Filed under: Basketball
I'm not sure why LeBron's case has stood out so readily for Cleveland sports fans. He's not the first player to leave a team to take another deal. He's also the guy who gave seven years of his heart to the city of Cleveland. To some extent, Cavs fans are reminding LeBron of his greatness when they cling onto him like a long lost parent. If he were a mediocre player, they wouldn't be nearly this emotional.
LeBron going out of his way to put a 40-point butt-whooping on the Cavs was likely due to his own emotionality about this unfortunate situation. He also seemed to do a bit more trash talking and even did his famous "powder toss" to the dismay of the fans in the stadium. I interpret LeBron's uncharacteristic on-court arrogance to be a defense mechanism for the fact that deep down, he's hurting from all of the criticism. As my friend Terrie Williams (author of the book "Black Pain") likes to say: "Hurt people hurt people." What I think she means is that the pain from being hurt can cause us to lash out at others.
Perhaps it's time for all of us to move on.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.