Loyalty in Sports

All this LeBron to NY talk has got me thinking about loyalty in sports. As all of you know by now, LeBron is a free agent at the end of the year. He has a big decision to make: stay with his hometown team, the Cavs, or go to a bigger market like NY or Chicago. The speculation is constant.

What he will do is up in the air. But an even tougher question is what he should do. Here's the thing - LeBron and all other athletes are the same as you and me. Growing up, they had a favorite team. They dreamed of playing for that team and winning championships for that team. But then they become a professional athlete and it seems like something happens. No longer are they loyal to their childhood teams. Rarely are they ever loyal to the team paying their bills.

As a fan I want my players to show that they care. I want to know they will do anything for my team. I want to know that when it comes time to sign a new contract, they will want to stay with my team. After all, we, the fans, deserve it. The thing we fail to realize, though, is that rarely is it ever as simple as appeasing the fans. Sports is a cut throat industry. At any moment, a players rights can be traded. At any moment, an athlete can get hurt. Once either one happens, the athlete is forgotten and the fans move on. The only loyalty in sports lies with the fans and their love of the team.

I think we need to realize that yeah, ideally athletes should be loyal, but the state of sports really doesn't allow for it. It all starts when a player is drafted. All of a sudden, childhood allegiances are thrown out the window in favor of this new team that is paying your bills. If I'm a Mets fan growing up and I get drafted by the Yanks, I all of a sudden am expected to be loyal to them. So I burn my Mets stuff and love the pinstripes. Then in four years, I am traded to the Marlins. Again, another team that I must become loyal to. Two years later I'm injured, I miss a year and lose my job to a younger kid. Now I have to either choose to take more money to stay with the team that gave my job away or go someplace else in search of that one last paycheck. Obviously I need to do what is best for me.

I think the LeBron situation is an interesting one. Every fan base wants him, but no one more than Cleveland. He's a home town kid but like the Yanks and has an affinity for wearing Yanks hats around the streets of Cleveland. This just seems to add fuel to the fire; an blatant shot to the fragile Cleveland sports psyche. At first it seems like he is in the wrong. But I ask you this - isn't LeBron just doing what we all want him to do? Isn't he showing loyalty to a team that he supports. He says he's a Yankees fan so shouldn't he be able to wear their hat? Why must he wear an Indians hat just because he's in Cleveland? You can see the hypocrisy.

LeBron and all other athletes need to watch out for themselves. Leave the loyalty thing to the fans.