The NBA community has gotten to know Esquire writer Scott Raab some over this past year as a guy who doesn’t care much for LeBron James.
It’s true, he doesn’t. But it is worth noting that the feelings of disdain Raab’s expressed over LeBron’s decision to leave Cleveland last summer aren’t any sort of publicity stunt.
His comments, while venomous at times, are born from an undying passion and loyalty to his hometown of Cleveland.
I spent much of a Cavs – Celtics game earlier this season talking with Raab, and for whatever it may be worth, I can assure you the guy is most definitely genuine.
He wrote an article for Esquire, on the anniversary of that decision, as only he can. A day he calls “LeBronnukah.” An excerpt is below:
“Hey, if you think pro-sports success makes no real difference in a city’s quality of life, nothing I can say will change your mind. All I can tell you is that I know how much civic pride the Steelers and Penguins have given Pittsburgh, what the Pistons’ and Red Wings’ titles have meant to Detroit. Two generations of die-hard Cleveland sports fans have lived their lives with no experience of ultimate triumph in any pro sport — only the misery of trudging season after season with the bluest balls in the land.
LeBron James was supposed to change that; the son of a bitch told us he wouldn’t quit until he did. Then he quit, and ran away from home, and spent an hour on the TV kicking our nads to jelly. I’ll get over that as soon as Dr. Oz starts pitching for White Castle. This I believe: Someone someday will win it all for Cleveland, and the town will bust a nut so fine and rich that the grin will never flee its face.”
Raab has a book coming out too, you might have heard about that. He told me his original intention was to write the story in celebration of Cleveland’s first championship. He said that was his motivation in following the Cavaliers throughout what became LeBron James’ last season in Cleveland.
When The Whore of Akron: One Man’s Search for the Soul of LeBron James eventually does drop, I think we can expect a different theme.
Photo Credit: Business Insider
