Per ESPN…

“It’s just how I was feeling at the time,” James said. “It wasn’t even a comment from me, it was someone who sent it to me and I sent it out. It wasn’t toward that team. It definitely wasn’t a good showing by that team last night, I know they wish they would’ve played better.”

The entry on James’ Twitter account did not indicate it was a re-tweet from another user. James also did not fully explain the meaning behind the statement, though he did say that karma is a word and concept “I’ve kinda always used my whole life.”

“I don’t think there was intent at all,” James said.

“I think everyone looks into everything I say. Everybody looks too far into it. No hit toward that organization. I’ve moved on and hopefully that organization is continuing to move on. But I’m happy where I am as a Miami Heat player.”

To recap: It wasn’t from him, but it was how he was feeling at the time, though it wasn’t about the Cavs. There wasn’t any intent, people look too much into what he says. Everyone should move on.

Here’s what I wrote yesterday about LeBron’s possible response to the inevitable criticism.

I foresee a sh*tstorm of criticism today at which point LeBron will release a statement/tweet that either a) refers to all critics as “haters,” b) claims that the tweet was not about the Cavs, or c) all of the above.

I didn’t foresee that LeBron would claim it was someone else’s tweet, even though nothing about the tweet indicates that it was written by someone else. (Twitter shows when something is retweeted, so LeBron would have had to copy and paste the text into a new tweet for it to show up the way it did.) LeBron did claim, however, that the tweet wasn’t about the Cavs.

This is all nonsense. LeBron should own up to his comments and take the consequences like a man. Instead, he’s claiming the tweet isn’t his, that it isn’t aimed at the Cavs and that people read “too far into” what he says. Always the victim.

Give. Me. A. Break.

The Cavs have the worst record in the league (8-30), and after they lost by 55 points to the Lakers on Tuesday, LeBron James tweeted…

So according to LeBron, God is punishing the Cavs (via karma, mind you) for wrongdoings that occurred after “The Decision.”

I foresee a sh*tstorm of criticism today at which point LeBron will release a statement/tweet that either a) refers to all critics as “haters,” b) claims that the tweet was not about the Cavs, or c) all of the above.

Rotoworld’s take: “[LeBron] has proven once again to have one of the most inept group of handlers known in the superstar athlete era.”

Years from now, when people look back on 2010, what will they remember as the defining sports moment? Uh, they can only pick one? We discovered that Tiger Woods likes to play the field and that Brett Favre doesn’t mind sending pictures of his anatomy to hot sideline reporters via text message. We found out that LeBron listens to his friends a little too much and that Ben Roethlisberger needed a serious lesson in humility. But we also learned that athletes such as Michael Vick and Josh Hamilton haven’t blown second chance opportunities (or third and fourth chances in the case of Hamilton). It was also nice to see a certain pitcher turn down bigger money so that he can play in a city that he loves.

We’ve done our best to recap the year’s biggest sports stories, staying true to tradition by breaking our Year End Sports Review into three sections: What We Learned, What We Already Knew, and What We Think Might Happen. Up first are the things we learned in 2010, a list that’s littered with scandal, beasts, a Decision and yes, even a little Jenn Sterger.

Contributors: Anthony Stalter, John Paulsen, Paul Costanzo, Drew Ellis and Mike Farley

Tiger Woods gets around.

We hesitate to put this under “golf” because the only clubs involved were his wife’s nine-iron hitting the window of his SUV and the various establishments where Tiger wined and dined all of his mistresses…over a dozen in all. This was the biggest story of the early part of the year, but it got to the point that whenever a new alleged mistress came forward, the general public was like, “Yeah, we get it. Tiger screwed around on his wife. A lot.” He has spent the rest of the year attempting to rebuild his once-squeaky clean image, but it’s safe to say, we’ll never look at Tiger the same way.

LeBron wilts when his team needs him most.

Say the words “LeBron” and “Game 5” in the same sentence and NBA fans everywhere know exactly what you’re talking about. In the biggest game of the season, LeBron looked disinterested, going 3-of-14 from the field en route to a 120-88 blowout at home at the hands of the Celtics. There were rumors swirling about a possible relationship between LeBron’s mom and his teammate, Delonte West, and there’s speculation that LeBron got that news before tipoff and that’s why he played so poorly. Regardless of the cause, LeBron played awful in that game, and it turned out to be his swan song in Cleveland as a member of the Cavaliers. Talk about leaving a bitter taste.

You can auction off your talented son’s athletic abilities and get away with it.

The NCAA set a strange precedent this season while dealing with the Newton family. The always inconsistent and completely morally uncorrupt NCAA decided in its infinite wisdom that despite discovering that Cecil Newton shopped his son Cam to Mississippi State for $180,000, and that is a violation of NCAA rules, that Cam would still be eligible because it couldn’t be proven that he knew about it. Conference commissioners and athletic directors around the country spoke out about the decision, while agent-wannabes and greedy fathers everywhere had a light bulb go off in their own heads: As long as we say the player doesn’t know about it, it could go off without a hitch. What was Cecil’s punishment in this whole thing? Limited access to Auburn for the last two games of the season. Easy with that hammer there, NCAA. Read the rest of this entry »

Brian Windhorst, ESPN: Before the game several Cavs, including former friend Mo Williams, shunned James as he tried to come over to the bench to greet them. During the first half, James wandered over to talk to the bench only to have several players completely ignore him. Others, including friend Daniel Gibson, treated it like it was 2009 as they chatted James up. By the third quarter, when James was on fire and the game was getting out of hand, the only reaction came from Anderson Varejao, who swiped James’ headband off his head and tossed it aside when James was brazen enough to again step over to his favorite spot. “I really didn’t see that,” Cavs coach Byron Scott said, perhaps trying to be pragmatic on a night when his team had many other problems to examine. It is hard to believe that Scott, a veteran of the Celtics-Lakers wars, could endorse such behavior.

Terry Pluto, Cleveland.com: Cavaliers fans certainly dealt with the return of LeBron James to Cleveland with far more class than the defending Most Valuable Player handled his move to Miami. That’s a credit to this these fans and this city. It’s probably a downer to some in the national media who arrived in town for Thursday night’s game much like that ghoulish segment of fans who attend auto races hoping for a major crash. After all, we are supposed to be the land of the Great Unwashed, where people still live in caves, killing dinosaurs for dinner and then eating them with our bare hands. Beer Night, Bottlegate and general ugliness is supposed to rule in this cultural wasteland.

Israel Gutierrez, The Miami Herald: Cleveland fans got their say, taking their first chance to personally tell LeBron how betrayed they felt. And, for a while, they actually were convinced the whole “One for All. All for One” team motto actually meant something, that this Cavaliers team can survive just fine with Joey Graham trying to replace LeBron in the lineup. It didn’t take long, though, for the fans to recognize what had gotten away, that no matter how much they hate their former King, it doesn’t compare to how much they miss him. By halftime, James wasn’t quietly going about his business. He was smiling for fans with cameras as his teammates warmed up. He danced in the area just in front of the Cavs bench. And once that second half began, he was just as much toying with his former team and showing off for his former fans as he was performing for the Heat. Of his season-best 38 points, 24 came in that third quarter, tying a Heat record for points in a quarter. And LeBron loved every second of it. James left Cleveland showing no loyalty. He came back showing no regrets. Why should he? Look what he left behind.

Mike Wallace, ESPN: James’ night was through after the third quarter, so the only suspense remaining was to see how much he would hear and see from fans from his seat on the bench as the final 12 minutes of the game played out. To James’ credit, he largely ignored the chaos that started when someone threw a battery from the stands that landed right in front of the Heat’s bench. That drew a warning from the public address announcer. The battery was thrown right around the time when a man apparently tried to rush the court from one of the tunnels leading to it but was picked off by a security officer, which led to a scuffle. As the Heat’s lead grew, so did the craziness in the stands. One fan wearing a Heat jersey was showered with cups of beer in the upper deck. He didn’t duck. Instead, he basked in the beer until he was escorted out. Then came towel man. Maverick Carter, James’ business manager, left his courtside seat moments later and had to be escorted through the crowd by three bodyguards. James, meanwhile, was oblivious to his surroundings. Or at least he did a remarkable acting job. The “Delonte West” chants didn’t affect him. The “Akron Hates You” barbs didn’t make him crack. He simply sat, pointed a few times at familiar faces in the crowd and shared some inside jokes with Wade on the bench.

Miami 118, Cleveland 90

LeBron James’ return to Cleveland was a rousing success for the Heat. The atmosphere was electric early on, but a 16-0 run in the first quarter gave the Heat an 11-point lead, and a 24-point third quarter by LeBron put the game well out of reach.

The fans boo’ed him just about every time he caught the ball, but when the Cavs got down by 30, the arena was almost completely void of energy other than pure hate. As the lead grew, I was a little worried that the frustration of watching LeBron have his way with the Cavs coupled with the effects of alcohol might create a bad situation, but the Cleveland crowd handled themselves pretty well, all things considered.

The thing that really struck me as odd is the relative friendliness of the interaction between LeBron and some of the Cavs, even as the game was going on. He went over to Cleveland’s bench several times and seemed to be laughing and joking with Daniel Gibson and a few other players. Maybe I’m old school, but if I were coaching the Cavs, that kind of demeanor from my players would drive me nuts.

In case you missed the postgame interview, there was an interesting moment when Craig Sager asked LeBron if he had anything to say to the fans in Cleveland. Marv Albert, Steve Kerr and Reggie Miller chimed in at the end.

Craig: The fans had their say tonight. What would you like to say to them if you could?

LeBron: Seven great years. I loved every part. I loved every moment, from when I was an 18-year-old kid to when I was a 25-year-old man. Tried our best. As a team we tried our best to bring a championship to the city and just try to play hard every night. [I have] the utmost respect for this franchise and the utmost respect for these fans, you know, just continue the greatness for myself in Miami and try to get better every day.

Marv: That was a nice statement up to the point of LeBron referring to his greatness, would you agree?

Steve: We didn’t need that part. He was good until then.

Reggie: I think the hole has been dug deeper.