Remember that time the jilted owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers guaranteed -- in comic sans font -- that his team would win an NBA championship before LeBron James and the Miami Heat?
Well, Dan Gilbert was wrong.
LeBron James' amazing overall playoffs performance propelled the Heat to its first NBA title of the "Big 3" era. The South Beach Super Friends dispatched Oklahoma City in five games with James averaging 28.6 points in the Finals. He recorded his eighth career playoff triple-double in the title-clinching, Game 5 win with 26 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds.
Not surprisingly, James was named Finals MVP.
"It means everything," James said moments after the win. "I made a difficult decision to leave Cleveland but I understood what my future was about ... I knew we had a bright future (in Miami). This is a dream come true for me. This is definitely when it pays off."
Gilbert's comic sans prognostication and the bitterness that inspired it went back to the public way that James announced his decision to take his talents to South Beach in June of 2010. James was widely criticized for the way that he left the team that had drafted him and the state that had nurtured him. Perhaps no critic (this side of Scott Raab) was as vocal as Gilbert, who wrote an open letter to Cavs fans ripping his former employee as "narcissistic" and "cowardly." He also made a prediction that James struck down on Thursday night.
"I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER 'KING' WINS ONE," he wrote (it looked even more ridiculous in comic sans).
After the Dallas Mavericks dashed James' title hopes last season, Gilbert took another shot at him, this time on Twitter.
"Old Lesson for all: There are NO SHORTCUTS. NONE," he wrote.
Gilbert stayed relatively quiet during the 2012 postseason, choosing to tweet more about his team's current star, reigning Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving. On the off chance that Irving does something in the future that hurts Gilbert's feelings, we can only wonder what font we'll read his response in.
UPDATE: Following Game 5, Gilbert took to Twitter to congratulate both teams.