Are Wizards Fans Rooting Against LeBron James?
It sure doesn’t feel like it to me. Maybe casual Wiz fans are just caught up in the rapture of the playoffs, but I certainly don’t get the vibe up and down I-295 that the local faithful are pissed that the LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are still alive in these NBA playoffs.
Not that I am expecting the Diamond City section of the blogosphere to super nova into an anti-LeBron James campaign that sweeps the Internets, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a crybaby T-shirt posted here and there. A photoshop of Gilbert in the crowd scowling at the Cavs, perhaps?
Something artistic and clever that I have no talent to put together.
Perhaps it is because Wizards fans are naturally more reserved than most NBA fans. We’ve tasted so little success, it would be difficult to muster any angst against a team so close to the pinnacle of achievement in the sport. Sure, LeBron James is a chronic traveler and incessant whiner. But he’s also much better on that jumpshot, ain’t he?
And he sure is putting on a legendary show in the 2009 NBA Playoffs.
Perhaps if we all knew better, if we had more to shout about than the fifth pick in this year’s draft and the return of Gilbert Arenas, we may be inclined to denounce what we’re witnessing from James. If we were happier in our own skin, we might just be motivated to cast hate on the best player in the world, who happens to be our mortal enemy.
But Wizards’ fandom in the off-season is an itchy place to live, and LeBron James’ work in the playoffs, whether we care to admit it or not, is a surefire salve.
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