It didn't seem possible, but the Miami Heat has replaced the New York Yankees as the Evil Empire in the world of sports, Bud Shaw writes.
CLEVELAND - The first sign of LeBron James' intentions was his Yankees hat.
Since his cluelessness in considering people's feelings here begat even more with "The Decision," someone in his camp probably should caution him not to show up -- hat or no -- at Progressive Field, where the Yankees play the Indians over the next four days.
You'd think he'd figure that out on his own, but who can really say?
We know now the Yankees hat wasn't just evidence that he saw himself separate from things Cleveland. Along with his appearance on the Dallas Cowboys sidelines for a Browns game, it stamped him as the ultimate front-runner.
When things got tough, the guy who never missed a chance to extol his own hard edge as a "football player" grasped for Dwyane Wade's shooting star just as he had reached for the Yankees' star-studded cast and "America's Team" as a kid.
His introduction in Miami alongside Wade and Chris Bosh -- the one that made Charles Barkley roll his eyes and liken it to a rap show -- took the concept of "SuperTeam" and made it feel more villainous than normal.
What it did in effect was take the late George Steinbrenner's team-stacking recipe and spice it with pure conceit.
You probably never thought you'd see anything that could make the Yankees look almost collegial in their efforts to build a championship team. But there were James, Wade and Bosh "rising up" in Miami, rock stars staging a concert for the benefit of their own egos.
There was James, who cashed his chips here with the Boston series still in progress, predicting the Heat would win multiple titles. Six, seven, eight. He couldn't decide.
However it turns out -- and sorry, Dan Gilbert, the Heat will win and probably soon -- "The Diff" between James and Wade will always be one.
(Twenty-second column timeout: Here's another reason I prefer baseball. After the entrance James, Wade and Bosh made in Miami, all three would be picking themselves up out of the batter's box in their first game together. For his one-hour special, for the hubris of the "taking my talents to South Beach" line, for his title predictions, James in particular would be dusting off more than talcum powder.)
Miami is the new SuperTeam in sports, which might be good for NBA ratings and road attendance but not much else.
Ratings and road attendance don't sustain hometown fans in so many cities that have almost no chance to win. This city now has two teams fighting the dogged but doomed fight. The Yankees outspend the Indians by a gross national product of a small country. And now bottom-feeding in free agency is once again in vogue for the Cavs.
James, Wade and Bosh together is good for them, good for the Heat and terrible for the league.
At least with the Yankees, the nature of baseball is a mitigating factor. A superstar in the NBA almost always has the ball in his hand when it matters most.
Something else about the Yankees. Say this for them. Going back to Joe Torre's tenure, they stamped themselves as a class organization that makes good baseball decisions.
After the introduction of James, Wade and Bosh in which they came off as the guys on the playground who not only stack the teams but want to rub your face in it, the Heat is the new Evil Empire.