The Return of the King

Cleveland.  The Rust Belt, Northeast Ohio, an area that has become synonymous with futility: The Indians, the Browns, and the Cavaliers.  The most famous sports happenings in Cleveland history are momentous collapses, either giving up "The Drive" to John Elway or Michael Jordan stealing Craig Ehlo's face forever.
Four years ago, another infamous chapter in Cleveland's legacy unfolded when native son and chosen one, basketball Messiah Lebron James chose to "take his talents to South Beach."  People practically rioted in the streets, burned James jerseys, the owner of the team called him a "coward."  The city went into mourning.  Most people understood why he left.  Cleveland has a reputation, fair or not, for being an unpleasant place, a town of born losers, left behind by the rest of the world, despised even by other blue collar towns like Pittsburgh, and more or less ignored by the New York and Los Angeles front runners.  Miami was glamorous and they had the makings of superpower in the NBA.  James got his titles.  Maybe not seven, but two, and those back to back, narrowly missing the elusive three-peat.
Now he's coming home.
And it's big news, it's perhaps the biggest thing to happen to Cleveland since he left.
Even now, I'm listening to ESPN types wonder how Cleveland can forgive him for leaving in the first place.
They just don't understand.
He is theirs and they are his, I suspect, even more than money, that's what brought him back.
He has won, he has silenced the voices that said he couldn't win a championship, that said he would be like Dan Marino, the best that never won.
Now he wants to do that on his terms, for his people.  I don't think they ever stopped being his people, even when he was in the bright tropical lights of Miami.  He had rust in his heart.
It gets me a little in the feels, and I don't even like Cleveland, but I'm happy for them.  It's like watching that kid who everyone always picked on, get a moment of glory.
When he left, I suspect he felt crushed by the messianic expectations, now I think the King has grown up.  He's ready for the crown that people tried to give him when he was fresh out of high school.
Good Luck Lebron.
Long live the King!