It wasn’t long ago when I pointed out that Canada’s greatest export to the United States would easily be Chris Bosh. Now ESPN’s Chris Broussard is saying sources tell him the Toronto Raptors are kosher with a sign-and-trade.

In which case, most likely we’re looking at some mixture of Varejao, West, Hickson, and/or Parker with a possible draft pick thrown in to sweeten the deal.

And all we need is Bosh’s approval. Which is where the quandary lies.

Look, Bosh, if you help LeBron win some titles in Cleveland, we will happily build monuments to both of you. (It’s okay if LBJ’s is a little bigger, right?)

Today I camped outside the IMG building along with Cleveland media and the most loyal of Cavs fans for the first day of LeBron hunting season.

“It can’t take more than a week,” says one cameraman, looking exhausted as the mid-afternoon sun beats down mercilessly on us. “Right?”

“My sources say he wants to wrap this up by the weekend,” another cameraman replied.

The first day featured visits from the New Jersey Nets and the New York Knicks. Each group needed their own entourage of vans to handle all the presentation equipment. Reporters and photogs clucked in astonishment at the efforts of these teams.

“At this morning’s meeting, they said, ‘Guess what’s going on right across the street from our office building,’” says Daryl Ruiter, a reporter with ESPN Cleveland. ”So I said, ‘I know what I’ll be doing all day today.’”

The first day of LeBromageddon dawned with reports pouring in that the Cavaliers have a new head coach at last: Byron Scott.

And with that, the Cavaliers have reportedly snared a coach who could be the only one in the NBA willing to sign on without knowing whether LeBron is part of the package.

If his contract negotiations with the Cavs is finalized, Scott faces a daunting challenge. He’s already metaphorically bearing the burden of all the Cavaliers’ tens of thousands of fans on his shoulders, as Cavs fans look to him anxiously as an eleventh-hour offering to the shrine of The Chosen One.

Will it be enough, though?

For those of you who were holding out hope for Brian Shaw, sorry to be the perpetual bearer of bad news, but he withdrew from the running late last night.

“I know they have a timeline to hire a coach and I wasn’t able to meet that timeline,” Shaw told Yahoo! Sports. “I didn’t want to hold things up. It’s a great organization.”

But sources close to the Lakers assistant coach are saying he was “uncomfortable” with the Thursday deadline without knowing where LeBron would be.

“Things were moving too fast and the timing of everything was at a fast pace,” Shaw’s agent told the Los Angeles Times.

Gee, this all sounds very familiar. Exhaustingly so.

Here we are, on the cusp of history in the making. At the stroke of midnight tonight, LeBron goes free agent. What more can we say?

We’ll continue to report the rumors and developments over the next couple of days, of course. And for my part, I will continue to trek across Ohio and shoot video/interview the good people of Ohio who would like to see LeBron stay. I could elaborate on this for hours until your eyes glaze over. But what more can we do? 

Cleveland has been good to you, LeBron. We’ve never turned away. Ultimately this is your decision, and your career, and you should obviously do what’s best for you.

… It just happens that, in my opinion, Cleveland is what’s best for you. Monetarily. Athletically. Ultimately!

You are our hero, our hellion, our hope. As anyone who swoons over his first love, I think I speak for everyone when I say … it would kill us to see you on someone else’s arm.

Frankly put. Let us not mince words!

In sum, I couldn’t put it any better than how @CavsWITNESS (alias Eric Knappenberger) phrased it when he tweeted: “Hollywood scripts don’t come along often. LeBron was handed one at birth. How it ends is his choice.”

Amen, Cleveland brother. I, for one, am anxious to see what the last line in this historic script will be, before the curtains close for good.

Today in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Terry Pluto published a prospectus of possibilities for the impending LeBromageddon, one of which included a scenario where the Cavaliers end up with the Toronto Raptors’ Chris Bosh.

I’ve heard this scenario millions of times, and I’d originally pronounced it dead on arrival, but I’m going to blog about it any way because I’d be happy to see it happen. If we do end up with Brian Shaw (and Brian Windhorst reports the Cavs are nearing the closure of that deal), and consequently introduce the triangle offense, Bosh might make the perfect “big man” to add to the Triple-Post tactic. In other words, he would fulfill Pau Gasol’s roll in the Lakers’ triangle.

We do have Shaq, of course, but need I expound on how much better Bosh would be at spacing the floor?

But why would Toronto trade with us, you ask? According to Pluto, our northerly neighbor could have its eye on J.J. Hickson and Anderson Varejao. Possible contracts to sweeten the deal: Delonte West, Jamario Moon, or Anthony Parker.

Given the constant theatrics surrounding West and the commonality of Moon and Parker, I don’t think Cavs fans will shed many tears for this particular sign-and-trade deal. Melodrama and mediocrity don’t make for very endearing qualities.

It could leave LeBron with Bosh, Varejao, and Jamison on the frontline, or if we trade Varejao, a quartet with Hickson, Jamison and Bosh. And as Pluto reminds us, the Cavs can offer LeBron $30 million more than any other team, and less pressure while doing it at home.

Writes Pluto: “Is it a perfect situation? No. But that’s also true of the other teams trying to sign him.”

Hear, hear! Let’s all raise a toast to being no worse off than any of the other teams vying for LeBron’s love (and, correspondingly, his contract).

Snarking aside, with the duo of Bosh and LeBron, that would make the Cavs the team with two of the debatably best five players in the league, under longterm contracts. Now that would be worth toasting.

Judgment Day is nigh! Prepare for the tearing of clothing, the weeping of Cavs Dancers, and a plague to beset the Land of Cleve as you have never before Witnessed.

In other words, take a look at our fiery countdown, and you’ll see we have less than 2 days until LeBron goes free agent. Which means it’s time we face facts and ask ourselves—where do we want to be during LeBromageddon?

When our grandchildren ask us what we were doing during that fateful hour, do we want to say, “Well, kid. I was doing my laundry.”

Okay, I’m not suggesting LeBron will magically make his decision at the stroke of midnight on Wednesday, or at any time on the first day of July. It could take him several days, a week … who knows.

But I am saying that, as Cavs fans—or at least as fans of LeBron James—we need to band together and comfort one another in this dire time of need.

What are your plans for either Wednesday or Thursday of this week? Or both?

Cleveland recently received some ardent (and highly entertaining) support from an unlikely source: David Letterman, host of The Late Show, deftly skewers rapper-turned-businessman Jay-Z, who is also part-owner of the New Jersey Nets.

By the way, if you needed me to point that out, you haven’t been following the debacle that is LeBromageddon very closely.

About 40 seconds in, the gap-toothed comedian tackles the sorest subject possible, which is just his style.

NFL quarterback and Heisman trophy-winner Troy Smith is one hometown hero who ended up leaving Ohio. After quarterbacking for the beloved Ohio State Buckeyes, the native Clevelander was drafted by one of the town’s biggest football rivals, the dreaded Baltimore Ravens.

I’ll pause for a collective Cleveland shudder.

… But seeing as Smith was back in Cleveland hosting a Celebrity Weekend showcase in support of his favorite charity, Greater Cleveland Muny Football, I thought it was only natural to squeeze in some questions about the upcoming LeBromageddon.

Everyone’s favorite Cavs beat writer Brian Windhorst tweeted last night that management plans to meet with Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw for an interview in the next day or so. Shortly thereafter, there may be an offer to Shaw or Byron Scott on the table.