel a responsibility to exercise a bit of restraint when adversity strikes. I wonder how many spousal beatings or rapes the courts have forgiven because the beater or rapist was passionate. Or drunk. Or the bearer of some other affliction that perhaps he shouldn't have invited into his life if he couldn't handle it.

Where does responsibility end? Have all the young people in Cleveland implicitly been given a get-out-of-jail free card by example? "Hey kid, as long as you're passionate, society will look the other way no matter what you do. Oh, and by the way, kid, you might as well grow up to be an arrogant jerk too, because that's just the kind of person who invites hero-worship as long as he's lucky enough to be gifted with the skills to do something well."

Nothing but losers in the game of life in this situation.

Sam

Masons are advised to keep their passions within due bounds. Good advice for all of us.

I respect anyone who can lay a brick.

Sam

Wait. Now we are comparing beating people and rape to an owner that got a bit too heated and voiced an opinion?

Wow.

According th Chris Mannix of SI, this is not over. There are alot of people out there worried that Gilbert is no where near done. They say he knows all of LeBron's secrets, and is going to, underhandedly, get this information to people who will leak it to the public. What could it be? Who the heck knows?
But he is convinced we haven't heard the end of this. However, if Gilbert is smart, he will use his law degree and keep his mouth shut. The next thing you will hear is LeBron suing him for defamation of character, (that is if he has one)

No, Mrkleen. I was not equating the actions, as you well know. I was commenting on what I feel is the all-too-frequent propensity of society to forgive or overlook poor behavior because the perpetrators were under some allegedly extenuating influence that the perpetrators could have avoided. And I do have female friends who were beaten by their husbands, whose "excuse" was that they were drunk; and so the couple's friends sided with the guy because he was impaired. I hadn't expected to have to spell that out to an adult board, but I'm happy to provide the service. Hey, here's a piece of straw. Go make a man.

Sam

Sam -

That was a LONG way to go to make a point. There is poor behavior and there is criminal behavior. Guess I dont see the connection.

worcester wrote:Masons are advised to keep their passions within due bounds. Good advice for all of us.

Worcester,

I try, I really do.

But then there's marble cheesecake, single malt scotch, pin locations in the middle of flat unguarded greens, Red '87 Porsche 944's, pretty girls in bikinis, late July double-headers on hazy warm nights...

What's a fella to do?

Mrkleen,

I understand that you don't see the connection. The nature of the behavior is quite obviously not the issue I was addressing. The forgiveness of any kind of behavior for bogus reasons is the issue i was addressing. I tested the concept on a couple of visiting eighth graders before posting it, so I assumed it would be readily grasped by most adults.

And I'll go to whatever extent I feel it takes to make a point. I've lived many years without your imprimatur, and I'm sure I can struggle along in the same vein. The eighth graders are still on tap.

Feel free to weigh in at any time. I have loads of time to spend on nonsense.

Sam

Guys,

What I said in my thread was to try to explain the reason for such a level of an outburst and character slam of a super star athlete which is not normally found coming from a well healed Billionaire Sports owner. My only conclusion for such a level of outburst and uncontrolled emotion was due to something real intimate and personal between Gilbert and James to cause such an outburst.
Therefore passion was the root cause for the incident and its link was something personal between the two.

However.............................................................................................

No one, certainly not I, is condoning passion as an excuse to get away with murder or domestic violence. Lets also not mix apples with oranges or try to connect the dots. Condoning a verbal slam of some phony athlete under the influence of passion in the heat of the moment is a far cry and very different from condoning domestic violence because it was also conducted under the influence of passion.

112288

NYCelt wrote:

worcester wrote:Masons are advised to keep their passions within due bounds. Good advice for all of us.

Worcester,

I try, I really do.

But then there's marble cheesecake, single malt scotch, pin locations in the middle of flat unguarded greens, Red '87 Porsche 944's, pretty girls in bikinis, late July double-headers on hazy warm nights...

What's a fella to do?

I can't decide, all of the above it is!

Now All The Nuts Are Coming Out Of The Wood Work!

His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave. This is an owner employee relationship -- between business partners -- and LeBron honored his contract.

” -- Rev. Jesse Jackson on Cavs owner Dan Gilbert's comments about LeBron James

Isn't this the guy who called New York Heimy Town? For those who are not aware, Heimy is a slur word for JEW! Thanks Jesse for your thoughtful insight!

112288

Bob,

I knew you would understand and feel the same!

Regards

112288,

I saw that earlier; unreal.

Regards

112288,

I agree with everything you said about both Gilbert and James. I'm just not sure what the point is. Of what value is the analysis if it has no implication? The implied implication, in my book, though not necessarily stated by anyone, is that there were extenuating circumstances (many of which we may not know about) adding up to an affront to Gilbert's passion.

I happen to believe that no extenuating circumstances justify a community leader's taking the low road in a blanket communication to the public....only because he wanted to set himself as a hero in the fans' eyes.

Do you really think I'm flat-out stupid enough to place his statement and rape on the same level? Seriously, what have I ever said or done that would give you that impression? I used a couple of analogies to register my concern about a mentality that might use passion as an extenuating circumstance that should forgive deviant behavior—regardless of its severity. There are no apples and oranges involved because the precise transgressions were never my point.

Sam

This was a sea of dysfunction. Everything that swam or flew was broken. I think many of us on the board said that the whole thing was broken months ago. As bad as we can imagine it the reality was prolly much much worse.

The whole thing was a very ugly episode and a good primer for what happens when the ego runs unchecked and nobody is willing to speak truth.

Sam,

The point was I was just playing psychiatrist for a day to drum up some discussion during a long, hot and boring summer without basketball. Don't need to read into it any further then that. Never said in my post that it was justified and a free pass to do anything in this world you want to because there was passion attached. Just tried to answer the question asked by millions of people as to "Why did Gilbert do what he did" as if he was on my couch. That's all.

112288

I think this thread should be closed,rape,Jesse Jackson,masons WTF?

Gilbert was just reacting the way anyone would react if you got your hands caught in the cookie jar.

First off, this guy's franchise value dropped $150,000,000+ in about ten seconds last week. This is a number most if not all of us cannot comprehend, but that's a huge hit to anyone's portfolio, percentage or absolute. I'd be pretty pissed myself.


Secondly,Gilbert also created or helped create or facilitated creating this monster. That's what he needs to realize.

Finally, yes, probably not the best way to go about it but it did plant a seed in my head from a marketing perspective mentioned that now makes me want to watch on League Pass some Cleveland games and hope to all getout that the promise he made comes true. I personally hope in the sixth year, Cleveland wins it all. That would be my wish come true.