Bill Simmons apparently approached Lebron’s team and gave him the idea for “The Decision”

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The idea for ESPN's The Decision show 10 years ago, in which LeBron James declared that he'd take his "talents to South Beach," wasn't LeBron's or his agent's or his inner circle's or anyone at ESPN's. It turns out that the show's idea came from a 38-year-old Detroit Pistons fan from Columbus, Ohio, identified only as "Drew" in a Bill Simmons mailbag column published by ESPN on Nov. 26, 2009, seven months before the broadcast.

"What if LeBron announces he will pick his 2010-11 team live on ABC on a certain date for a show called 'LeBron's Choice?'" Drew wrote, with no last name published. "What type of crazy ratings would that get?"

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Simmons pitched two ideas to his bosses: a 90-minute documentary following LeBron in his free-agency recruitment tour called "The Courting of the King" and "LeBron's Decision," in which he would pick his new team in a live show, both to be aired on ABC.

"I really think we can convince them to do it," Simmons wrote in a May 8, 2010, email to multiple ESPN executives, including then head of content John Skipper. "So my question is this: should we proceed, and if so, how should we proceed ... At the very least, I think we should meet with these guys and soon ... This could really be one of the coolest sports shows ever made if we do it correctly." There is no mention of "Drew from Columbus, Ohio," in that email.

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And you know what? What LeBron did to Cleveland last night was worse. Much worse. It's one thing to leave. I get it. You're 25. You don't know any better. You're tired of carrying mediocre teams. You want help. You want the luxury of not having to play a remarkable game every single night for eight straight months. You want to live in South Beach. You want to play with your buddies. I get it. I get it. But turning that decision into a one-hour special, pretending that it hadn't been decided weeks ago, using a charity as your cover-up and ramming a pitchfork in Cleveland's back like you were at the end of a Friday the 13th movie and Cleveland was Jason ... there just had to be a better way. I blame the people around him. I blame the lack of a father figure in his life. I blame us for feeding his narcissism to the point that he referred to himself in the third person five times in 45 minutes. I blame local and national writers (including myself) for apparently not doing a good enough job explaining to athletes like LeBron what sports mean to us, and how it IS a marriage, for better and worse, and that we're much more attached to these players and teams than they realize. I blame David Stern for not throwing his body in front of that show. I blame everyone.

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