Dan Gilbert’s Famous Letter Now Just A Weird Footnote In NBA History
Dan Gilbert’s open letter, written around this time of year four years ago, looks even weirder today. While there were plenty of people who thought Gilbert’s Comic Sans written letter was childish and strange when Lebron James was leaving Cleveland, Dan Gilbert gets his player back despite the mud slinging.
Late last week, James announced he was coming back to Dan Gilbert’s team in a twist of fate very few could have foreseen after the fallout surrounding his departure.
Dan wrote a letter that was posted on the Cleveland Cavaliers website in which the team owner called out Lebron for being a traitor to the team and the city in leaving for the Miami Heat.
The repercussions for Gilbert appear to be a healthy dose of scorn from the sports writing community. The Los Angeles Times in particular reposted a copy of the famous letter, complete with additions such as “I also write love-scorned letters for high school girls.”
SB Nation reports the Cavs owner had to fly to Miami and apologize for the letter to Lebron. On the one hand, the team wins because James is allowing the incident to be filed under “let bygones be bygones.”
On the other hand, has there been a situation in professional sports where an owner’s groveling to a star player was quite so awkward. It would be one thing if Dan Gilbert was simply going to recruit one of the biggest stars in the game.
That sort of thing happens all the time with owners much different and more well respected than Dan Gilbert. Flying out to Miami to explain to Lebron James why you tried to publicly humiliate him is another thing entirely.
If anyone wants to know just how universally awkward the letter was, just compare it to the reaction of Miami Heat owner Micky Arison.
Arison certainly wasn’t happy that he had just lost one of his biggest stars to free agency. Having said that, he took to Twitter to congratulate the man who did bring a ring to South Beach and to move on.
I am shocked & disappointed in today’s news. However I will never forget what Lebron brought us for 4 years. Thanks for memories @KingJames
— Micky Arison (@MickyArison) July 11, 2014
In the process, Arison made sure he did it in a way that won’t have people laughing about the font he decided to use, almost half a decade later.
It’s safe to say the Cavaliers have learned their lesson and won’t be taking to the web to fight their battles with former players anytime soon. That doesn’t erase what Dan Gilbert did four years ago and it will likely be brought up again and again in the coming season.
