The Whore of Akron: One Man's Search for the Soul of Lebron James

Sports fandom is hard, especially in a perennially losing city like Cleveland. For a lifelong Clevelander like Raab (Real Hollywood Stories), the only hope of becoming a championship city again fell to local lad Lebron James. Raab planned to profile the superstar as he led the Cavs to an NBA Championship. Instead, the Cavs fizzled in the playoffs and James took advantage of his free agency to announce "The Decision" (a one-hour ESPN event) to play for the Miami Heat. While James was given a bigger contract and a better chance of winning rings, Cleveland fans were outraged%E2%80%94with Raab their loudest voice. Rather than the intended glowing profile, the book becomes a rant against greed and disloyalty as Raab follows the "soul-dead bumpkin%E2%80%9D in his first season with Miami. Between denouncing James and cursing other Cleveland sports villains like Art Modell, Raab shares memories of childhood and battles with drug addiction. While his fanaticism is often hard to swallow, Raab raises important questions about the prerogatives of those in modern sports. (Nov.)