Who is LeBron James? In the wake of his sudden departure from Cleveland's hopeful Cavaliers to join Pat Riley's Miami Heat, this question is burning in the hearts of basketball fans around the country. Now, in the tradition of Frederick Exley'scult-classic sports book A Fan's Notes, journalist Scott Raab travels from Cleveland to Miami and back again in an obsessive quest to uncover the soul of one of today's greatest basketball players and answer the q

Scott Raab is the last vestige of gonzo journalism in an era when sanitary decorum reigns. Crude but warmhearted, poetic but raving, Raab has chronicled many stories at GQ and Esquire, but the book you hold in your hands is neither a story nor a job: The Whore of Akron is the product of lifelong suffering. Raab sat in Cleveland Stadium on December 27, 1964, when the Browns won the NFL World Championship--the last sports title the declining city has held. Each generation born in Cleveland is another generation removed from that victory. LeBron James was supposed to change that. A native of Akron, he seemed like a miracle sent to transform Cleveland's losing ways. But after seven years--and still no parade--he left. And in a way that seemed designed to twist the knife. Now Raab bears witness to LeBron's every move, and in doing so acts as the eyes and ears of Cleveland itself.--From publisher description
Contents:
Intimations
The handshake and the handjob
Witness
The king's humanity
Coins on a cold grave
Chief Wahoo and the whore of Akron
This could be their year, Scotty!
Hater daze
Jew over Miami
This way lies madness
Little access for a big man
The traitor's on the floor
Franz Kafka bobblehead night
A strange white man at center point
Endgame