Posts Tagged “lebron james”

Maybe Cleveland Cavaliers fans can hope for cheap gas if an oil company insults All-Star LeBron James.

Lines were so long Thursday at some of the 86 Papa John’s stores offering a large, one-topping pizza for 23 cents that police stood nearby to make sure people didn’t get unruly.

The Louisville, Ky.-based company agreed to the offer after a franchisee in Washington, D.C., made T-shirts calling star LeBron James a “crybaby.” The shirts referred to James’ complaints about hard fouls during a playoff series victory over Washington. The company also will donate $10,000 to the Cavaliers Youth Fund.

The 23-cent price of a pizza is a homage to James’ jersey number.

“It’s a recession busting offer, and we certainly hope we have made it up to Cleveland,” Tim North, vice president of the company’s northeast division, told WEWS-TV.

One or two people even came by jet charter just for the bragging rights.

There were a few headaches, mostly complaints about long waits and line-cutting.

Papa John’s Pizza issued an apology to Cleveland and the Cavaliers for making T-shirts with LeBron James’ number and the word “crybaby” under it.

To apologize, Papa John’s will sell Cleveland residents a large, one-topping pizza for 23 cents on Thursday. The 23 is an homage to James’ jersey number. The company also will donate $10,000 to the Cavaliers Youth Fund.

The pizza chain’s T-shirts were featured during the Cavs’ games against the Wizards on Friday in Washington. Wizards fans taunted the Cavs, who won the payoff series that night in Game 6.

The shirts started after James complained about hard fouls, and Wizards center Brendan Haywood called him a crybaby.