In a recent interview with Uninterrupted, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James recounted a run-in he had with a pair of disgruntled Cavs fans in 2010.
When James decided to take his talents to South Beach in the summer of 2010, leaving the Cavs after seven great seasons, a lot of fans in Cleveland turned their backs. Fair or not, the man they once revered was now the focal point of their anger. In fact, as a public display of their displeasure, some fans even burned James' jersey.
James made his first return to Cleveland as a member of the Miami Heat on Dec. 2, 2010. Fans in the city were still feeling a certain way about his decision to leave.
“My mindset going into that game was ‘I'm gonna tear their asses up,'” James said.
Prior to that game, James had a run-in with two fans in the elevator at his hotel. The former No. 1 overall pick says he'll never forget that day.
Article Continues Below“I’m about to head out to the bus, and on my floor, the elevator opens, and there’s two guys that have ‘F*ck LBJ’ t-shirts on,” LeBron said during his interview with Uninterrupted. “And the elevator opens, and when they notice it’s me, one of the guys says, ‘Oh, can I take a picture with you?’ And when it’s closing, he says, ‘I’m not even from Cleveland.'”
“I will never forget that day, December 2nd, 2010 (Heat vs. Cavs)” – @kingjames
New episode of More Than An Athlete out now on @espn+ pic.twitter.com/x1nO7dzNWx— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) December 12, 2018
So to recap, these two fans woke up that morning, donned their best “F*CK LBJ” shirts, then asked the man for a picture while wearing said shirts. Sounds logical, right? On the contrary. It's simply a classic example of the fake tough guy.
For the record, Miami put it on Cleveland that night. LeBron James scored what was then a season-high 38 points, with 24 coming in the third quarter alone.
It was certainly a night to remember.