Bien Venidos a Miami: The Power Trio

Stephen A. Smith put it up on the board a couple weeks back. Eventually, everybody else jumped onboard and started hyping the LeBron to Miami talk.

I do have to ask the base question. I posted it on Facebook and Twitter, and I reiterate it here ….

Is there a better or more complete switch from “face” to “heel” than LeBron’s departure for Miami? This trumps Rocky Maivia becoming “The Rock” or Hulk Hogan’s rise in the black and white colors of the nWo.

On Thursday, the grandiose spectacle that was the “decision” (I refuse to capitalize it) was unleashed after the countdown clocks wound to triple zero.

The Cavaliers are incensed, believing that they did everything possible to keep him there. In his letter to fans, did Dan Gilbert intentionally leave out the Ferry and Smith firings, essentially telling fans and LeBron (and his team) that he was loyal to LeBron in those dismissals?

LeBron made the best decision for winning and for business. I had thought he’d stay home in Cleveland, but the idea of a Miami “Legion of Doom” or Chicago run wouldn’t have surprised me. In the end, he’ll play with his friends and try to bring another title, or series of them, to Miami. How can you blame him from a straight business move? It was a brave, bold choice.

Although, forget about the money side of things for a minute. He’ll make up a lot of the salary differential in state taxes he won’t pay for taking up residence in Florida.

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I don’t know. I wished there had been some cheerleaders, a marching band or that Will Smith had popped out from behind a curtain to start singing. Wouldn’t that have been something?

Instead, there was silence and a whole lot of nothing.

The open letter helps to build some drama, and many have likened LeBron to Art Modell (including Larry Fitzgerald on his Twitter feed). He’ll be the villain in Cleveland forever, but most of the bile nationwide is reserved for his marketing people and the network that broadcast his announcement.

I made the wrestling references before to remind folks of the fact that while you may have had that initial – “why???” and anger moment (remember the shots of grown men crying when Hogan revealed the nWo?), those guys eventually became crowd favorites.

Winning gets people on your side. Winning brings, well, HEAT.

Cue the “Miami Vice” theme and let’s talk some football.