Lebron James; second banana.

Lebron James is a Miami Heat. He'll be joining Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh to form quite possibly the best big three the NBA has seen in years. He's also joining Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Dave Cowens and James Worthy as the greatest second banana's of all-time.

Yup, you read that right.

When Lebron decided to head to South Beach and join forces with Wade and Bosh in Miami, it signaled a shift in his career path. In any other scenario, James was Batman. In Chicago, Rose was Robin. In LA, Griffin was. Stoudamire was in New York and Jameson was back home in Cleveland. Not in Miami. Wade is Batman. Lebron is now Robin. Now, James might put up better numbers, and does have two MVP trophies on his mantle, but he doesn't have the Finals Trophy that Wade does. Miami is Wade country. Miami-Dade County changed their name temporarily to Miami-Wade County in hopes that their hero would stay put. Make no mistake, Wade is Batman, James is Robin.

(So what does that make Bosh? Bat Girl? That's a character, right?).

And to me, that's a complete and total cop-out. That's Lebron James admitting "I can't win a championship where I'm in charge." Sure, plenty of great basketball players have realized this. Kevin Garnett realized this and won a championship playing second banana to Paul Pierce. Scottie Pippen couldn't do it on his own, but would Michael Jordan have six rings without him? Shaquille O'Neal wouldn't have won without Kobe, and Kobe couldn't win without Pau Gasol. But Lebron's not supposed to be Scottie Pippen. He's not supposed to be Kevin Garnett or John Stockton or James Worthy. He's supposed to be "King" James. He's supposed to He's supposed to up there with Wilt and Magic and Kobe and Michael. Would Kobe have ever joined forces with his main competition? No. In Lebron's situation, Kobe would have joined the Bulls or the Knicks and took Wade head on. Michael would have never teamed up with Magic or Charles Barkley or Isiah Thomas. No way. Yet Lebron did. And by doing so cemented is legacy as a non-alpha male in the NBA. And that's a shame.

As for his television special; let me just say that the whole idea was bizarre, ridiculous and made James look like an ego-manic. There was absolutely no need for that kind of attention. A-Rod never pulled that. Kobe never pulled that. Hell, even Mr. Media himself Brett Favre never pulled that. And while it was nice that ESPN and James allowed all sponsorship earnings (about $2.5 million) to go directly to the Boys and Girls Club, it was still unnecessary. And yet, we all sat around and watched it, heard James' decision and discussed it after (and even blogged about it). Maybe we're just as much to blame for this circus as James and ESPN.

You know who I really feel bad for? Cleveland. Those poor fans had to sit through the stomach punch of watching James go on national television and rip their collective hearts out. All day they must have been thinking "Lebron wouldn't go on ESPN and announce he's playing elsewhere. No. He's from Akron, Ohio. He's from here. This nonsense about Miami, it's all nonsense. He's coming back. Yeah. He's coming back." only to turn on the television and hear James say "Miami Heat." Poor guys. They deserved much better. I give Cavs owner Dan Gilbert a ton of credit for a scathing, unapologetic letter sent to the fans of the franchise vowing to bring home a championship while calling out Lebron James on a number of topics. I do hope Cleveland wins a title before Lebron does.

That's the bummer in sports. You realize it's not about loyalty or winning; it's about the dollar. Lebron want's to be a billionaire, and he's on his way. But I guess that's why we have soft spots for the Kobe Bryant's and the Joe Mauers; The Derek Jeter's and Peyton Manning's. Those who never leave home, even though there might be greener pastures elsewhere.