Kevin Love announced Wednesday that he would return to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the 2015-2016 season in the only way that is apparently socially acceptable for an NBA superstar anymore: a first-person blog post.
“I’m going back to Cleveland,” Love wrote in the first sentence of a letter published on The Players’ Tribune. Look, we're not trying to rock the boat, but we feel compelled to remind you know that LeBron James’ announcement last summer was titled “I’m coming back to Cleveland.” Like, that's pretty similar, right?
We’re not going to sit here and speculate about whether “I’m going back to Cleveland” is too similar to “I’m coming back to Cleveland.” That’s not for us to decide. You can decide, for example. Or Kevin and LeBron. Or Stephen A. Smith. But we will note that Love’s letter just barely got to 137 words and needed uninspired phrases like “It turns out pools are great meeting places” to even get there. Not exactly inspiring.
LeBron, on the other hand, and with the help of Lee Jenkins, ripped off 970 words while pulling together beautiful turns of phrase like this: “In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have.” (LeBron James really is the LeBron James of "coming back" letters.)
Are we saying that Love probably shouldn't have copied the social media strategy of his teammate, the greatest basketball player in the world? Are we saying not everyone needs to pen an inspirational message when they decide where to earn $100-million-plus in salary? No, we aren't saying anything. We're just stating facts.
Of course, the real question going forward is what verb Kyrie Irving will pick when he is inevitably forced to write some version of the “I’m [VERB HERE] back to Cleveland” post on Medium a few years from now. Pressure's on.
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“I’m going back to Cleveland,” Love wrote in the first sentence of a letter published on The Players’ Tribune. Look, we're not trying to rock the boat, but we feel compelled to remind you know that LeBron James’ announcement last summer was titled “I’m coming back to Cleveland.” Like, that's pretty similar, right?
We’re not going to sit here and speculate about whether “I’m going back to Cleveland” is too similar to “I’m coming back to Cleveland.” That’s not for us to decide. You can decide, for example. Or Kevin and LeBron. Or Stephen A. Smith. But we will note that Love’s letter just barely got to 137 words and needed uninspired phrases like “It turns out pools are great meeting places” to even get there. Not exactly inspiring.
LeBron, on the other hand, and with the help of Lee Jenkins, ripped off 970 words while pulling together beautiful turns of phrase like this: “In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have.” (LeBron James really is the LeBron James of "coming back" letters.)
Are we saying that Love probably shouldn't have copied the social media strategy of his teammate, the greatest basketball player in the world? Are we saying not everyone needs to pen an inspirational message when they decide where to earn $100-million-plus in salary? No, we aren't saying anything. We're just stating facts.
Of course, the real question going forward is what verb Kyrie Irving will pick when he is inevitably forced to write some version of the “I’m [VERB HERE] back to Cleveland” post on Medium a few years from now. Pressure's on.
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