A couple things about that superstar named LeBron …

As this is written, the Lakers have beaten the Celtics, doing the Cavs a large favor …

Let me also ask first … if it was a snub when the coaches did not vote Mo Williams as substitute to the All Star team, what does it mean when David Stern picks Ray Allen to replace Jameer Nelson? A snub of grand poobahian proportions? … Alas, we digress …

I visited the University of Akron Thursday to talk to the McKnight brothers. During the visit, I got a chance to talk to Zips coach Keith Dambrot (good grief … how's that for self-righteous importance about a simple conversation?). Dambrot remains close to LeBron James from their days at St. Vincent-St. Mary, and he actually watched a little bit of James' game-for-the-decade at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night. He wasn't surprised with what he saw.

"Everything LeBron does to me sometimes is predictable," Dambrot said. "I just had this feeling he was going to try to go crazy."

Not, mind you, because the game was in New York. But because Kobe Bryant had visited the same arena a couple days prior and scored 61 points.

"Kobe did it, and (LeBron's) so competitive that he's going to try to one up," Dambrot said. "That was so predictable. Any time the guy sees any adversity or comparisons, he comes roaring back like a madman."

I got to wondering, he continued, writing again as if he were the most brilliant person on earth, if Dambrot had any insight on the whole "LeBron is going to New York" phenomenon, something that the New York media seems convinced will happen.

"I have none other than my own instincts," Dambrot said. "I think if he thinks he can win championships he'll stay."

That's a thought that's been offered before, of course, but Dambrot continued.

" He can make as much money as he wants here. He's always stayed. He could have gone to Oak Hill out of high school. He stayed. He's comfortable here. He's a huge figure here. Why would you leave? I think people may be advising him to the contrary, but ultimately he'll decide. And he always seems to make the right decision.

"Why not go down as the legend that stayed instead of one of these guys that jump ship?"

Again, Dambrot said he had no insights other than his gut feelings based on his relationship with James and his knowledge of him.

"If I had to be my house one way or the other, I would say he stays — if he thinks he can win championships," Dambrot said.

On another LeBron front …

A good friend of mine named Mike Bianchi writes for the Orlando Sentinel, and when the Cavs lost down there last week he wrote another sarcastic column that Cleveland should start preparing for James to leave and Orlando understood because Shaq had left a few years back. Naturally, this hit the internet, and he heard from some Cleveland fans.

Now I know Mike pretty well. We sat next to each other for years when Emmitt Smith played for the University of Florida. When the Gators went on probation, the NCAA held a hearing at a $400-a-night-resort in Colorado Springs called the Broadmoor (Interesting how the NCAA holds disciplinary hearings at a resort like that, no? We stayed at the Red Lion up the street). The thought of going to the top of Pikes Peak came up, and Mike — a big fan of Tony Lama boots — opined that "I bet you can get some boots on the old Piker." Perhaps you had to be there.

At any rate, he's as sarcastic as the next guy. So when he wrote that LeBron would give Cleveland the "Shaq treatment," I kind of chuckled. Because I knew he was joking. "The poor, poor Cleveland Cavaliers," he wrote. "They are a dead franchise walking and they don't even know it yet." That's Mike. Cutting and sarcastic. And me, I chuckled. Because I believe that cutting and sarcastic have their place. Even if the ending to that column was really cutting and sarcastic.

Apparently a lot of Cavs fans didn't agree, and they let him know. Mike sent me one e-mail he received. Being this is a family blog, I can only print the parts that are printable:

"You are a loser and I hope you drive your car into the Atlantic Ocean with your windows up and your car doors locked.  … I am going to keep your e-mail on record and make sure I make your life a living hell from now on … At least the city of Cleveland has a sense of loyalty and pride that Orlando sure doesn't have.  I wonder why the Browns rank in the top three fan bases in all of the NFL year after year even though we continually stink.  Can you answer me that one genius? … What does Orlando have? Old people and you.  Go jump off the top of Space Mountain; the world would be better off."

Now THAT is a classic. Drive into the Atlantic Ocean? Jump off the top of Space Mountain? Old people and you? It all makes a person laugh out loud.

Famous rants by Bob Knight, Lee Elia and Earl Weaver have nothing on this guy.

Just classic.