The website Mediatakeout.com quotes an “EXTREMELY CREDIBLE insider” – the capital letters are meant to underscore the source’s supposed reliability – saying “Jay-Z felt disrespected that King James did not consult with him during the free agency process.”

And Gatecrasher got a similar take from a source in Jay-Z’s camp. “Jay never expected LeBron to sign with the Nets. He knew that no 25-year-old kid with James’ profile was going to spend years in Newark,” the source tells Gatecrasher. “But he’s pissed, or at least disappointed, that LeBron didn’t consult with him.”

- Gatecrasher, N.Y. Daily News.

LeBron James: No longer YA BOYYYYYY.

Knicks Prez Donnie Walsh told me today that Isiah Thomas will be among Knicks GM candidates if they make a hire.

- ESPN’s Chris Broussard, Twitter.

Wait a minute: What?

Look, I don’t know much about operating an NBA basketball team. In fact, there’s really only thing I’m downright certain of: Never, ever let Isiah Thomas anywhere near the controls.

And it’s not about the sexual-harassment lawsuit that cost the Knicks $11.6 million or even the time he overdosed on sleeping pills and then threw his 17-year-old daughter under the bus. I mean, yeah, those are two reasons I’d probably be leery of hiring the guy, but I’m not one for sweeping moral judgments.

I mean, holy crap, they JUST unburied themselves from all the damage the guy did while he was in charge.

Gilbert, the Cavaliers’ majority owner, wrote an angry letter on the team’s website after LeBron James’s nationally televised announcement that he was leaving the team. It cited what he called James’s “cowardly betrayal” of the team and called the TV event a “narcissistic, self-promotional build-up.”

For whatever reason, all 421 words of the screed were written in the less-than-intimidating Comic Sans font. This fact is already on the Comic Sans Wikipedia page and it was all over Twitter shortly after Gilbert’s letter was published. A Tweet from Jsmooth995 decried Gilbert’s choice, saying “nobody who posts official statements in Comic Sans MS should be running an NBA team.”

- David Biderman and Emily Steel, Wall Street Journal.

I fail to see how Gilbert’s use of Comic Sans is anything other than completely and utterly hilarious. Especially now that I know, from the article, that the 48-year-old multimillionaire uses Comic Sans for all his correspondence. It’s funny, just not in the way Comic Sans is intended to be funny.

But that said, the backlash over the typeface is probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of. It’s a typeface. And thanks to its overuse, the font is now particularly useful for a variety of humorous pursuits. The movement to ban Comic Sans would rob future satirists the opportunity to use the font ironically. Consider this Comic Sans backlash backlash.

Hat tip to Can’t Stop the Bleeding for the link.

One of my favorite lines to quote from anything is Dennis Eckersley’s advice to Mike Birbiglia around the 4:15 mark of this epic clip. Sometimes it’s easiest to just outright dismiss someone or some group of people rather than continue to fret about their decisions or actions. And I know of no better way to do so more effectively than with Eck’s epic, “Ehh, f*** ‘em.”

So that’s really all I’ve got to say about LeBron James:

Ehh, f*** ‘em.

In one fell swoop last night, LeBron defied logic multiple times. He didn’t just choose a team in an only medium-sized market where he’ll have to play alongside other stars while simultaneously disappointing a room full of children. He also somehow managed to make Kobe Bryant a sympathetic character. Who among us won’t be rooting for the Lakers if they square off with the Heat in the Finals next year?

Rooting for the Lakers. Who (outside LA, of course) could have imagined that a few weeks ago?

Or, I suppose, we could opt for the other approach, the one I’m more likely to take: We can continue not paying all that much attention to the NBA because the college game is more exciting anyway, and because the NBA is silly enough to schedule its playoffs during baseball season.

In other words: Ehh, f*** ‘em.

The optics of James’ announcing that he’s going to Miami while surrounded by local kids who may reasonably cry in grief is what people in the business call a public-relations nightmare. Consider also that an enterprising reporter is sure to find a heartbroken child to be the poster boy or girl for what will be portrayed as heartless flirtation with total innocents.

If it’s not New York, why make the announcement here when he dragged everyone to Akron for the pitches? He could have stayed there and maintained an illusion of neutrality.

- Michael Salfino, SNY.tv.

Salfino makes a series of reasonable points here arguing why LeBron James will inevitably end up with the Knicks. The location, he points out, is as close to New York as you can be without being in New York. The recent talk that he’s going to Miami? Salfino argues that it’s misdirection from James’ camp to build suspense around the announcement.

I don’t know. I’d say I don’t care, but that’s not entirely true. I will care if he comes to New York. That would be cool.

I won’t watch the thing tonight — there’s baseball on. Real sporting events should always take precedence over announcements about future sporting events, I think. I’m sure I’ll find out where LeBron’s heading within five minutes of the announcement, and I won’t have to sit through however many minutes of hype-machine nonsense before it.

But that said, I’m a little surprised by how much backlash there has been to the news that LeBron would announce his decision in this fashion, on ESPN. I mean, how’d you expect it to be? It’s entertainment. LeBron James is a professional basketball player. And yet this particular instance of showmanship and spectacle makes a mockery of the game?

C’mon. Maybe the league-wide disregard for traveling violations makes a mockery of the game, or the gambling officials do. But a player maximizing his time in the spotlight is only that.

But this is a business. So follow the money. Forbes said it best, through Interbrand (a company whose business is valuing brands like the one James wants to become). The bottom line: James should expect to make $983 million if he signs with the Knicks and finishes his career here — that’s $284 million more than second-place Cleveland. (Cleveland beats Chicago because Michael Jordan already owns Chicago, so winning a title there is worth far less than winning one in New York or even Cleveland.)…

But the biggest reason why it’s the best basketball decision for James to come to New York is Curry — the secret weapon. He comes off the books after this year. So he can be traded at any point to a team seeking future cap relief or let go in June to create more cap room for next year’s free-agent class. New York would have almost enough for another max contract. Most importantly, he protects James from a change in the collective bargaining agreement that creates a hard cap. James knows that the Knicks will go over the cap if nothing changes. But only the Knicks from among all his suitors can also stay within the cap to get a third big player (or fourth if you count Danilo Gallinari).

- Michael Salfino, SNY.tv.

The NBA free agency hype has grown so monstrous that I’ve sort of stopped paying attention, but Mike makes the most comprehensive case I’ve yet seen for why LeBron James should and will end up a Knick.

Also, it’s hilarious that anyone besides Isiah Thomas and Greenburgh-area fast food restaurants might consider Eddy Curry “the secret weapon,” but it’s a good point.

And furthermore, the Greenburgh area could use a lot more variety in its fast food restaurants. McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King? What is this, 1989?

One of the ways you know you’ve really “made it” in life is when you have a sandwich named after you. There’s the Stephen Strasburger, the Scott Baio and all the wonderful celebrity-themed encased meats available at Hot Doug’s, just to name a few. There is truly no greater honor than having your own sandwich, and that is something we should all be so lucky to experience.

So, it should come as no surprise that LeBron James(notes) has a sandwich named after him. He’s hugely famous, he’s marketable and the world could always use another delicious sandwich. Well, the Carnegie Deli — one of New York’s legendary sandwich shops — made the “LeBron MVP,” a five pound hunk of turkey, pastrami, corned beef, brisket, cheese, lettuce and tomato on rye that goes for $19.95.

- Trey Kirby, Ball Don’t Lie.

Don’t insult me, Carnegie Deli. Here on SandwichQuarters.net we know better than to be impressed by sandwiches notable only for their ridiculous size. And this is pretty ridiculous:

Look: I get the appeal of the famous old-timey New York deli. I’ve been to Carnegie and Katz’s and they made for enjoyable outings. But they’re selling the emperor’s new clothes. Everyone needs to come clean: the sandwiches aren’t that good.

I hate to admit that there’s such a thing as “too much meat,” but in some contexts, it happens. Just piling tons and tons of meat on a sandwich does not make it a good one. Remember what I said yesterday? It’s about proportions. Does anyone want just a mouthful of undressed, uncheesed, unbreaded sliced corned beef?

Well, yes, but it’s not as good as the perfect bite of some combination of meats, cheeses, vegetables, dressings and bread that make for a truly great sandwich. If LeBron James is a man of distinguishing sandwich taste, that monstrosity will do nothing to woo him.

The Knicks, who just threw away two whole seasons in an effort to sign LeBron James and still don’t know if they can, should be ashamed of themselves. The NBA, which has engineered a free-agency system that allows and often encourages teams to do otherwise unconscionable things like tank entire seasons, should be ashamed of itself. The players, who have all been groomed to believe these max contracts are their birthright, should be ashamed of themselves, but that’s clearly not about to happen.

But we, the sporting public, should be the most ashamed. Because what we have allowed this league and these players to do to us is thoroughly shameful….

These players wouldn’t spit on you if you were on fire. You’re the fool and they’re all playing you for it. Can you imagine if you found out the CEOs of three different high-profile banks got together in secret to discuss which one of them was going to buy your mortgage loan? Or if the presidents of three different Ivy League colleges got together to decide which of them was going to accept your application and which one was going to accept your neighbor’s?

Well, you’d think it was an outrage. The people who hold all the power hanging out together, lighting up cigars and laughing about how great it was all going to turn out for all of them no matter what happens, no matter whose feelings get crushed in the process.

- Dan Graziano, SNY.tv.

Graz’s scathing teardown of the NBA free agency system is definitely worth a read.  I don’t know that I’m as worked up as he is over the current nonsense since, to me, the fault lies wholly on the league for creating this situation. The players and teams are doing their best to take advantage of it, as they should be expected to. But it’s a stupid system regardless, one that appears in need of an overhaul. I’m not saying I know how to fix it, but I’m certain it’s broke.