Cleveland Cadavers Return

The stench has begun to rise from the bench of the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

For six years, Clevelanders thought they had removed the stigma of desperation that surrounded their professional teams.  They got the consensus No. one pick, who happened to be a hometown boy in 2003.   

Cleveland had gotten their Moses to lead them out of the desert of the sports graveyard. 

After six years, they could practically taste the sweet ambrosia of success.  They were ready to raise the gold ball.  No more will they be called "the mistake by the lake,"—or, so they thought.

They thought one man would lead them; he has the game.  He is an unstoppable force, but that rarefied air of champions gets very thin if you don't have a helping hand.

LeBron won't say it. He won't have those "I am so disgusted with you" looks that Kobe has toward his teammates.  In fact, his look is that of absolute resolution.  He is resolute that he doesn't have the help.

Danny Ferry did a great job with getting this team to where they are, so James may stay to finish what he started. 

But James has been here before with the 2007 Cavaliers, a bunch of role players who couldn't find the chutzpah to win not one game in the finals.

If it weren't for James' game two miracle shot, they would have been swept by the Magic already this year.

It is the pupae stage when everything starts turning murky and mushy and you can't find your way out. 

LeBron pulses 40 points a game to keep them on life support, but the end is near.  Clevelanders are preparing for the inevitable.  Do you hear the last discernible heartbeat of Clevelands championship hopes?

James needs to administer one more desperate shock to the cadavers' lifeless hearts.  But he is tired after six years of James being the only energizing factor on the big stage. 

James, No. 23, will be a thing of Cleveland's past as the mausoleum door closes on the 2009 Cavaliers, a team that dared to dream but couldn't make it a reality.

Will James be looking toward the Magic kingdom in 2010?  He sees they are much closer then he is.  Imagine the Magic with Howard, Lewis, and James. That is a recipe for at least five championships. 

But it is only a dream, a delusion, because the vultures are circling, waiting for the exodus that is sure to come.

At that defining moment, James will calmly brush off the dirt of his hometown and search for his championships elsewhere.