Thank you, and thank you to all of you present here and who are watching in your homes on television. This has been a difficult and complicated process. I know many of you have spent countless hours speculating on where I might like to live and with whom I might want to work during the next three to four years. I admit that I am humbled by all the opportunities that have been presented to me. Most of us don’t really get to make choices about those things – where we work, how much we earn, whether we like our co-workers – so I feel very fortunate to be where I am today.
I also would like to thank the cities of Chicago, Miami, New York, and Newark for their fond wishes and for just being so excited that I might move there. The representatives of those cities’ teams – the Bulls, the Heat, the Knicks, and the Nets – all made positive and impressive presentations to me. In truth, I couldn’t go wrong if I were to move to any of those places.
But at the end of the day, when all is said and done, and the final cliché has been uttered, my decision comes down to one thing: I love Lake Erie. I love the icy cold wind in the winter and the stultifying humidity in the summer. I love how, at the start of every basketball game, when I do that goofy thing throwing the chalk dust up in the air, and the white flecks rain back down on me, it reminds me of the scene in Jim Jarmusch’s classic film, “Stranger than Paradise,” when the characters visit my lake, Lake Erie.
And so, my next contract represents not just a re-commitment to the City of Cleveland, the Cavaliers, and the pursuit of NBA championships but also an opportunity to give something back to my lake, Lake Erie. You see, Lake Erie is currently confronted with the threat of invasion from a devastating predator – no, not Shaquille O’Neal in a Speedo, like on that lame reality tv show; I’m talking about the Asian Carp.
As many of you know, scientists now fear that hyperactive Asian Carp will reach the Great Lakes, devour the base of the food chain and spoil drinking water for 40 million people. The only barriers between dense populations of silver and bighead carp -- two closely related Asian carp species -- and the world's largest collective body of fresh water are a few miles of waterway and a little-tested underwater electrical field spanning a canal near Chicago. And, I’m afraid that I must point out that when some of the Great Lakes states attempted to protect themselves from the Carp, the City of Chicago stood in their way, refusing to close their canal. Bad move, Chicago. That’s not the way to entice LeBron to play in your city.
Carp that can grow to 100 pounds filter huge amounts of water, consuming 40 percent of their body weight per day in microscopic plant and animal life that form the foundation of the aquatic food chain. The loss of this food relied on by crayfish and smaller fish such as alewifes, sculpins and perch would in turn eliminate the prey for popular game fish such as salmon, trout and bass. And now, we have word that the Carp may attempt a backdoor entry into Lake Erie, via Fort Wayne and the Maumee River. Bad move, Carp. Here’s what I do when someone tries to go backdoor.
And so, with this in mind, I make my solemn pledge to the City of Cleveland. Over the next four years, I may or may not be able to win you a championship, but you can rest assured that I will spend every waking moment during the off-season protecting my lake, Lake Erie, from the devastation of the Asian Carp. This is one fight I know I will win.
Thank you, good night, and may God bless you all.
--LeBron James
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