The Celtics eliminated the Cavaliers in six games last week. Now, everyone speculates where LeBron James is going to play.
Basketball junkies encourage James to leave Cleveland for a chance to win a championship. Clevelanders warn their hometown star not to leave or else be vilified the way Art Modell was for moving the Browns to Baltimore.
If James leaves, Modell will be elated to know he will have a company for the most despised sports figure in Cleveland.
This begs one question to be asked.
How come CC Sabathia escapes the scorn he deserves? He’s no better than Modell or James for what he did in leaving the Indians.
Sabathia left Cleveland for couple of reasons. For one thing, he wanted to get paid in the stratosphere of Barry Zito and Johan Santana. Second of all, he wanted to win a championship.
The Yankees offered the best of both worlds for Sabathia. Unless one had no clue about the way baseball works, he was going to go there eventually.
No matter how much the Indians tried to retain Sabathia, it was never happening.
Sabathia was never from Cleveland. He loves the nightlife of a city. If anyone typed the world “Cleveland” on YouTube, one would see a song of how bad that city is.
Who can blame anyone for not wanting to play there? Cleveland is a step down from New York. It’s for that reason James will bolt Cleveland to New York.
Clevelanders should feel insulted that Sabathia dumped them for a better situation. He had zero loyalty to them. For some reason, he is beloved there for unknown reasons.
The argument is that baseball’s salary system does not entail teams to keep homegrown players. If that was the case, how come Joe Mauer decided to stay in Minnesota? Mauer stayed because he is from Minnesota. Plus, he liked it there.
Sabathia had no use for the city of Cleveland. He pretended to like it, and he bided his time until it was time to go. He did a good job of bearing it for all those years.
Plus, Sabathia was horrible during his playoff years with the Indians. He failed to help the Indians get to the World Series when he had a chance to slay the Red Sox.
Sabathia was flawless for the Yankees last year in the postseason. It’s another reason why Clevelanders should be bitter towards him. It wouldn’t be surprising if Sabathia tanked all these years in Cleveland.
It’s interesting he does well with the Yankees, but sucked in Cleveland. C’mon.
Now, Sabathia is doing whatever it takes to get James to play in Cleveland. One would think he would have better things to do in his life.
There’s no question he will play a role in getting James here. They are good buddies to begin with.
That should be another reason why Clevelanders should hate Sabathia.
For whatever reason, he is beloved there. It’s hard to grasp.
He was never loyal to that town. He never talked about what a great city that was or what a great organization the Indians were.
If he goes to the Hall of Fame, he will be a Yankee.
The guy comes off arrogant and unlikable. A guy that headhunts more often than not.
After watching Sabathia in New York last year, it has to be a bittersweet feeling.
Maybe when James become a Knick next year on Sabathia’s recruiting, those two Cleveland stars can join Modell as persona non gratas.
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