This isn’t Brett Favre or Joe Montana, or any other over-the-hill star – insert your own favorite here – shopping teams and/or rosters in search of one last hurrah.
In the NBA, one supremely talented individual can make a world of difference. LeBron James proved as much by carrying his team into five of the last seven NBA Finals. What’s going to make this quest for a championship in Cleveland the best sports story out there for some time is that he’s committed to try and tip the balance of power by himself, if need be, to pay back all those folks who nurtured him from the start.
“My goal is still to win as many titles as possible, no question. But what’s most important for me is bringing one trophy back to Northeast Ohio,” James said in a Sports Illustrated first-person story published Friday announcing his decision to return to the Cavaliers.
“I always believed that I’d return to Cleveland and finish my career there. I just didn’t know when,” he said.
Had James delayed the announcement much longer, the army of in-studio analysts and on-scene reporters deployed by every media outlet on the planet would need catheters to stay on the job. If nothing else, that part of our long national nightmare is over. So what’s worth saying after everything that’s already been said?