Fool me twice?

Many years ago, a great philosopher (obviously, I’m referring to Scotty on the TV series “Star Trek”) opined the legendary, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” The reference being of course, that if – after conning me successfully once – you con me in a similar way a second time and I merely allow it to happen again, the fault lies with me, not you.

I think of Scotty’s great wisdom quite a bit these days, as I watch the city go bonkers in anticipation of the many championships which the return of the “King” himself, LeBron James, supposedly guarantees.

Now, stop me if I’m wrong here, but after LeBron was originally drafted by the Cavs, didn’t he promise “Not one, not two, not three…”, but a whole bunch of championships in Cleveland? My memory not being quite as sharp as it once was, can someone tell me what the final number of championships we actually won his first time through was? For some odd reason, the number escapes me (but it must be huge).

Oh yeah, now I remember. I bet we all feel a little silly after that, huh? So silly, in fact that, silly us, we’re about to go down the very same path again?

Perhaps now would be a good time to remind everyone that the reason the King abdicated his throne in Cleveland the first time was because he knew he couldn’t do it alone, and the supporting cast here wasn’t talented enough to do the job. Are you with me? Good.

Well, who’s to say that someone like Kevin Love is indeed the talent LeBron needs to take this franchise to the so-called "promised land"? In the six seasons he played in Minnesota, Love’s teams never once posted a winning record. Maybe he’s not the dominant force everyone thinks he is (or hopes he will be).

The last member of Cleveland’s version of the “Big Three,” Kyrie Irving, likewise has never played on an NBA team which posted a winning record, as Cleveland fans will (painfully) recall.

The point of all of this is that while everyone seems to simply assume that the whole will be greater than the sum of its parts, the reality is that – as of now – that assumption is nothing more than hope and expectation. It’s not etched in stone, gang.

While we’re at it, has anyone considered that LeBron’s better days as an NBA star may no longer be in front of him, but are now perhaps located in the rearview mirror? Sure, he’s still only 29, but many analysts feel that an NBA athlete only has so many “miles” in his career gas tank. LeBron came into the NBA right out of high school, and with the extra four years of the grueling NBA schedule under his belt, some argue his true “NBA age” to be closer to 33. Let’s hope that isn’t the case.

Lastly, another thing which concerns me is how LeBron continues to preach patience with this team. That’s fine, but since the Cavs signed a bunch of aging spare parts – Shawn Marion, Mike Miller, et al. –  most of whom were in the NBA back when John Glenn was first orbiting the earth in Friendship 7, we don’t have too much time for patience, do we?

Beam me up, Scotty.