Dan Gilbert, THE LETTER, and Jesse Jackson
If I was working for the Cavaliers, I'd have went to owner Dan Gilbert and pleaded with him to sleep on it before sending out his open letter for Cavaliers fans.

Forget that he was going to be roasted in the national media. Forget that he was trying to answer one wrong with another.

My biggest concern would be his promise to win championships, and do it before LeBron James won one in Miami.

Satisfying as those words seemed at the time, it's a promise he simply can't, and won't keep.

I'm sure people within in the Cavaliers organization begged Gilbert not to make the letter public, or at least go for another re-write.

But at the end of the night, Gilbert is the boss. I imagine he experienced not a moment of hesitation before hitting the send button.

As ill-advised as the letter was, Gilbert was saved by Jesse Jackson, though that wasn't the latter's intention.

Jackson, who has surrendered his credibility so many times it's amazing he still gets press, actually said that Gilbert's letter was racially motivated (it wasn't), and that the Cavaliers' owner viewed LeBron as a "runaway slave."

This is an insult to James, and to those who actually were slaves, and to anyone with a degree of intelligence.

Had it been Steve Nash pulling the same act, I guarantee Gilbert would have sent the same letter. Gilbert felt betrayed, humiliated and stunned, and was responding with the letter. Most Cavs fans I talked to loved it. It wasn't a great idea long term, but it certainly showed fans that an owner was as passionate about winning as they were. It's a feeling we rarely experience in Cleveland.

As for Jackson, well, he got what he wanted. People like me are writing about him. That's the real problem.