I'm surprised by how few Amsterdammers have heard of LeBron James, professional basketball superstar with the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Their knowledge of basketball seems to have been frozen since 1998, with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.  In other parts of Europe (and in places like China and South America), basketball has been booming... but not in the Netherlands.  It's still very much a niche sport around here.

But at the very least, LeBron James has at least one adoring fan here in Amsterdam:  my son Elliot (though I might as well add myself to that list as well).  Not only is he currently the best player in our favorite sport -- he's also an Ohio boy, playing for an Ohio team.  So whenever we're playing basketball (be it at the playground or in our basement), Elliot always takes on the persona of LeBron James.  Yesterday evening, as we were shooting around in the basement, Elliot came up with the idea to send a letter to LeBron.  So after finishing our shoot-around, Elliot and I sat down together and penned the following correspondence:

Dear Mr. James,

I love basketball.  Me and my Dad play basketball in the basement.  Our record was 3 shots made in a row.  But today I beat the record by getting 5!

I was wondering if you could beat the record.  Could you come to my house?  I live in Amsterdam.  It’s a long way from Cleveland, but I saw one of your games.  Do you remember one of your first games in the season, when you lost against the Rockets in Houston?  And you remember how you won against them in Cleveland?  When you won against them, I was at your game.

Can you tell me your address?  My aunt lives in Cleveland.  I won’t be back in Ohio until this summer, but you could come and visit me before that.  Or after.

My name is Elliot.  I’m eight years old.  Two weeks ago I turned eight.  I have long blond hair, and I love sports.  I was born in America, but only lived there for 10 months.  Now, I live in Amsterdam.  Amsterdam is in Europe.  It’s in a small country called Holland.  There are not many people who play basketball.  They all play soccer.  Soccer is not something for me.  Basketball is what I play.  It’s not easy to play basketball, and I can’t go on a team.  But I still like to play, even though I can’t go on a team.  Maybe if you came here, then you could help me teach basketball.  It would show them that basketball is cool.

Just so you know, we don’t use cars so much.  If you want to go to a restaurant, often you just take your bike.  Amsterdam has cool houses by the water.  And the basketball court near our house has a really high hoop, so you have plenty of room to jump high.  I know you can jump super-high.

I could maybe try to show you my school.  I’d have a hard time getting them to believe that you were a famous basketball player.  They don’t know beans about basketball.  If you came here, I could translate for you because I’ve been in Amsterdam for 7 years.  My Dutch is pretty good.

Love,

Elliot

P.S. – Good luck in the play-offs.  Go Cavaliers!

I'm going to be very curious to see if or how such a letter might be answered.  We've warned Elliot that his chances of receiving a personal reply are not very high.  But I have to admit that I can't help hoping for a response from the King (one of LeBron James' nicknames, playing off of the "King James" version of the Bible) himself.  Stuff like this is silly, but fun.