Thankful in Cleveland

And so, on Thanksgiving Eve, Cleveland gave thanks. The native, and occasionally prodigal, son came home again, and this time there was no enmity, no bitterness, no venting of scorn.

This time, they drowned LeBron James in love.

The Cavalier-turned-Laker was greeted with an immense ovation upon his return, a stark contrast to his last, first homecoming with the Miami Heat. Partly this is because he came back -- who comes back to Cleveland, once they're gone? -- and, of course, delivered on his promise to bring the city its first professional championship in half a century. And partly, you have to suspect, it is because he brought the city more than that.

Athletes get dinged all the time for straying beyond the proscribed boundaries of their profession, both actual and figurative. In great measure this is because their profession is regarded as frivolous -- just a bunch of overgrown boys and girls playing children's games for a living -- and so, by extension, they are frivolous, too. And so when they venture an opinion on the inequities and ills of American society, they're told to shut up and play. Or, as one right-wing babbler told LeBron James when he called it like it is about Our Only Available President, "Shut up and dribble."

As if some radio jock were any more qualified to speak her mind, or what passed for it, on the issues of the day. As if the President himself was, having prepared for his current job by being a game show host.

Here's the thing, see: I covered the alleged children's games for 38 years as a sportswriter in Indiana. In that time, I met more than my share of nitwits. I also met more than my share of thoughtful, informed people whose interests and knowledge went far beyond those aforementioned proscribed boundaries. And who didn't just talk the talk, but walked the walk.

Which gets us back to LeBron James, and the appreciation to which he was treated last night. It sprang not just from delivering that title, but for giving back to his hometown in myriad ways -- not the least of which was the I Promise School for at-risk children he helped found in Akron last summer.

He paid a surprise visit to the school yesterday afternoon, and last night, Cleveland thanked him for that, and for walking the walk, not just talking the talk. And for never forgetting where he came from.

Last night, for instance?

In the Lakers' 109-105 victory, he wore a special pair of shoes. They weren't Lakers purple and gold. They were green and white.

The colors of his old high school, St. Vincent-St. Mary's in Akron.