July 8, 2010: "The Decision" Airs On ESPN

July 8, 2010: The Decision airs on ESPN. LeBron James had played out his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Where would he go? The New York Knicks? The Chicago Bulls? The Los Angeles Lakers? Surely, it would be one of the big-market teams.

(The idea that he would go to one of the "little brother franchises," the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets or the Los Angeles Clippers, was ludicrous. Thanks to Kyrie Irving with the former and Kawhi Leonard with the latter, it is not ludicrous anymore.)

But there was also talk that he would join Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat to form a "superteam." And, yes, Miami is a big market, if not as big as New York, Los Angeles or Chicago.

ESPN reporter Jim Gray pitched the idea of a show covering James' choice to the network. Interviewing James himself, it was essentially the pregame show for the next phase of James' career. He said, "In this Fall, I'm going to take my talents to South Beach, and join the Miami Heat."

Heat fans -- the ones who supported the team before this, and soon found themselves outnumbered by people who were merely LeBron fans -- were ecstatic. Everybody else felt betrayed:

* Knick fans couldn't figure out why he wouldn't want to play in New York, "The Greatest City in the World," in Madison Square Garden, "The World's Most Famous Arena." (James Dolan was running the Knicks, that's why.)

* Bulls fans couldn't figure out why he wouldn't want to play on the team of Michael Jordan. (Jordan's shadow, maybe? After all, everything LeBron had done, and has gone on to do, has been measured against Jordan's career and life. Or maybe the Ohio native was just tired of the cold Midwestern weather.)

* Laker fans couldn't figure out why he didn't want to play for, if not the historically most successful (2nd only to the Boston Celtics), then certainly the most glamorous franchise in the NBA.

Did it work? Sort of: LeBron was with the Heat for 4 seasons, and reached the NBA Finals all 4 times -- but only won 2 of them. Then he finished that contract, and went back to the Cavs, and led them to the Finals 4 straight times, all against the Golden State Warriors, but only won 1 of them -- but it was still the title they had waited the team's entire existence for. Then he finished that contract, and went to the Lakers, leading them to a title in 2020, but that was in a COVID-interrupted season and an entire Playoffs in a "bubble," so Laker haters tend to put an asterisk on it. Otherwise, with the Lakers, he has fallen short.

The Decision showed that, unlike every other league, the NBA was now player-driven, not coach-driven, owner-driven, or even TV-driven. LeBron was driving TV. He had become the most influential figure in the league, more so than Commissioner David Stern and his eventual replacement, Adam Silver. The NBA was now The LeBron Show, with hundreds of supporting characters.

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July 8, 2010 was a Thursday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners, 3-1 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. The Yankees trailed 1-0 going into the 8th inning, but tied it, and won it in the 9th on a 2-run single by Alex Rodriguez against the team with whom he came up. This made a winning pitcher out of Andy Pettitte.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Brian Schneider won it with a home run in the bottom of the 12th.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Washington Nationals, 9-1 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-1 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 6-4 at Rangers Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Houston Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-0 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston. Roy Oswalt allowed a single to Neil Walker in the 1st inning, and no more hits the rest of the way, although he walked 2 batters and hit another. Lance Berkman provided all the scoring with 2 solo home runs for the Astros.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 1-0 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Guaranteed Rate Field) in Chicago. The only run of the game came on a sacrifice fly by Paul Konerko in the bottom of the 1st inning. John Danks pitched a 2-hit shutout.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 9-3 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Florida Marlins, 10-4 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the New York Mets, the Atlanta Braves, the Boston Red Sox, the Detroit Tigers, the Kansas City Royals and the Oakland Athletics were not scheduled to play.

The 2010 World Cup was also nearing its conclusion in South Africa. The Semifinals had been held: On July 6 in Cape Town, the Netherlands beat Uruguay, 3-2; and on July 7 in Durban, Spain beat Germany, 1-0. In the Final on July 11, Spain beat the Netherlands, 1-0 in extra time in Johannesburg.

June 21, 2012: LeBron Gets His Ring

Dwyane Wade (left) and LeBron James

June 21, 2012: LeBron James, the most-hyped basketball player of all time, gets his validation as an all-time great confirmed, by winning his 1st NBA Championship.

He had been hyped since high school in Akron, Ohio. He was hyped from there to his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers, without having attended a single college class. He got them to the Finals in 4 years. But after 7 years, and only 1 Finals appearance, his contract had run out, and he asked team owner Dan Gilbert to bring in new players that he could lead to an NBA Championship. Gilbert did not give him that assurance, and so James made "The Decision": "I'm taking my talents to South Beach."

He went to the Miami Heat, who already had Dwyane Wade, who had led them to the title in 2006. They brought in Chris Bosh, Juwan Howard, Shane Battier, Udonis Haslem and Eddy Curry. LeBron knew that Wade was The Man in Miami, but, unlike Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, he didn't have to be The Man: He wanted a title, not recognition as the leader.

The Heat won the Eastern Conference title in 2011, but were beaten in the NBA Finals by the veteran San Antonio Spurs. In 2012, they got back to the Finals, this time against the Oklahoma City Thunder, making their 1st Finals appearance since 1996, when the franchise was the Seattle SuperSonics. The Thunder were no slouches, as they had Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kendrick Perkins, Nick Collison, Nazr Mohammed, Reggie Jackson (no relation to the Baseball Hall-of-Famer of the same name) and the veteran Derek Fisher, in his 8th NBA Finals, having won 5 of them.

In 1991, in winning his 1st title, Michael Jordan saw his Chicago Bulls lose Game 1, but he took over, and led them to win the next 4 straight. This would also happen to LeBron in 2012. The Thunder won Game 1 in Oklahoma city, 105-94, Durant scored 36, James 30. But the Heat took home-court advantage away in Game 2, 100-96. James and Durant each scored 32.

The series moved to Miami, and Games 3 and 4 were close, 91-85 and 104-98, respectively. Westbrook scored 43 points in Game 4, one of the best performances ever in an NBA Finals defeat. Game 5, at the American Airlines Arena (now named the Kaseya Center) was a coronation, as the Heat won, 121-106. Durant scored 32, James 26, but a 36-22 3rd quarter gave the Heat the advantage, and eventually the title.

LeBron had his title, and his ring. He then led the U.S. team to the Gold Medal at the Olympic Games in London. Sports Illustrated named him its Sportsperson of the Year.

He led the Heat to the title again in 2013, beating the Spurs in 7 games. But the following year, the Spurs beat the Heat in 5 games, ending LeBron's tenure in Miami. In hindsight, the long LeBron Era can be broken up into halves: The 1st half being the Tim Duncan Era (2003-14), the 2nd half being the Steph Curry Era (afterward).

James would get a 3rd title, in 2016, having returned to the Cavaliers; and a 4th, with the Los Angeles Lakers, in 2020.

UPDATE: The Heat do not yet have a team Hall of Fame, but they have retired some uniform numbers. From their founding era, they have retired 10 for guard Tim Hardaway Sr. From their 2006 NBA Championship, they have retired 3 for guard Dwyane Wade, 32 for center Shaquille O'Neal, 33 for forward Alonzo Mourning, and 40 for forward Udonis Haslem. From their 2012 and 2013 NBA Championships, in addition to holdovers Wade and Haslem, they have retired 1 for forward Chris Bosh.

As yet, they have not retired 6 for LeBron James, probably due to the fact that he is still an active player. But they have retired 23 for Michael Jordan -- not because he had anything to do with their team, but for overall contributions to basketball. And 6 has been retired by the entire league for Bill Russell.

Hardaway and Mourning have been elected to the Florida Sports Hall of Fame. James and Wade were named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players. So was Ray Allen, who joined the team for the next season, winning that season's title. For the Thunder, Durant, Westbrook and Harden were named to it.

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June 21, 2012 was a Thursday. The Stanley Cup Finals had ended 10 days earlier, as the Los Angeles Kings defeated the New Jersey Devils, to my chagrin, in 6 games. Football was out of season. These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Miami Marlins, 6-5 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Chris Nelson and Wilin Rosario hit home runs for the Rox, while Jimmy Rollins did so for the Phils.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-2 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-1 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1 at Comerica Park in Detroit. Quintin Berry singled Ramón Santiago home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-1 at the O.co Coliseum (as the Oakland Coliseum was then known). Travis Blackley had been level with Clayton Kershaw for 8 innings. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Josh Lindblom relieved Kershaw, and started the bottom of the 9th by walking Coco Crisp. Jemile Weeks singled, and Yoenis Céspedes hit a 3-run home run off Josh Lindblom, to make a winning pitcher out of Ryan Cook.

June 20, 2006: The Heat Were On

June 20, 2006: The Miami Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks, 95-92 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, and win their 1st NBA Championship -- with Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning and Gary Payton, but without LeBron James.

The Heat also had Antoine Walker and Derek Anderson, who had both helped the University of Kentucky win the 1996 National Championship.

The Mavs had won the 1st 2 games, but blew the next 4, 3 of them by a combined 6 points. The joke began that they should be renamed the Allas Mavericks, and their best player Irk Nowitzki, because they had no D. But they would get revenge on the Heat in the 2011 Finals, when the Heat no longer had Shaq, but did have Wade and LeBron.

To make matters even more confusing, in these 2 Finals, the Heat played their home games at the American Airlines Arena (since renamed the Kaseya Center), and the Mavericks played theirs at the American Airlines Center.

Sports Illustrated named Wade their Sportsman of the Year for 2006. He, O'Neal and Payton were named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players.

UPDATE: Udonis Haslem would play 20 seasons, all with the Heat, the most seasons any player would play with any NBA team, let alone with only 1 NBA team. The Heat have made the NBA Finals 7 times, and Haslem has played for all of them: 2006, '11, '12, '13, '14, '20 and '23.

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June 20, 2006 was a Monday. Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup was won the day before, when the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the Finals.

The World Cup was in progress. These 4 games were played:

* England and Sweden played to a 2-2 draw at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne.

* Hosts Germany beat Ecuador, 3-0 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

* Poland beat Costa Rica, 2-1 at the Niedersachsenstadion in Hanover.

* And Paraguay beat Trinidad and Tobago, 2-0 at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion in Kaiserslautern.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-7 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Mike Mussina and Cory Lidle started. This game went back-and-forth: The Phillies led 3-0 after 1 inning, 5-3 after 4, and 7-5 after 7. But the Yankees scored 4 runs in the 8th, off Arthur Rhodes, whom they'd previously victimized with the Texas Rangers in the Playoffs in the late 1990s.

T.J. Beam became the winning pitcher. Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada hit home runs. Bernie Williams went 5-for-5 with an RBI. Derek Jeter went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Alex Rodriguez went 1-for-5 with an RBI. For the Phillies, Ryan Howard went 3-for-4 with 2 home runs and 7 RBIs.

Later in the season, the Phillies traded Lidle to the Yankees. After the season, he was killed in a plan crash.

* The New York Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-2 at Shea Stadium. Steve Trachsel was the winning pitcher, and helped his own cause with a home run. Carlos Delgado and Xavier Nady also hit home runs. Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-for-4 for the Reds.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Nationals, 11-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Coco Crisp hit a home run. Mark Loretta, Trot Nixon and Alex Cora each had 3 hits for the BoSox. David Ortiz went 1-for-5.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-2 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-5 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.

* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 8-5 at Tropicana Field at St. Petersburg, Florida.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-2 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 20-6 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 10-1 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-6 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Texas Rangers, 6-5 at Ameriquest Field (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Houston Astros, 6-5 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston. Justin Morneau hit a home run in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Oakland Athletics, 6-0 at Coors Field in Denver. How many Rockies does it take to pitch a 1-hit shutout? Apparently, 3: 

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9-4 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ichiro Suzuki went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 3-2 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco. Barry Bonds went 0-for-4.

February 14, 2010: Basketball's Biggest Crowd

February 14, 2010: The NBA holds its All-Star Game at Cowboys Stadium (now AT&T Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Instead of holding it at the American Airlines Center, the home of the Dallas Mavericks, it was decided to move it into the massive new home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, in an attempt to set a record for the largest crowd ever to attend a basketball game. It works: The announced paid attendance was 108,713.

The East All-Stars: Guard Joe Johnson and center Al Horford of the Atlanta Hawks; forwards Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, and guard Rajon Rondo, of the Boston Celtics; forward Gerald Wallace of the Charlotte Bobcats; guard Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls; forward LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers; guard Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat; center David Lee of the New York Knicks; center Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic; guard Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers; and forward Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors. Stan Van Gundy of Orlando was named head coach.

The West All-Stars: Forward Dirk Nowitzki and guard Jason Kidd of the host Dallas Mavericks; forward Carmelo Anthony and guard Chauncey Billups of the Denver Nuggets; center Chris Kama of the Los Angeles Clippers; guard Kobe Bryant and forward Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers; forward Zach Randolph of the Memphis Grizzlies; guard Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets; forward Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder; guard Steve Nash and center Amar'e Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns; guard Brandon Roy of the Portland Trail Blazers; forward Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs; and guard Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz. George Karl of Denver was named head coach.

Unlike the other sports, there is no rule that says every team must have at least one representative. Teams without a selection: The New Jersey Nets, the Detroit Pistons, the Golden State Warriors, the Houston Rockets, the Indiana Pacers, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Sacramento Kings and the Washington Wizards. 

Bryant was injured, and replaced by Kidd. Paul was injured, and replaced by Billups. Roy was injured, and replaced by Kama. Iverson did not play, due to "personal reasons," and was replaced by Lee.

The East won the game, 141-139. Wade was named the game's Most Valuable Player, as he led all scorers with 28 points, with Anthony right behind with 27.

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February 14, 2010 was a Sunday. There were no other NBA games played. Baseball and football were out of season. But 6 NHL games were played:

* The New York Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Ottawa Senators, 4-3 at the Nassau Coliseum. (The New Jersey Devils did not play.)

* The Nashville Predators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3 in a shootout at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. This was the last season of play for what was usually known as the Civic Arena.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-4 in a shootout at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* The Minnesota Wild beat the Vancouver Canucks, 6-2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

* And the Anaheim Ducks beat the Edmonton Oilers, 7-3 at Rexall Place (as the Northlands Coliseum was then known) in Edmonton.