Cavaliers - Ramblings from the Road

Many apologies for a lack of a gameblog Saturday night - you got that grumpy ol' muppets Alan and John?  To say that the New Orleans Arena had wireless issues would be kind.  Onward, however.
I never thought I'd get to New Orleans twice in a year - I was last there in January for the massacre known as the BCS National Championship Game.  But that city will forever leave one impression on me - it's a city - at least in its downtown area - of strip club and liquor bulletin boards.  What's hilarious is the juxtaposition of some of those boards - occasionally you'll see a couple right near a church, begging a person to question themselves:  am I a saint or sinner?  No comments on that please.
It was interesting to talk with former Cav Devin Brown who despite putting up decent numbers last year, wasn't re-signed by the club during the offseason.  He was guarded in his comments, but you can tell that there's something simmering beneath the surface there.
From there it was on to Dallas where I witnessed something firsthand that I'd only heard about before.  Let's call it the LeBron effect.  What is it?  The Cavaliers practiced at Southern Methodist University Sunday at that school's lush practice facility.  The SMU women's volleyball team was playing Rice at the time.  Myself and colleagues Brian Windhorst (now of the PD) and Bob Finnan (of the News-Herald) stopped to look as well.
It took a while, but it happened, slowly but surely someone saw a group of tall, muscular guys hangin' in the corner of the gym.  You could see the look of astonishment come over one student's face as he realizes one of the guys is James - the jaw hits the floor yada, yada, yada.  But it's what he did next that caused more than a few chuckles.  The kid grabbed a volleyball and made this weird, frantic side-to-side, up-and-down motion with his hand that looked as if...well, if you're a guy you know what it looked like.   And had anyone seen James' reaction, it was easy to tell that's what he thought.
Of course, he was just looking for an autograph, but it's one of those priceless moments that you can't script.