It's ok LeBron, we forgive you...and the cupcakes helped!

Throwing you a bender because I just thought you should know...

Cleveland, July of 2010 and the place is nuts!

People are shaking their heads in disbelief, kids are crying, idiots are burning jerseys and even a billionaire is taken to writing a nasty - and inaccurate - letter! We, as a collective city and fan base, were acting the fool.

The production of LeBron's announcement to leave the Cavaliers was wrong, but Cleveland sports should have been somewhat used to this. John Elway engineered The Drive against Cleveland to send that game to OT and an eventual Bronco victory. Michael Jordan escalated over Craig Ehlo against Cleveland to take that playoff series for the Bulls. Art @!$@#%@#&^^#^%$#& Modell moved the Browns from Cleveland. Even the Cleveland Indians managed to lose a World Series somewhat recently to...Miami! 

But we have this under control now right? We have corrected our behavior over the last four years, and even managed to watch him play for the Heat and appreciate his talents, even if they were in South Beach. We may have expressed a desire for his opponents to win, but deep down inside we quietly marveled at his abilities and his resolve. Now LeBron James is coming home, back to Cleveland to save a city and it's collective sports hopes.

And he apologizes to us!!!

His talents encompass much more than he displays on any basketball court. He writes his own letter, announcing his return, and in it he is able to forgive and apologize to Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, the author of the previous letter. He manages to apologize to all of Northeast Ohio by gloating about the area and then causes us to think further by stating, "Who am I to hold a grudge?" He even manages to apologize to his neighbors for the ruckus his anticipated return caused by sending cupcakes and a card! 

Kudos to LeBron for looking past our anger, looking past mountains of bad press, looking past an owner he hadn't spoken to in four years. LeBron is 29 years old, a multi multi millionaire, yet sees the big picture even better than he sees the whole court. He is coming back to Cleveland with the right attitude and skills to make everything right in Cleveland sports, the way it is needed.

This is the single greatest basketball player of all time. At 29, his literal stats eclipse where Jordan and Kobe Bryant were at the same age. Jordan is currently the bigger winner, Kobe could score more, Magic ran an offense and passed better, Bird was more deadly accurate, but LeBron is a combination that exceeds all of those.

Time will tell if Championship rings, MVP Awards and stats clearly support that argument. He has many miles on his 29 year old body, having had 11 NBA seasons, extended playoff runs in nine of those seasons plus three different Olympic games. But this is a player in the absolute prime of his career returning home. So now LeBron comes back to the Cavaliers, doing it all over again in front of his people. This guy exudes class and simply "gets it" in a way no 29 year old millionaire can be expected to do so.

He left in a ridiculous way, we acted worse and treated him as a traitor. Yet now, he apologizes, he steps up....he even sends cupcakes!

Welcome home LeBron and good luck. My Cleveland heart looks forward to watching you perform and my Florida address looks forward to receiving my cupcakes.

 ...All this because I know more about nothing...