In defense of the Decision, the Heat, the LeBron

First of all, much thanks to The Costanzo for allowing me this chance to contribute to his blog. This is a daily stop of mine, and the chance to add to the lunacy here is one I appreciate.

Last Christmas, my wife and I were at my parents' house. We each have small dogs, who are of similar size and temperments. They did not get along with each other at all, and continuously barked and snapped at one another while occupying the same geographical space. This reminds me of the sporting relationship between Detroit and Cleveland.

Two industrial cities that have fallen on hard times economically. The two cities are very much alike, yet have a strong dislike for one another. Just like the two dogs, one of the dogs wouldn't mind if something bad happened to the other.

Which meant that I giggled like a little girl back on July 8 when LeBron James delivered the biggest kick in the nuts an athlete had ever delivered to a city in which he played, when he announced he would be leaving the Cleveland Cavs to play for the Miami Heat.

"The Decision" was one of the most ridiculed acts an athlete has ever done in public. I say, it should be one of the gutsiest and most respected things an athlete has done. LeBron made the conscious decision to go from being beloved in his hometown and the nation, to being hated by 99 percent of sports fans in the country. While doing so, he sacrificed a good amount of salary and personal glory in order to join forces with established players as he pursued a championship.

Why exactly, is that such a horrible thing? An elite athlete making personal sacrifices in order to win a title. Certainly not a novel concept in sports.

The Miami Heat organization has also taken a lot of criticism for the manner in which this team was put together. Someone show me what the Heat did that was so immoral, so unethical, that it has made them the most disliked franchise in sports?

The objective of a pro sports team is to win. What was Miami supposed to do, turn down LeBron? Say "No sorry, we have to find a more honorable way of winning championships than to sign the best free agent in NBA history. Let's go after Theo Ratliff."

How the Miami Heat built this team is actually more worthy of respect than anything the New York Yankees have done in the last 20 years. The Yankees built contending teams by simply outspending everyone else they're competing with. The Heat have a salary cap structure to deal with, and they had to convince Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James to all take under market-value salaries in order to play together. Did C.C. Sabathia say he'd be willing to accept only $120 million, as long as he got first in line at the team's pregame buffet every game as a concession to help his team? Nope.

Another thing I appreciate about what the Heat have done, is that they have considered every bit of conventional wisdom about how to build an NBA champion over 60-plus years of league history, and thrown it out the window, and done it their own way. When Frank Sinatra sings about doing it his way, everyone loves it. When the Heat do it their way, they get more scorn and ridicule than the douchebags on "Jersey Shore." It takes a lot of guts to buck conventional wisdom the way the Heat have, and try to win a championship in a completely new way. Are we not witnessing a basketball revolution during these playoffs? How is that not thrilling to watch?

What put me over the top with all this was the newly spawned "Cavs for Mavs" movement, which started on the evening of the NBA Finals. Cavs fans, doing their best Jennifer Aniston impressions, have thrown their support behind the Dallas Mavericks, in order to cheer against LeBron from winning his first championship. This might be the most pathetic thing a fan base has ever done. Actually abandon its own team in order to totally support a competing team, just because that competing team faces the guy who left their city 11 months ago.

However, the behavior model of Cavs fans in this instance is entirely consistent. We're talking about people who are so schitzophrenic, they make Tom Sizemore look placid by comparison. These are fans, who took shirts, jerseys, etc. of the best player in the franchise's history, and burned them in the streets. These are fans who thought it an insult to chant the name of one of the 50 best players in NBA history (Scottie Pippen) at LeBron in his December return to Quicken Loans Arena. These are now fans who decided they are fans of another team, who's chopped-off nickname happens to rhyme with their own team's chopped-off nickname.

Now, let's look at the Cavs as an organization. This is a team who had LeBron on its roster for 7 seasons, and gave him teammates who fell somewhere between has beens, never-weres, and only-in-their dreams. LeBron carried a team with Drew Gooden as a starting power forward to the NBA Finals, for chrissakes. The only reason the Cavs even had LeBron in the first place was that they won 17 games in 2002-03 and happened to win the NBA draft lottery.

What the Cavs did since then was shameful. They built all of their credibility on the shoulders of one person. They fancied themselves as a cornerstone NBA franchise because of one person. They stole TV broadcasters (Fred McLoed), cloned PA announcers (Mason) and pushed their way into elite status because of one person. The Cavs never bothered to methodically build a contending team with complementary parts, or crafted trades that worked out short and long term. They rode the coattails of one player, placing 100 percent of the burden on that one player to give them a title.

Then, they try to act indignant, insulted and hurt when that one player decides to ease his own burden and enhance his own chances for a championship? It's the Cavs who should be regarded as the least-likeable franchise in sports.

Here in Detroit, we've lost good free agents too. Juan Gonzalez. Allan Houston. Grant Hill. What do we do about it? We retool, stick our chin out a little bit further and move on. We don't burn jerseys in the streets. We don't approach the future with the collective nuttiness of the ladies from "The View." We don't write ill-advised and childish blog posts in Comic Sans.

So I salute LeBron James, for having the unselfishness, balls and vision to carve his own piece of NBA history. Some will blame him for starting a new era in basketball where buddies team up to win a title. I say, credit him for leaving a bad situation, where too much was asked of him, and entering a better one where he will more easily be able to become a champion.