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the reason Heat fans say this is because this is what happened.   we are offering in his defense.   and the reason there is no debate over it, is because it really isnt a debatable point.    Lebron honored his contract and left.   fans were hurt.  the media felt they were scorned.  i know this is purely speculative, but i bet you had the lebron said "i am taking my talents to the big apple" the media heat on him would have been FAR FAR FAR less than it was.   again, no way to prove this, just my feeling.   it felt to me that alot of ESPN anchors/other national media wanted him in new york.  

 I complete amazed at how those who defend with the argument still don't understand why it doesn't make sense.  You might as well offer as a defense, "The moon is round, so I don't know why people are upset with Lebron leaving."  That statement is just as much relevant to why the people were upset with Lebron leaving as your defense, but someon you think your statement is some obvious explanation of what happened.   Let me explain to you what is wrong with your statement:

Lebron honored his contract and left.   fans were hurt.  the media felt they were scorned   

You are trying to imply that this is what happened:

  fans were hurt (BECAUSE) Lebron honored his contract and left (AND). the media felt they were scorned   

No, that was not true.   Fans were no more upset because Lebron honored his contract than they were that the moon round.

 i know this is purely speculative, but i bet you had the lebron said "i am taking my talents to the big apple" the media heat on him would have been FAR FAR FAR less than it was.   again, no way to prove this, just my feeling.   it felt to me that alot of ESPN anchors/other national media wanted him in new york.  

No, the outrage started over the TV show antics and how he was going about it before he made his announcement of what city  he was gonig to.  It doesn't matter itr was Miami.   In case your memory is a little shaddy, let me help you:

Here are some quotes from the national media on July 8th, 2010 before Lebron made his announcement that evening:

State of LeBron: Live at 9, from his ego

"slow, cynical churning of manufactured drama that sports has never witnessed," according to Adrian Wojnarowski of YAHOO SPORTS. As far as historic moments go, this is the "Rushmore of basketball hubris and narcissism." James' advisory group, led by LRMR Marketing CEO Maverick Carter, is "having the time of its life, but has no idea the repercussions of what it's done." The six teams that "marched into the presentations and listened to some of the foolish and naive questions asked of them believed these kids had no idea what they were doing, or what they had gotten themselves into." (Yahoo.com 7/7)

Countdown to the LeBronocalypse

 ESPN.com's Bill Simmons writes, " A few weeks after the 2008 Summer Olympics, Someone Who Knows Things told me the following rumor: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Chris Paul became such good friends during the 2007 Olympic trials, and then during their 2008 Olympics excursion in Beijing, that they actually made a pact in China to play together. You know, like one of those pacts in a chick flick where two friends agree to get married if both of them are single when they turn 40.....  He has remained fiercely loyal to his high school friends, but at the same time, he's surrounded by people his own age who don't stand up to him and don't know any better. Picking anyone other than Cleveland on this show would be the meanest thing any athlete has ever done to a city. But he might" (ESPN.com, 7/8). 


In Chicago, Ed Sherman: "It's hard to believe somebody in his camp really thought it was a good idea for Mr. James to stage his announcement on ESPN Thursday night. There are few things the public detests more than athletes who like to call attention to themselves. This certainly has to rate as a look-at-me moment" (CHICAGOBUSINESS.com, 7/8).


ESPN's Jackie MacMullan said, "I'm a big fan of LeBron James but really, a one-hour special for a guy that hasn't really done anything? Truly, it's just unbelievable. It's unfathomable, yet we're all part of feeding the beast. We created this monster, and he's just playing along" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/8).


 FANHOUSE.com's Jay Mariotti wrote, "Staging his own reality TV show proves only that he can promote himself better than all the rest. Other than benefiting a charity and ESPN's ratings, I can't think of a good reason to do this." James would do "severe damage to his image if he spent an hour ditching the poor people in Cleveland" (FANHOUSE.com, 7/7).

 WashingtonPost.com's Dan Steinberg: "If you have an hour-long program just to jilt ... the city you grew up in and became a star in, it makes you look like even more of an egomaniac. ... There's a huge media backlash on this thing right now" ("Washington Post Live," Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, 7/7). 


 In Columbus, Rob Oller writes it "would be easier to applaud" the donation to charity "if it did not smack of attention deflection, using a charity to run interference just so folks don't think Bron-Bron is too-too big for his britches" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 7/8)

FANHOUSE.com's Kevin Blackistone wrote under the header, "Free-Agent Circus Stains LeBron's Image." James over the past few weeks has "made himself as easy to dislike as he'd made himself over several years easy to like." He has "made it look as if everything in it is about him, and he is unnecessarily turning himself into a villain" (FANHOUSE.com, 7/7).

 In San Jose, Cam Inman writes "catering to superstars is the norm," but when one of the NBA's top free agents "gets an hourlong, prime-time television special to announce his next employer/partner/beneficiary, that simply is absurd/individualistic/grossly enabling" (SAN JOSE MERCURY-NEWS, 7/8).

SI's Jack McCallum writes James, "drunk on the magnificence of his own LeBron-ness, is utterly clueless of how ridiculous this whole process has been, the monumental amount of self-importance attached to scheduling a one-hour show when you have zero championship rings" (SI.com, 7/8).

In Akron, Marla Ridenour writes that LRMR obtained sponsorship for tonight's announcement on ESPN, with all proceeds going to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, "seems self-serving." In promoting James' cause, his representatives have "flexed their marketing muscle in James-sized fashion" (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 7/8).

In Columbus, Rob Oller writes it "would be easier to applaud" the donation to charity "if it did not smack of attention deflection, using a charity to run interference just so folks don't think Bron-Bron is too-too big for his britches" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 7/8). 

VIA TWITTER:

ESPN’s Jay Crawford writes, “No matter what he does his image will be scarred badly here. no matter cleveland, ny, miami chicago whatever. he looks bad.”

N.Y. Daily News’ Frank Isola: “Too bad LeBron didn't put this much thought and energy into Game 5 against Boston.” 

Golf World’s Ron Sirak: “Wherever Lebron James goes becomes my least favorite sports franchise in the known universe. What a classless, self-promotional stunt.”  

ESPN L.A.’s Arash Markazi: “If LeBron leaves Cleveland, this one-hour special is the equivalent buying TV time to publicly file for divorce and commit to someone else.”

AP’s Tom Withers: “I can't imagine LeBron going on national TV and embarrassing his hometown. That would be evil.”



Niow, I don't know what coutry you were in when all this was going on, but all this happened before  Lebron made his announcement.  People didn't care if he was going to New York or Miami.  All the anger was about how he was going about this announcement. And how he was telling the city of Cleveland he was leaving.   So, to come back later and argue with a straight face that people are upset because he honored his legal contract and left is a joke.   If you and the Heat fans have somehow convinced yourselves that that's why people don't like him so that it makes it easier for you to embrace him, then fine.  But don't try to toss that up as your defense.  Because what you are saying is that he finished out his legal contract and that's why he created the circus that he created and you have no idea why people are upset with that.  That's absurd.