My favorite cities are Rome, London, Paris, Madrid and Tokyo.
Never mind that I have never stepped foot in any of them.
Because I said those were my favorite places, I must be leaving The Chronicle when my contract runs out to write for a newspaper in one of those metropolises.
Never mind that I don’t have a contract at The Chronicle.
LeBron James and I, we enjoy a good rumor as much as anyone. Sometimes we even start one, then sit back and giggle like schoolboys when people run wild with it.
That’s what James is doing right now.
When the 23-year-old told New York reporters the other day that his favorite cities were The Big Apple, Washington, Dallas, Los Angeles and Akron, he knew full well where all that was going to lead.
By Tuesday morning, New York City papers were full of stories that had LBJ joining the Knicks or the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets as an unrestricted free agent in 2010.
Cleveland radio talk shows had something to incessantly babble about other than the boring and struggling Indians.
Fans here, there and everywhere could rehash the whole wear-a-Yankees-cap-to-a-Tribe-game thing.
No one seems worried about The King going to the Wizards, Mavericks, Lakers, Clippers or bringing back the Wingfoots, a semipro team that played in Akron many years ago, but that’s beside the point.
It’s all about New York, because most people who live in NYC think the world begins and ends there.
So James threw starving Big Apple reporters a bone, all the while making sure to keep Cleveland-area fans behind him.
“On draft day, I’m watching some of the younger guys coming into the league and they’re saying, ‘You know, teams are making trades (to sign) LeBron James in 2010,” James told reporters. “I just kind of laugh at that. I’m excited to be in Cleveland.”
Of course, that wasn’t the first quote all the rags in NYC ran with. The one that got the most play was James telling Knicks and Nets fans what they wanted to hear.
“They have a right to dream about it,” he said of him joining one of those teams. “I can’t take that away from them.”
Sure, James could have chosen to say he will never play for the sad-sack Knicks, who are about 71/2 players away from winning a championship.
Sure, he could have said his friendship with hip-hop artist Jay-Z, a Nets investor, does not mean he’s going to sign with that organization.
But what fun would that be?
New York folks have to have something to dream about, just as fear-the-worst Cleveland fans have to have something to fret about for two more years.
And I’m pretty sure rumors of me heading to Rome ain’t gonna cut it, even if I do love spaghetti.
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

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