The LeBron James mural is gone, or is it? Is this a big, bad dream?
As hundreds of onlookers hooted and hollered, work began on dissembling the LeBron James mural last Saturday.Cleveland, Ohio -- No one is going to let us forget The Betrayal. But, when there's no mercy, a little comic relief helps. Even when funny gets confused with painful.
TheOnion.com takes a light look, heavy in satire, at the dissembling of the giant LeBron James mural that was on a downtown building.
The Onion claims that no matter what workers do, the mural keeps re-appearing:
On Tuesday city officials removed it panel by panel, only to find an identical mural hanging directly behind it. On Wednesday, not only did the banner reappear after being loaded onto a chartered one-way flight to Siberia, but the LeBron James depicted in the new banner was wearing a Heat jersey and holding two NBA Championship trophies in his outstretched hands.
Talk about depth. That describes the roster of Cleveland sports tormentors. The Onion reports that tangible evidence of them remains, not just nightmares:
Though the hated billboard is said to typically reappear as James' haunting likeness, some have seen other disturbing images. Last Thursday when the mural was attached to four 1,000-pound weights and forcibly sunk in the Cuyahoga River, commuters driving into the city reported seeing in its place a 10-story-tall photograph of John Elway leading Denver to victory over the Browns in the 1987 AFC Championship game. Others saw a still image of Michael Jordan jumping into the air and pumping his fist after his game-winning shot over Craig Ehlo. Many pedestrians, meanwhile, reported seeing a 100-foot banner of Earnest Byner's 1988 fumble on the three-yard line.
An attempt to demolish the building altogether proved futile, as it was mysteriously replaced the following day by the completely new 15-story Art Modell Public Library.
Here's part of the real story (we think), a Plain Dealer report as the mural was in the process of being torn down:
Workers on scaffolding and ropes Saturday began dissembling the 10-story mural of LeBron James that looms over downtown at Ontario Street and Prospect Avenue. Once a symbol of hometown pride, the colossal image is now merely an ugly reminder to many of a city's squandered dreams. Dozens of former fans stopped to watch the destruction. After James told the world he was headed to the Miami Heat, the Cavaliers asked Nike to remove the billboard. Workers from Utah-based Fusion Imaging said Saturday that could take days. The process is complicated because someone bought James' image separate from the mural. Workers must cut the black background away from the picture of James before they can take the mural down in long strips. By Saturday evening, only James' hands were gone.