Fans in Cleveland need to get over LeBron.

If you feel that way, let me ask you the following:

Are Browns fans over the Steelers, Ravens, or Bengals? Or for that matter, are they over Roethlisberger, Harrison, or Hines Ward?

Are Indians fans over the Tigers, Yankees, Red Sox, or White Sox? Or are they over Jeter, Rodriguez, or A.J. Pierzynski?

Since when has it been a crime to be a fan, and have a player/ team that you dislike?

I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone tell Michigan fans that they need to get over the Buckeyes?

Does anyone ever tell Red Sox and Yankees fans that they need to get over each other? Didn’t think so.

Some fans are nuts, some fans can go over the top sometimes, but that is what makes fans, fans. Rivals, and hated players and teams is what makes sports, sports. Who is any fan, writer, talk-show host, pundit in Northeast Ohio or nationally, to tell Cleveland fans to get over LeBron.

Bucky Dent is from Savannah, Ga. Red Sox fans have hated him since 1978.

Reggie Miller is from Riverside, Ca. Knicks fans have hated him since 1994.

Does anyone tell those fan bases to get over it? Nope. Not a word, and the guy they hate isn’t from their own area.

Is it because it’s Cleveland that fans should get over it? Is it because fans in Cleveland have been painted in an angry, spiteful, and hostile light by the same ones on their high horse telling Cleveland fans to get over something in sports, when really they have no idea how fans feel?

At the very least, LeBron James and the Heat are a rival. Can someone name one team that finished poorly last year that have any rival?

Charlotte hates themselves.

Chris Kaman hates New Orleans.

Sacramento hasn’t had a rival since Shaquille O’Neal and the Lakers in the early 2000′s.

Golden State, Minnesota, Portland all have no rivals. Washington is against gun control.

If fans do not like a player or another team, it’s not embarrassing, or petty, or sad, it’s fans doing what fans do. Sports is a struggle between good and evil. Without hero’s and villains, sports is nothing. Rivalries is what makes sports great.

Someday the Cavs will be a force again. Someday they’ll be headed back to the playoffs. If things go the way they look to be going, Cleveland will meet Miami with something more than pride on the line.

Try telling a Cleveland fan to get over it then.