In push for LeBron, Cavs erase owner’s 2010 rant
One day last week, an obscure page of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ website that was believed to have been deleted started getting an inordinate amount of traffic.
A team official figured out the page contained the infamous comic sans letter written by Cavs owner Dan Gilbert when LeBron James decided to leave the team to play for the Miami Heat four years ago.
A team spokesman tried to explain what had happened to SB Nation.
“The letter was removed years ago from the Cavs.com website, but over the last week, it was discovered that it still existed from this external link to a stagnant archived page,” the spokesman said. “It was on the content management system platform that was used back in 2010.”
The team didn’t have the ability to access that CMS, so it had to ask the league for help in going back in and deleting the page.
That’s a good idea. As the team pursues the pipe dream of luring James back to where he started his career, the last thing it needs is a reminder of Gilbert’s temper tantrum.
The letter was outstandingly awful. Remember, Gilbert guaranteed the Cavaliers would win a title before LeBron.
Gilbert did try to explain his rationale this year.
“I would’ve reworded the language in ‘The Letter,’ but I don’t regret sending a letter out to our fan base. People forget the letter was not to LeBron, it was to our fan base. If I had to do it again, for sure, I would’ve reworded several parts of it. But I think it definitely needed a strong statement from me at that time.”
Well done, Dan. You definitely got your point across.
We at Leftovers promise to print your next letter when James spurns the Cavaliers again this time around and cites Gilbert as the reason.
■ PROMOTION ABOUT NOTHING — The Brooklyn Cyclones of the Class A New York-Penn League celebrated the 25-year anniversary of the greatest show in TV history with “Seinfeld” night on Saturday.
According to the New York Times, the team worked in just about every reference to the show that it possibly could.
“Players took batting practice in puffy pirate shirts. A fan reeled in a slice of marble rye bread with a fishing rod from the suite level. George Costanza announced the third inning. And the first 3,000 attendees at the temporarily renamed Vandelay Industries Park received a Keith Hernandez “Magic Loogie” bobblehead.”
The references didn’t end there, as the foul poles were replaced by Festivus poles and the information kiosks were used for fans needing to air their grievances.
The Cyclones lost the game to the Aberdeen IronBirds 18-2.
No word on whether the loss had anything to do with the assistant to the traveling secretary deciding to put the players in cotton jerseys.
The only reported incidents from the game were a few people who were shut out at the concession stand for improperly following ordering procedures, and a car that was damaged by an angry mob because it was parked in a handicap spot.
COMPILED BY ADAM HILL LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
