LeBron James has extended an olive branch to his Ohio hometown in the form of a full-page newspaper ad, days before making his first public appearance in Akron since leaving for the Miami Heat.
“Akron is my home, and the central focus of my life,” James wrote in Tuesday’s Akron Beacon Journal. “It’s where I started, and it’s where I will always come back to.”
Conspicuously absent from the ad is any mention of Cleveland, home of the Cavaliers, the team that James famously dumped in a much-maligned ESPN television special last month. The ad features photographs of James at his annual charity bike-a-thon, where he hands out hundreds of bicycles and joins a mile-long ride through downtown Akron. Despite speculation that James might skip the event, he has said he plans to show up on Saturday.
The traditional eight-mile trek that follows the ride has been canceled this year.
“It was here where I first learned how to play basketball, and where I met the people who would become my lifelong friends and mentors,” James wrote in the ad. “Their guidance, encouragement and support will always be with me.”
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