I predict that in years to come, the Great Pizza Giveaway will be in all the business school text books as a case of what can happen when you're a corporate smart alec.

People were lined up for blocks in the Cleveland area yesterday as Papa John's made good on its 23-cents pizza mea culpa for dissing Cavaliers' star LeBron James. In the Cavs' playoff series against Washington, the pizza outfit handed out T-shirts at a game in Washington that said "Crybaby" with James' No. 23. It was a reference to a remark made by a Wizards' player about James.

So after a backlash in Cleveland, Papa John's tried to make nice with a promotion where on one day they sold a one-topping pizza for 23 cents (in honor of James' jersey number).  Yesterday, was the day of reckoning and and was it ever popular as you can see here. There wasn't any major unruliness but police were called in at a few locations to make sure things didn't get out of hand.

Apparently, a lot of people like pizza in Cleveland but a few said that they were taking advantage of the offer just to teach the pizza company a lesson not to mess with King James.

Photo: Tony Dejak/AP