LeBron James has won his championship ring. Many of us watched, seething, powerless to stop it. The same nation of last year’s Dallas Mavericks fans, that rejoiced in James’ misery last season, will spend the summer trivializing his title. And that’s all well and good. There’s no reason we all need to be Heat fans. Now or ever. But basketball fans in Chicago need to find a better way to go about it.
This, people, is silly. Yes, Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls had a great run in the 90’s. But for every post and meme like this one, there deserves to be 2 similar posts from Celtics fans. Photos of Bill Russell, surrounded by a Stonehenge of NBA championship trophies. Telling Mike “Hey kid, why would you retire before you won 11 of these babies?”
You see, what Russell did can’t diminish what Michael achieved in his career. And what Michael did can’t lessen what LeBron has, and will likely continue to, accomplish by the time his playing days are over.
We had a couple great infielders here in Chicago. Names are Banks and Sandberg. Between them, they won zero World Series trophies. There are a couple other guys from recent years, names of Theriot and Fontenot. Between them? 2 rings. Does that mean they had better careers? Of course not. In team sports, winning the championship is the most important thing. But it’s not the only means by which a career should be judged.
You can’t stop the Miami Heat from getting their rings. There’s nothing you can do about the city of Miami having a parade, and basking in the glow. A team that isn’t a 90’s Chicago Bulls team is going to win the NBA championship until the end of time. Let them enjoy it. We enjoyed ours.
Chicago CentriCity 