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DeShawn Stevenson returned to Cleveland last week and got an instant reminder that there will always be one city in the United States that reviles him. When the Washington Wizards' private plane landed at Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the runway marshal warmly greeted each member of the team until he spotted the scraggly bearded Stevenson.
"I hate you," Stevenson recalls the airport employee telling him, to which Stevenson responded with an equally incensed retort. "I won't cuss, but I said something to him," Stevenson said.
Stevenson has become one of the most hated athletes in Cleveland ever since he dared to call reigning league MVP LeBron James "overrated" nearly two years ago. Fans there haven't forgotten. He was booed after he hit both of his three-pointers in the Wizards' 109-104 exhibition win against the Cavaliers, gleefully waving his hand in front of his face to rile the fans even more.
"It's crazy how it's still going on," Stevenson said of his feud with the Cavaliers and their fans. "Even if I'm in a different jersey, it's still going to have that effect and I'm going to bring that rivalry somewhere else, because this team don't like me."
Caron Butler can vouch for the incident at the airport. "Obviously, it ain't dead," Butler said of the rivalry, shaking his head.
Stevenson is accustomed to a poor reception in Cleveland, but last season, he had to deal with harsh criticism from his own fans. He shot a career-low 31.2 percent and was limited to just 32 games before succumbing to a back injury that resulted in season-ending surgery in March. "Everything is what have you done for me lately, right?" said Stevenson, who averaged just 6.6 points last season, after averaging 11.2 and 82 games in each of his first two seasons in Washington.
