Essay

“I feel like throwing up. That’s all. Lifelong Cleveland fan, still holding out hope that Lebron is better than this.” “anyone else nervous? lol” “this is the longest ten minutes in television history” “This is crazy. It’s like a president is being elected.” “I feel like a pre-teen girl watching American Idol” These are all comments from a live chatroom on July 8, 2010, the day that Lebron James starred in The Decision on ESPN. It was a one-hour television special for Lebron to finally announce his plans for free agency. While some of the country was not interested, nearly ten million people were tuned in, anxious to find out what Lebron’s plans were. There was speculation up to the last second until he revealed his plans, “In this fall, this is very tough, in this fall I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat.” The chatroom, still going on, provided instant feedback from some fans. “BOOOOOOOOOOO”  “unreal” “Sorry Cleveland” “Kick in the face” “he’s treating us like an ex girlfriend” Some were elated, many others completely crushed. This was evident not only from the immediate reactions in chatrooms, blogs and on social networks, but also through the stories published about the special.

            Immediately after Lebron’s decision was announced, the social networks were abuzz with people’s reactions. The story spread like rapid fire, as people tweeted and made Facebook statuses, letting people know what happened and how they felt about it. All different type of people were sharing their thoughts, everyone from the everyday NBA fan to celebrities. Friends of mine, from Cleveland, were posting angry statuses bashing Lebron and uploading pictures of them tearing down his posters. One of Lebron’s teammates on the Cavaliers even used Twitter to let people know his reaction to it. Mo Williams, on the night of the decision, tweeted “I can't believe this is really real. This is surreal. So many emotions on one man decision. I wonder what is our next move. 1:38 a.m.” The strong emotion in this tweet is evident, and it is to be expected because of how close to the situation he was. People a lot further removed from the situation seemed to be a lot less distressed and a lot more excited. Sean Kingston, a popular singer, tweeted “Courtside At Miami Heat Games #CANTWAIT !!!” Another popular singer, Justin Bieber tweeted “WOW LEBRON ...MIAMI??? how do we all feel about this...mixed emotions in this room... ok. got to get focused on this show...congrats to the miami heat...KOBE WILL BE WAITING” These tweets are clearly subjective and there is a broad range of emotions shown through them. Not only were opinions about The Decision posted on Twitter and Facebook, but there were also many bloggers reacting to it as well.

            It is interesting to read about stories on social networks and blogs because they do not have to be factual. The people that post on them can speculate all aspects of a story and voice their own unique opinions about the issue. This is what happened after the airing of The Decision. Blogs were leaking rumors about Lebron and why he chose to leave, and sometimes there was no real proof to back those rumors up. There was so much speculation and people were looking for rumors that they could justify with unrelated evidence. “One of the strangest events to happen in the NBA this summer, perhaps even more shocking than LeBron James' "decision" to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and play for the Miami Heat with fellow superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, was the emergence of the Internet rumor that LeBron's Cavs teammate, Delonte West, had engaged in a physical love affair with LeBron's mother, Gloria James, during the Cavs' playoff run in the 2010 NBA post-season,” was written by one blogger. This part of the story could only really be discussed on blogs because of the lack of factual evidence. If it were written to be true in an actual news story, the author would probably be penalized for publishing false information, making blogs the perfect place to write about it. Another blogger chose to look at the bias of the story that he felt was apparent, “Even shortly after LeBron’s special, ESPN was quick to point out how James is taking less money to go to the Miami Heat, and the only way James could win his long coveted title was to leave the Cavaliers and go to Miami or the Chicago Bulls.” This blogger felt that ESPN was defending Lebron too much, which was strictly his opinion about the story. Stories can appear very differently on blogs because of how opinionated they are, but they can also appear differently through news stories depending on who wrote it and where they are written.

            One of the most obviously affected areas of Lebron’s decision was Cleveland. With a history of sports disappointments, it was just another woe to add to the list. Clevelanders were devastated, and it was evident through the articles published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Because home is gone. Because it's personal here too.” “Defecting players usually say sports are a business. But while James' decision certainly crushes businesses around The Q, for Cleveland, this was personal. How could it possibly be business when the Cavaliers could pay $30 million more over a long-term contract than any of his suitors?” Opposing the view of many sports writers, this author makes it clear that Cleveland felt the decision was personal and took personal offense to it. The articles from Cleveland are much more emotional than the national articles because the people of Cleveland took his decision to heart. “Doesn't anyone in the James camp have a clue of what people back home will think? Doesn't anyone care? Of if they mentioned to James, doesn't he get it?” Not only do the articles target the Cleveland audience by emphasizing the pain that they feel and the questions that they have, but they also mention the hope that the people in the city still feel. Cleveland is always put down, but people always have hope in it. “Once the decision was final, fans at the Harry Buffalo also demonstrated Cleveland's necessary short memory and strange, enduring hope -- chanting, "Here we go Brownies, here we go -- woof, woof," while the song "Cleveland Rocks" blared over the speaker.” Unlike the local news, the national news focused more on the facts of The Decision.

            The national headlines were not as dramatic emotionally as the ones from Cleveland. While some focused on the devastation that Cleveland suffered, most did not. “It is one thing to be given the bum's rush by just another professional mercenary off in pursuit of the big bucks and the baubles of championship jewelry. But it is something else entirely to be snubbed by family, which is what James always said he was, emphasizing his northeastern Ohio roots as a son of Akron.” Most of the national stories were more objective towards the story and they were not as sympathetic towards Cleveland. “It's a huge victory for the Heat, which got Wade and Bosh, a five-time All-Star with the Toronto Raptors, to agree to take less money on Wednesday so James could join them. Heat president Pat Riley was able to corral the top three stars in an unprecedented free-agent class.” They focused more on the gain that Miami got instead of the loss that Cleveland suffered. “NBA, get ready: A superstar trio has just been born.” Nothing close to this could be found in the Cleveland newspaper, because no one wanted to see it. The story seemed a lot different reading it from a local perspective versus a national perspective.

            Many people had a lot to say about The Decision, and many different types of outlets were used to express those feelings and analyses. While the blogs and social networks showed more of the raw emotion and first hand reactions, the articles from newspapers and websites had more of an articulate way of telling the story. The Cleveland news told the story in a way of showing how hurt the city was and portraying Lebron James as a villain, while the national news showed it more in a way of just a basketball player choosing where to play basketball. Being from Cleveland, I remember The Decision perfectly. I heard my friends and family rant, I saw people tear down posters. I read all of the articles in the local paper, felt the emotions that they were speaking of and I was offended when I saw some of the national headlines bashing Cleveland. This story had a big impact on my community and it was interesting to see how it was told from different perspectives.