After 52 long years, the city of Cleveland finally has a new championship team, thanks to LeBron James and his Cavaliers. Scott Raab Cleveland super-fanhas suffered for every one of those five decades of drought. In the tradition of Frederick Exleys cult-classic sports book A Fans Notes , The Whore of Akron is Raabs hilarious and unhinged plea for deliverance from all those years of pain. Traveling from Cleveland to Miami and back again, Raab heads out on an obsessive quest to uncover the soul of one of todays greatest basketball LeBron James, the man who finally brought Cleveland out of sporting exile.

Raab, Scott, 1952-

New York: HarperCollins

Longman Publishing

United States, United States of America

First, First Edition, PT, 2011

1st ed, New York, c2011

First, 2011-11-15

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
Scott Raab is a 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

Offers a candid look at basketball great LeBron James and his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and join the Miami Heat

2023-06-28