Dr Z

For those of you that thought LBJ wouldn't step foot back in Akron, he was home yesterday according to his twitter account. LBJ takes some shots from Seth Myers last night (starts at 3 minute mark)

Play-action pass TD. One play.

Should be an interesting article by Ian Thomsen when it comes out..."The man with the plan (not LeBron that changed the NBA)" Video of Greg Heisler photographing the cover shot

Only creative name calling I have seen so far: LYIN' KING Bottom of the shirt reads: "I got a goal, and that's to bring an NBA championship to Cleveland, and I won't stop until I get it"

Diminishing skills, just like Bernie when he got his ring.

Dan Gilbert plans to get that casino here in 2013. Then we will all be able to invest. +1 Somebody just told me they went to see some band/drum thing there. It was the first time they saw it, and he said he was blown away.

He put Akron on the map, then Akron took him off theirs. You reap what you sow. I'm guessing from the bent AKRON sign in the second image, people were throwing stones at the sign. Source I saw this on Rasor's site. Z chooses Miami over Cleveland. Will Cavs fans burn his jersey too? He can get his ring with the cHeat the way Bernie got his with the Cowboys.

You only had to go to a handful of games this year and go out before and after the games to get a good idea what winning did to business. Now go out next year and see how many people are in the same establishments on a Tuesday night. Forbes article. I'll guarantee we will hear some real numbers when business owners start comparing apples to apples in one year from now. It's all speculation right now. I don't think anybody was expecting Lebron to save the Cleveland economy, but it would have been better if he stayed. I frequent South Beach in February, it seemed steady, but not packed, looking forward to seeing those numbers too. Bloomberg says Cavs value down $250 mill

Not surprising at all. We do very poor job of brand marketing. Mr Waddell started doing this before he left and nobody picked up the ball.

I'm rooting for the Heat to be the number one seed and never lose a playoff game, and win the championship with no team getting within single digits. That will diminish the accomplishment of an NBA championship and make Wade & Co. look silly. Then, I'll declare it out of control and chuckle a little. Go Heat! PS Did anybody else notice Lebron can opt out of his contract after four years? Say whatever happens to LBJ and he's miserable in South Beach. Far fetched I know, but people sometimes leave a situation and don't realize how good they have it. With goofball Gilbert, there is now ZERO chance that LBJ would ever try to "come back and make it right." I realize there was only .05 percent chance of this happening, but now there is zero point zero chance.

Putting on my KD hat, I'm betting on Steve to start at PG at the beginning of the season. I'm hoping that Abreu impresses so much in practice that KD is forced to start him at PG. "The decision" has raised my Zips basketball interest because my Cavs interest is lowered.

Lebron is a genius (Chicago Sun-Times) ''For the first time in league history, players themselves, not an owner or general manager, put together a championship team.''

You are partially correct, but mostly incorrect. Billboards can be extremely effective in building brand and awareness, I helped run a billboard campaign this year for a newer Cleveland-based sports league that was very successful. Cost was very minimal, we were actually able to get space donated during two months. When I say minimal, think a night out with the Mrs, not vacation money.

Big deal, if they are found guilty they'll get a slap on the wrist just like coach Belichick did for cheating. Trust me, it won't make it any better. Except it, and move on, that's the only thing that will make you less angry.

"He will always be an Akron native"

Send it to Dan Gilbert. He is so ticked he might pay to have something like this done. I'm not sure I want to deal with someone that irrational. But I might, just for Zeke and the boyz.

I sent it to ESPN about an hour ago. I figure they are hungry for anything LBJ right now, maybe our Zips can benefit with some recognition.

Spike says LBJ is never coming back to Akron

What if he goes on and wins 5 championships for the rest of his career (none in CLE) and continues his support in Akron. Will Akron ever build a LeBron statue to honor his contributions? Do you think someday LBJ will want respect like that from his hometown?

"So now people are cheering Dan Gilbert’s manifesto tearing apart James, but no one contributed more to what the world witnessed on Thursday night than the owner’s enabling of James and his inner circle for seven years. Gilbert is the biggest con going, a man who makes his fortune peddling mortgages, and he’ll make his next on casinos in downtown Cleveland. He sells illusions for a living, and now he’s selling the biggest of all: that he’s a victim here, that James betrayed everyone. That’s a lie, and no one ought to dare buy it. Everyone searching for a scapegoat here – Mike Brown, Danny Ferry, Delonte West(notes) – well, just understand that it was the man screaming loudest with LeBron out the door, the man most determined to deflect blame onto him now. Now, Gilbert is the tough guy with James leaving the Cavs behind? Listen, Ferry and Brown always warned Gilbert that giving James everything he wanted – giving it when and where and how – wouldn’t be the way they would keep him. LeBron didn’t respect them because they never demanded it. Gilbert always believed he should do everything James wanted – hire his buddies into jobs, throw them on summer-league rosters, allow him to do those stupid pregame choreographed dances – that James would love him, that he would never leave. Only, James is a taker, and he took and took until he had bled Gilbert and that franchise to the bone." Source

Get a new fathead. They have been marked down drastically on the Fathead website, from $99.99 to $17.41. It's no coincidence that Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert is the driving financial force behind Fathead. The $17.41 price isn't random either, because 1741 is the birth year of the first traitor of note in American history, Benedict Arnold.

I'll guess he lives on Star Island. Shaq liked it.

Yes, and no. More than 90% or NBA fans that live in Akron are Cavs fans. He pooped on Cavs fans last night on national tv. That hurt/dissed a lot of people that live in Akron. The one thing I can say about LBJ, he has said "Akron" so much in the media that most of the media people are repeating it. I think most people around the country realize he's from Akron and not Cleveland. I'm not sure that really helps anything though. Maybe if the University builds a South Beach branch.

I agree. If Akron fans can find a silver lining, I think this is it. His guilt for leaving may make him do more.