Things are not exactly going the way they were the last time LeBron James was eligible to opt for free agency. Other teams’ fans line up to see the Miami Heat, but they don’t seem to be going the extra mile to cheer James as a call to come to their team like they did his last year with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It’s as if they already know that his choice is going to come down to his perceived list — the Cavs, Heat and Los Angeles Lakers — and no one else matters. Mainly because James has refused to entertain questions about anything that doesn’t involve chasing a championship.

As a matter of fact the few times that he’s been asked about next summer, reporters have been met with “I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about right now.” That is a far cry from the season of decision talk that James has admitted he would have handled differently in 2010.

And the result has been people grasping at straws to find out what is going on in the mind of the man that holds the future of NBA franchises in his hands.

So, naturally, when it came out that he could possibly be teaming with soccer star David Beckham to bring a different type of football to the pigskin state, fans went crazy. And it wasn’t, purely, at the thought of James adding an MLS franchise to his empire. (He also owns a stake in Liverpool of the English Premier League).

Even the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Ira Winderman took the news as nothing but a positive:

“I believe it would be a significant ‘tell’ about his future,” said the Winderman in his Ask Ira column. “I couldn’t fathom someone investing in a product that is market specific and then turning his back on that market. How, exactly, would that benefit a LeBron investment in a Miami MLS franchise?”

There would be no benefit and no loyalty. The city would do everything they could not to support the man who abandoned their hometown team. Which is why you can add this to the list of positive reasons why James will sign back in the summer.

His wife, Savannah’s new venture (“The Juice Spot”) and his desire not to go back to cold weather won’t hurt either.

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Richard Nurse is a columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @blackirishpr or add him to your network on Google.