Being a sports fan from Ohio, The Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney was obviously excited when NBA star LeBron James returned to Cleveland this summer to play for the Cavaliers — so much so that he called the move "classy."
Carney recently called in to chat with City Pages in Minneapolis, and the conversation quickly ditched music in favor of athletics — Minnesota's former star, Kevin Love, will also play in Cleveland this year after a summer trade.
"I'm really excited for this season," Carney said. "Actually, one of LeBron's managers was just at my house. We went to the [Cleveland] Browns game on Sunday and he crashed here. But yeah, I'm excited, I'm going to try to get back up to Cleveland for as many games as I can. I had a feeling he was gonna go back, but even though I'm friends with his manager, you know, no one was saying shit about it. But I had a feeling, and the way LeBron came back was classy."
James left Cleveland after the 2009-10 season in one of the most criticized moves in sports history. This summer, he announced he would return, and the people of Ohio are ready to forgive.
"As a Cleveland sports fan, there's a lot of frustrating things that I've watched," Carney said. "After that, I stopped watching the Cavs for the next couple of seasons, it was just so frustrating, it reminded me of watching the '97 World Series. After watching the [Cleveland] Indians suck my entire childhood, and then finally get good, and then just blow it to [the] Florida expansion team ... it really made me hate baseball for a while.
"Then after that there was the Browns. Football was the first sport that I really loved, and I think I cried during 'The Fumble,' I was probably 8 years old, but I was crying for sure. That's unlike me, but I think watching Cleveland sports has made me lose any sort of competitive bone that I used to ever have as a child. You become a good loser when you're a Cleveland sports fan."
The interview — expertly conducted by Zach McCormick — dug up some interesting tidbits, including the time Carney met ?uestlove.
"I'm sure he doesn't remember, but I met him when I was 15," Carney said. "I saw the Roots open for Atari Teenage Riot and Beck on the Odelay tour. My uncle had been jamming with Beck here and there and he was also friends with the guitar player who was touring with Beck then, Smokey Hormel, so he got me backstage tickets and I got to meet them. I've never really had an in-depth conversation with ?uestlove, but I've met him quite a few times, he's a super nice guy. Very talented guy."
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