Free Speech for the Dumb: Rev. Jesse Jackson

So I think unless you have been living under a rock, you know that Lebron James basically held the basketball world hostage for a week as he contemplated where he would play next year. He then decided to have a one hour live special to announce where he would play.

Spoiler alert...it wasn't in Cleveland. So Cavs owner Dan Gilbert was upset. I think in part that they were kept out of the dark as to what he wanted to do. He felt hurt because Lebron did a lot for his team and vice versa. Then all of a sudden Lebron just left without saying anything to the owner. So you can see his frustrations.

After the announcement, Gilbert put out a pretty intense letter. Some highlights;

"This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his "decision" unlike anything ever "witnessed" in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment."

"You simply don't deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal."

"This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown "chosen one" sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn. And "who" we would want them to grow-up to become.

But the good news is that this heartless and callous action can only serve as the antidote to the so-called "curse" on Cleveland, Ohio.

The self-declared former "King" will be taking the "curse" with him down south. And until he does "right" by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma."

For an owner to say these things...pretty shocking. But as I read it, he seemed pissed at the way Lebron treated the fans and the team. Well, not according to Jesse Jackson. He sees it a bit differently;

"He speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers," the reverend said in a release from his Chicago-based civil rights group, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. "His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave. This is an owner employee relationship -- between business partners -- and LeBron honored his contract."

Of course Dan Gilbert has a slave master mentality. That explains it all. How about the fact that the "runaway slave" didn't have the common courtesy to tell the team ahead of time he was leaving instead of turning it into a spectacle? Why does everything have to be about race? And show me where Gilbert says Lebron had no right to leave. I think he had a problem with the way he did it.