Leave LeBron alone!

Leave LeBron alone!

To put it mildly, you suck.

Each and every one of you criticizing LeBron James for leaving money on the table in lieu of potentially winning multiple championships with the Miami Heat is a soulless, hypocritical pinhead.

Apparently, I’m stuck in an alternate universe where we now bash professional athletes for taking less money than they could possibly make elsewhere. The same jerks upset with Logan Mankins for asking the New England Patriots for a pay raise are suddenly pissed because LeBron didn’t jump at the chance to max out contractually with either the New York Knicks or Chicago Bulls. Those who labeled Allen Iverson an arrogant ball-hog incapable of winning a championship are now up in arms because James decided to embrace the team concept by joining forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami.

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The way I remember it, we used to crucify any player who left a successful team to chase a few extra bucks – especially if his new team sucked. We’d say, “Have fun losing every year, jackass!” while declaring emphatically that the player in question obviously didn’t care about winning. And make no mistake about it – if Mankins and the Patriots can’t settle this contract dispute and the team decides to trade him to, say, Oakland, the majority of you will give him the same royal treatment on his way out the door.

For once, we’ve got a high-profile athlete who decides not to scoop every last available penny into his savings account and, instead, signs with the team that gives him the best chance of winning a title (the one we all agree is the final piece of the LeBron puzzle) and our universal response is to label him a coward?

The absurdity of the American sports fan never ceases to amaze me.

Somehow, putting more pressure on himself – let’s face it, if the Heat don’t win immediately, LeBron will face more criticism than he did when the Cavaliers failed in the playoffs – is equivalent to taking the easy way out. At least that’s what I’ve been led to believe by the various imbeciles firing shots at “King James” for having the audacity to want more out of life than being a greedy pig wallowing in mediocrity.

Look, we all agree LeBron’s signing didn’t warrant the 9/11-style coverage provided by ESPN, but let’s not skew reality or rewrite history to prove a point. The major players referenced within the past two weeks – Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, etc. – did not win titles on their own. Bird had seven-time All-Star Kevin McHale and Hall-of-Famer Robert Parish. Magic had Kareem. Jordan had seven-time All-Star Scottie Pippen. In fact, two of Chicago’s six titles during the Jordan Era were clinched on jumpers by role-players John Paxson (1993 v. Phoenix) and Steve Kerr (1997 v. Utah). The next time anyone from Cleveland’s “supporting cast” hits a shot of that magnitude will be the first time.

Even Shaquille O’Neal – the man often credited by Kobe Bryant haters as the sole reason the Lakers won three consecutive titles from 1999 to 2002 – needed an All-Star shooting guard to complement his presence in the paint, including Wade, who teamed with Shaq to win the 2006 NBA title in Miami.

The point is every great player needs help along the way, and LeBron is privy to those same rights and privileges. And if you don’t like it, you should try to beat him, not write “Dear John” letters like the embarrassing opus posted by Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert in the aftermath of LeBron’s decision to join Miami.

Gilbert’s nonsensical rambling read like a Facebook wall post. While calling James a “coward” who “quit” during Cleveland’s playoff loss to Boston, Gilbert also guaranteed the Cavaliers will win a title before LeBron does in Miami. No you won’t, Dan, because your idea of a legitimate supporting cast is a 38-year-old Shaq under the basket and Mo Williams running the point. As the recently-deceased George Steinbrenner would say, “Forget the sour grapes.”

Other than perhaps a phone call, LeBron didn’t own Cleveland jack squat. He was a free agent. He had the right to sign anywhere he wanted to. And spare me the crap about betraying his hometown fans. He was born in Akron. That’s 40 miles from Cleveland, or roughly the same distance between Providence and Boston. We’re acting is if he was conceived in a men’s room at the Richfield Coliseum during halftime of a Cavs’ game. Enough is enough.

The accompanying sidebars on downtown Cleveland’s inevitable economic decline are equally nauseating. That’s Obama’s problem, not LeBron’s. The guy couldn’t dig Cleveland out of a 3-2 playoff hole against the Celtics, let alone dig the city out of a recession. Just let him play basketball – wherever he damn well chooses.

As a Knicks’ fan, I’d have loved to see LeBron in New York, but I can’t blame him for turning down whatever James Dolan had to offer. The Knicks stink. Playing in New York with subpar role-players would’ve simply been an extension of his tenure in Cleveland. LeBron wants to win. Isn’t that why we play? Herman Edwards taught us that eight years ago.

Apparently, we live in a different world now. Winning is so last week. Greed is chic. Wake me when it ends.