In case you live in a cave isolated from any and all sports talk, LeBron James will let everyone know where he will play basketball at 8pm tonight on a ESPN one hour special that has been officially dubbed "The Decision". This could be interesting as it is supposed to be all live so there could be some wheels off moments but mostly I just expect a ESPN/LeBron knob slobbing of epic proportions and extremely high ratings.
Apparently, Miami has a real shot at him with some media dolts (hint: philadelphian who likes to yell at you through your TV) already claiming that The King to the Heat is a done deal. A lot of people will think that Cleveland has the edge due to James being born and raised there with all his family and friends having their own livelihoods tied to James staying in Cleveland. Let me review the choices he has to make in my mind:
Cleveland
Miami
I'll give you a minute or two to review those two choices carefully. It is interesting to hear the predictions out there if LeBron did indeed choose the Heat. They range anywhere from the Heat winning 5 straight titles to struggling to win 50 games a year. I love Dexter Pittman and all but he would probably be the 5th best player on the Heat if they were to make this "Team Trinity" deal happen. The most interesting prediction, if you want to call it that, is that if LeBron did leave Cleveland for Miami, then he would turn into a nationwide villain and everyone would turn on him and the Heat in a similar way to ARod and the high spending Yankees (this is sports radio, not me saying that). I am a big fan of LeBron both as a player and as a character (aside from shit like this ESPN special). I dont' know if I buy into everyone turning on LeBron but I think I can see a lot of people turning on Miami and people cheering against them come playoff time as long as they aren't playing the Lakers. I won't be in that camp either even though Miami lured my Rockets' only chance (always a remote one) at a Summer 2010 free agent splash.
It just wasn't my look
Apparently LeBron will make his decision known within the first 15 minutes of the one hour special, which means we'll know in the next 30 minutes. It also might be fun to change the channel to CNN if LeBron does indeed choose somewhere other than Cleveland just to see the ensuing riots. An ESPN article actually says:
"If James does announce he's leaving the Cavaliers, police in Ohio are preparing for civil unrest."
Seriously, what other sports announcement could cause that sort of thing? I know I'll be tuned in. Consider this your open thread to LeBron-apalooza 2010.