CLEVELAND – Humiliated and heartbroken, the fans in Cleveland turned their backs on LeBron James as suddenly as he had abandoned them for the Miami Heat on national television.They tore his once-beloved No. 23 jersey off their backs and set them on fire. They threw stones at a ten-story-tall billboard that featured James with his head tossed back, arms pointing skyward. The billboard had come to define this city and its all-consuming reverence for the man they called The King: “We Are All Witnesses,” it read.Not anymore.Across the street from Quicken Loans Arena, men gathered around the bar at Harry Buffalo’s restaurant buried their heads in their hands. When they looked up, their eyes were wet with tears.“Turn it off!” someone yelled.“I think it was a slap in the face to this city, who had supported him and been behind him since he was in high school,” said Earl Mauldin. “To go on national TV and spit in our face like that is very, very, very wrong.”James had given people here something to root for, a modicum of proof that Cleveland can rise above the mess it’s found itself in during a lousy decade. The foreclosure crisis. The economic collapse. The dying auto industry. Through it all, this city has had one thing nobody else could touch: LeBron James, homegrown hero, global superstar.Now that’s all over with. And the thing fans seem unable to reconcile is the very public way in which they were unceremoniously dumped.“He kept us in the dark all the way up ’till the end,” said Gary Hunter. “What do we look like, begging somebody to stay for us? If you’re gonna be here, you’re gonna be here. But if you’re not, then just be gone. “But you could’ve given us the decency of letting us know before you let the national media know. And the world.” (AP)
Dumped! a cut-out poster of LeBron James rests head first in a garbage can at the Harry Buffalo restaurant in Cleveland on Thursday. It was put there by patrons upset by James’ announcement that he had decided to join the Miami Heat. Inset, James. (Main picture by AP; inset FP)
