King James, This Is Treason! LeBron Needs to Respect Cleveland

If another East Coast team gives LeBron James attention, I think I'm going to go insane. And if he eats up the attention instead of doing what he's supposed to, I'll be even more upset.

Recently, King James has done everything to disrespect the city of Cleveland outside of telling them directly to buzz off. From palling around from Jay-Z, owner of the New Jersey Nets, to holding press conferences in New York to give Knick fans hope that he will wind up in Madison Square Garden, James is making me sick.

Michael Wilbon put it in a way that I truly agree with on Pardon the Interruption:

"I despise any Midwestern people who gives themselves over to New York City," said the Chicago native.

While I have a significant amount of Midwest bias myself, I mainly can't stand to see a player who isn't playing for his team during the season. James plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers—not the New York Knicks, not the New Jersey Nets, and especially not the Brooklyn Nets.

I recognize that James wants to be the Renaissance Man of that city, but right now King James should be concentrating on bringing an NBA Championship home to Cleveland, to his home state of Ohio.

James is losing my respect rapidly, as Brett Favre did earlier this year, by disgracing his current team in favor of eating up the Big Apple attention. Favre should've either retired and stayed retired or never retired at all instead of whining about how the Packers wouldn't have him back because he left them and they were trying to make a transition.

When Brett Favre gets old(er) and stops succeeding, he will be booed. When LeBron James gets old and loses his swagger in New York, he will be booed. If you don't believe me, just look at how New Yorkers treat Alex Rodriguez, a player who is arguably the best in Major League Baseball today. When you become old news, New York doesn't want you anymore.

Had Favre retired a Packer, he would've been worshipped forever by the state of Wisconsin. Instead, he decided to get back in the game and burn bridges with the organization and some Packers fans. If LeBron brings Cleveland an NBA crown, he'll be worshipped in Ohio forever. If he sells out, who knows?

Stop chumming around with Jay-Z on the camera, stop talking about July 2010, and throw away those Candy "Big" Apple shoes, LeBron. You play for the city of Cleveland.