I consider myself a logical, rational person. I always say, for an artist I’m awfully left-brained. I credit my ability to work efficiently and plan exceptionally well, to this. I rarely allow emotion to dictate my decisions, and my willpower is amazing strong. If anyone has heard of, or has taken, the Myers Briggs personality test, I am a rare INTJ personality (1% of the population)– Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking and Judging. INTJ’s are called the “scientists”. Hardly a description for a cartoonist/graphic designer, but I guess that’s what happens when 2 math/science geeks have a kid who just happens to be able to draw.
Now that you know a little about me, you probably see how strange it is that I am sports fan in the first place. Yeah, me too. There’s a level of emotion involved in being a true sports fan, to watch through the good and the bad.. (I mean, BAAAD) times. Sometimes I marvel at how emotional I can get over a dumb game. ME! EMOTIONAL! It doesn’t make logical sense.
So, in the 2-week wake of LeBron’s aptly-yet-cruelly-named “The Decision”, I find myself yet again doing a balancing act of emotions and my more familiar logic. But even in this case, logic wins. Most of the arguments the pro-LeBron (or anti-Cleveland) side makes, can be met by reasonable answers.
He left. Athletes leave their teams all the time. This is no different.
The emotional backlash is not due to JUST his leaving. It’s also due to HOW he did it, the handcuffing of the team, planning it behind our backs for years, quitting in the playoffs so he could walk away easier, all of those things. Yes, it is different. Big Z , Mr. Cavalier himself, left for Miami too, but he did it quietly, appreciatively, and properly. We’ll miss him and feel a bit miffed it had to be the Heat, but we’ll welcome him back to the organization when he returns, as he stated is his plan. Take note, LeBron.
He left because he couldn’t get a championship in Cleveland, he wanted to be on a better team.
The Cavs had the best record 2 years in a row with 60+ wins. This was not the same LeBron-and-a-bunch-of-scrubs team he started out on, contrary to popular belief. Also, 3 great players does not a “better” team make. Necessarily. But maybe in this pathetic modern-day league, it’s possible.
Lebron had the right to leave, Cleveland does not OWN him.
He has the right, sure. (again, that’s not the entire reason…see above) He also should have had the right sense of judgment to give the team and it’s fans some appreciation for 7 years of butt-kissing … Not to mention, YES, giving him a better team each and every year. Instead, we get a spectacle that essentially spat upon the franchise & city as he danced off to Miami, hand in hand with his new buddies.
You fans and your lame owner made Lebron this way. It’s all your fault.
I do not doubt we all contributed. We looked past his mistakes and put him on a pedestal. But I also do not doubt that any other franchise would have done the same for this severely hyped-up player. His spoiling and ego-inflation began in high school, don’t forget. And it will continue in Miami. LeBron is a phenomenal player and no owner, no franchise, wants to be the one that let him get away. I think it’s inevitable. 
As for Dan Gilbert, yes his livid letter was unprofessional and I suppose deserving of a $100K fine.. But it was $100K well spent and I commend him for it. That takes some guts, some pure emotion and attachment to a team, to write a letter like that, knowing what you’re in for. (and trust me, we fans wish we got that kind of passion from other team owners in our city) That same emotion and attachment to the team is what made him throw money, roster moves, comfort levels beyond what any other player has seen… at LeBron and his friends.. To keep him happy, keep him HERE. It did not work, was never going to work. LeBron had other plans, for empty rings in warm places, that will continue to coddle him and his friends.
In the days after the The Televised Debacle, Cleveland fans started to see they were not alone in their new hatred for this egomaniac. Other cities, other fans, other journalists came to our defenses. Cities that had no affiliation with the Free Agency Frenzy, no reason to have personal issues with the end result. This was not another woe-is-Cleveland pity party that other cities roll their eyes at. We had authentic sympathy, here. Obviously, it only eases the pain so much, but it helps to be vindicated for feeling the way you do. This sympathy will not last forever, in fact the “get over yourselves” comments have started rolling in already. But, for a second there, the rest of America had our backs.
No doubt, I was mad. I felt cheated, embarrassed, hopeless and I wanted to burn a certain 
someone’s jersey. Instead, I donated it to a charity which is sending merchandise to homeless shelters in Miami, and then I put up #23 jersey flambé avatars everywhere online. A “green” version of retribution. Getting rid of the other person’s stuff is all apart of the break-up process. It’s cleansing. But now I am starting to accept it, probably because after all that has happened, we Cleveland fans are 90% scar tissue (a famous quote in Cleveland). The way this all went down, couldn’t have been more “Cleveland” if a movie was scripted. Hell, a 1-hour movie WAS scripted, written and directed by none other than the Villain himself.
I wouldn’t say I came out of the womb with a Browns helmet on (my mother would probably thank me for that), but by 10 I was immersed in Cleveland sports. My family moved to the Philly area, and I was still devoted. Cleveland, as a city, is the ultimate underdog, the kid with the “kick me sign”, the Charlie Brown of sports cities. Poor pathetic Cleveland, lets make fun of it some
more. Everyone laughs at the expense of the class nerd, even if they’re really friends with him. I can relate to Cleveland on that level, speaking as a class reject myself. I will always.. ALWAYS cheer for the underdog. Oh, to be there to see a Cleveland team hoist a trophy to declare to the sports world “We Are Worthy!” would be phenomenal. I get choked up just envisioning seeing it. A real life Revenge of the Nerds.
(and there’s the Harvey Pekar / American Splendor tie-in, another recent Cleveland loss just days after Lebron became the most hated in Cleveland history. RIP, Harvey). It was a rough week.
It’s time for me to move on past the LeBron era, which includes The Decision and its aftermath. It’s especially hard, with the Indians in last place, the Browns slated to be last place, and the Cavs roster looking like the remnants of a national disaster. But it is what it is. All is right with the sports world again. Cleveland teams are back to being the bottom-of-the-barrel underdog where the rest of the nation is used to seeing them reign, and I will illogically, irrationally and with whatever part of my right brain I have, cheer for the Cavaliers, Browns, and Indians.
It’s been years since I did MB but I think I was an INTJ too. I didn’t know it was so rare.
As for Gilbert, he HAD to do something to rile up the fans to actually keep going to the Cavs games.
funny, now I am meeting other INTJ’s… never did I think I’d meet others via a sports blog post. INTJ high five, brutha.
I get it that Gilbert is a rich guy who wants to stay rich. But he could have done the usual “we are dedicated to winning, and will continue to be even more so next year”… but he went beyond that, wrote a letter he shouldn’t have, and it was exactly what the fans needed to hear. That their owner has an emotional investment in this team, not just financial. I would have puked hearing the “we wish Lebron well and thanks for 7 great years,” BS. Doesn’t matter much, because from what I have seen thus far, they are rebuilding anyway…
As a sportswriter myself I can say I’m digusted with this whole LeBron mess and more disgusted with the constant butt-kissing behavior ESPN has been giving him. I’m not from Ohio (although I like Ohio State because they bully those jerks at U of M) but it’s hard to watch Cleveland and its fans take a licking everytime. At least they keep on ticking somehow.
I loved Gilbert’s rant and would love it even more if he could find some way to back it up.
At least the NHL’s Cleveland Barons aren’t expected to be bad this year…mostly because they folded in 1979 in some bizarre pseudo “merger” with the Minnesota North Stars who themselves ceased to exist by moving to Dallas in the early 1990s. I’m surprised NHL hockey never took off there.
LOL’d at the Baron’s joke. Hockey is practically non-existant in OH. I’m surprised there’s a team in Columbus.
Yeah, ESPN is not getting any more viewership from me… that’ll show ’em *snort*
Can’t WAIT for the first cavs-Heat games… and I am sure ESPN will treat me to another “sports heartbreak list” montage before and after the game. yay. :0P
Maybe I’ll just not watch the game.. but I would love to hear the boo’s as petty as that is.
Oh, rare my a**, LOL. I don’t believe the statistics that declare rarities among the types. Here’s a good link… http://www.infj.com/INFJ_Statistics.htm
I’m not INFJ, but I’ve known a good many (dated a few, actually). They’re supposedly *rare* as well, as the webpage linked above talks about. I happen to know people from most of the 16 types, though not all (as far as I can tell), yet two of the purportedly more rare ones – INFJ and INTJ – in multiples. There’s just no accurate way to determine rarity in the world population, and what we’re left with is guessing or extrapolation based on an exceptionally small pool of data.
Sorry, Dawn, I know that wasn’t the gist of your statement, but you baited me 🙂
So your basketball team will suck. *shrugs* There are a heck of a lot more important things to think about than freakishly large millionaires bouncing an inflated ball up and down a shiny rectangular wooden floor. The same is true for baseball, football and hockey as well. I understand your frustration, but… Well, you know my feelings about it; we discussed LeBron at length already.
(steps down from soapbox…)
Well since you brought it up Derelict. MB has issues from the start. It’s supposedly a measure of personality. HOWEVER, a better test would be one that measures behavior (there are several out there one of them is DISC).
If people looked at my MB readings and treated me as such as many companies teach, they would be wrong. For example, my personality is Introverted but my Behavior at work is very extroverted.
I would have to disagree. My behavior fluctuates and adjusts wildly based on my situation, environment, company and energy level, and I know I’m not the only person like this. I’m also not bipolar or schizophrenic, although if you asked many of the people I know they’d swear I have some kind of mental disorder. 🙂
The point you make about people treating you a certain way based solely on your type strikes at the heart of my frustration of how people view the MB. It’s a valuable tool, IMO, for understanding many of the root causes of behavior and thought processes, both in oneself and in others. Understanding, mind you, not profiling. There are not 16 different people in the world, duplicated 400M times apiece. To treat every ESTP, for example, the same as each other is a tragedy and a travesty.
I think we are saying the same thing. Behavior fluctuates depending on situation and who is around us. Therefore to try and make effective choices based on someone’s personality (ie MB) is problematic.
The Behavioral Analysis tools (if they are any good) may say when you answer the questions, think about your behavior in this specific situation.
Ha ha, well I took the eharmony test prior to meeting him. With all those paying dating sites, we found each other on some dinky free one, heh.
hey, how about we’re all just aliens? :0)
I knew mentioning MB and personality test would light a fuse under ol’ Derelict. I hope you only skimmed the sports rant part dude, I know you got your fill on all that in the days following the announcement. Felt therapeutic to write it out… and now when someone asks me “so, how do you feel about the whole Lebron .. thing?” I can say “AUGGHHH, here:” and give ’em a link to this article. *snicker*
My opinion on personality tests is that they are a good indicator of behavior and insight into how a person’s brain functions. But labeling or absolutes are never good. Out of all the tests I have taken, MB was the best and just about nailed my tendencies, faults, and skills… the only missing element is my creativity, but like I said: most left-brained artist you’ll meet.
I wonder which MB type is least likely.. typically.. to take a personality test? My guess is that type is ranked as “rarest” ;0)
I never heard of DISC.. what does it stand for? I’m always willing to take an intelligent personality test. As much as I didn’t like the site itself, e-harmony had quite a thorough test too.. and an interesting “choose the adjective most/least like you” approach to the questions.
I don’t know if your fiance would be up on your trolling eharmony just for research..haha
and thanks to the hoopla i still cant now spell labraun