Loyalty and sports.

I think it’s safe to say there’s a direct connection between the two.

Fans are loyal to their hometown teams and players are loyal to the town and their fans.

But when players pack up their bags and leave when they aren’t traded or signed to waivers, rivalries and problems begin.

What Lebron James did this summer was probably one of the most recent controversial things off the court to happen, and it didn’t exactly speak well for free agency.

I don’t have a problem that he took less money to go to a more well-rounded team in the Miami Heat. If I was a Cleveland native, I probably would have been pretty ticked off — maybe not as furious as Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert was at the time, though.

It bothers me when the guy has a one hour special on ESPN deemed ‘The Decision.’

I bet they regret hosting that event — it’s not like Lebron handed them a boatload of cash to help them out. Watching the superstars selfish one hour special made me think to myself, ‘Okay, one more commercial or I can just wait until tomorrow to find out, it’s really not worth my time.’

The worst part of all of this is that ‘King James,’ as they call him, made it all about himself and not about how he was teaming up with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh to make one of the most hyped trios in the history of the NBA.

The thing now is that many people will look back at this and say he took the easy way out and left his hometown — but when he finally gets his ring, it will be a little less rewarding.

It kind of bothers me that the Miami Heat’s slogan after the trio was formed was, ‘Yes we did.’

Wait a minute — you did what? Sign three superstars to play on the same team? You still haven’t won anything…yet of course.

Whatever happened to players sticking with their team through the division-winning seasons and the tough years where they find themselves and their team at the bottom of the standings?

Think back to Paul Pierce and the Celtics and their many sub-par and mediocre seasons.

But he was patient — the year before the Big Three in Boston, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Pierce, the Celtics finished with a horrendous record of 24-58.

So I’d say Pierce had a pretty good reason to be emotional when he was handed his ring the home opener of the season following their 2009 championship.

Now the Celtics, might I remind you, had Larry Bird in earlier years as well, but he didn’t exactly have to go through as many losses as Pierce. The Celtics weren’t very good before he arrived in Boston.

‘Larry Legend,’ to sum up his career, was a winner and brought the Celtics back to being champions.

You see players like Pierce and Bird who gave it their all for Boston only.

You wonder why there can’t be more players devoted to playing for one town and wearing one name.

Dan Marino, who was selected for the Pro Bowl nine times, played 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins.

He’s considered to be one of the best quarterbacks to never win a Super Bowl.

But even in our hometown we have a legendary Royals player who wore the number five on his back.  Do the words pine and tar ring a bell?

Yeah, that’s right, I’m talking about the one and only George Brett. The guy who hated the Yanks with all his guts in those ALCS games.  Talk about someone who played the game with passion and pride; he was the very definition of baseball at its finest.

Brett was loyal to the Royals and playing the game the way it was meant to be played in his 21 years.

He then became a member of the Hall of Fame in ‘99.  Just think, if the Royals had a franchise player like him now, or even a couple of them, I’m pretty sure that they would be in the pennant race.