Former Clevelander Scott Raab in Esquire:
Lebron James 'Burns With Brilliant Fury'

'Fate made me a Clevelander and a fan, and so it also has been my fate to suffer long and hard. I've had a single sip of ultimate triumph in my life--one pro championship, when I was 12 years old. I still have the ticket stub (Dec. 27, 1964: Browns 27, Colts 0). And I have Chief Wahoo, the racist Indians logo, tatooed on my arm. And I have a heart bitter with crushed hope. Now, however, I also have Lebron. King James--hero and homeboy, manchild and Moses. I began watching the Cavaliers when the Cavaliers began--in 1970, when student tickets cost a buck--and I have seen all the old gods romp, dating back to Wilt, Russell, Cousy and the Big O. This much I know: What they were--what Michael was, and Magic and Bird--Lebron will be. Mere talent's not enough; James burns with brilliant fury. It was good to see him beat the Wizards and Gilbert Arenas with murder in his eye--and even better to see how he lost to the Pistons. No handshakes: angry and ashamed, he left the court. And after, when someone asked if, as his own coach said, he had been worn out by playing nearly every minute of nearly a hundred games, he snapped off just one word--no--glaring in rage. Once upon a time, I had Jim Brown. And now, Lebron.'

--Cleveland native Scott Raab, writing in November's Esquire Magazine. The sublimely talented Cleveland writer John Hyduck profiled Raab in a 2001 Free Times cover piece, no longer online. To read more of Raab's writing, click here, here and especially here.