5062
by kenm
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Reddit
NBA Finals 2015
How LeBron James was defended by the Golden State Warriors in their first meeting: An X's and O's look
LeBron James became leader he is today because he spent four years with Miami Heat -- Terry Pluto (photos)
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State in the NBA Finals 2015 is almost here (finally) -- Bud Shaw's You Said It
What is tendinitis? And will the injury sideline the Cavaliers' Kyrie Irving for some of NBA Finals 2015?
After a 51-year title drought, seeing is believing in Cleveland, and that's OK
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It's OK to entertain that notion of doubt. It's natural to let it creep its way in.
After all, it has been hammered into the minds of Cleveland fans for 51 years. Any time an area team sniffs the grand stage, the same, hackneyed montage airs in its entirety.
It highlights Earnest Byner and Craig Ehlo and Jose Mesa and Tony Fernandez and other goats of Cleveland sports lore. It features those who have helped to feed the insatiable narrative that the town is full of Eeyore-like sad sacks who stare at the ground and dejectedly kick around some dirt, waiting for the next installment of heartbreak. It treats Michael Jordan and John Elway and Edgar Renteria and Art Modell like well-off bullies who snicker at the anguish inflicted upon their Northeast Ohio adversaries.
It's easy to pick on Cleveland sports.
LeBron James used to be part of the latter group. He dodged town and lassoed a pair of championship banners to the home arena of an oft-apathetic fan base in Miami. Now, he plays for the other side, his original side. Now, he has a chance to eliminate the most inexplicable streak in sports: a 51-year title drought for a city with three major professional teams.
He couldn't achieve the feat in his first go-around with his hometown squad. Can he do it this time?
Excuse Cleveland fans if they opt to convey any skepticism. A boastful bravado by any other fan base is a cautious optimism beside Lake Erie. Maybe the Cavaliers will match up well with the upstart Warriors. Maybe Iman Shumpert, Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith and a hobbled Kyrie Irving are the correct cast of complements to follow LeBron's lead role. Maybe, no matter the objective level of confidence in that group, Cleveland fans will simply believe it when they see it, when they witness the roster concoction of mad scientist David Griffin hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
Maybe Cleveland fans are a little jaded and unconvinced. Who could blame them? Only in Cleveland could a phrase such as "Only in Cleveland" gain such notoriety. There isn't so much a "Woe is me" attitude in the city as there is a feeling of "Only we can lament our past and laugh at the implausibility of 51 years of misfortune."
So when a visiting writer attempts to piece together 700 words comparing the sports teams' tribulations to the city's economy or construction or Pabst Blue Ribbon prices, Clevelanders aren't going to take kindly to the needling.
That's more than fair, too. Browns fans smirk and shake their heads at the fact that 22 different quarterbacks have started a game since the team's return in 1999. Somewhere between Spergon Wynn and Connor Shaw, the list becomes less bewildering and more disheartening. "Major League" triggered laughs across the country, but behind the antics of Willie Mays Hayes and Pedro Cerrano was the depiction of an actual franchise that, from 1969-1993, never posted a record better than 84-78.
Of course, it hasn't just been a half-century without hope. The Indians carried a one-run advantage into the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series. They gripped a 3-1 series lead against the Red Sox in the American League Championship Series 10 years later. The Browns own the city's most recent championship, the 1964 drubbing of the Baltimore Colts. It's the most recent title, thanks in part to Elway's heroics with the Denver Broncos a quarter-century later. The Cavaliers have reached this stage before, albeit in the role of a severely undermanned underdog, eight years ago.
This version of the Wine and Gold has a better chance at breaking the hex. And maybe a title would eliminate that involuntary sense of doubt that trickles in every time a Cleveland team makes it this far. Maybe that intrinsic hesitation and trepidation will vanish once a title is finally acquired. Maybe the networks won't need to resort to adding Kelly Olynyk's mug to the much-ballyhooed montage.
The Browns can continue to replace their regime on a seemingly annual basis in hopes that they strike administrative gold. The Indians can continue to hope that their low-budget indie film makes it mainstream. The Cavs held out hope for a homecoming. It worked. As 51 years have demonstrated, there is no proven formula in this town. Eventually, one of the teams will snap the streak, no matter how long we have been saying as such.
The Cavaliers could bring a parade to E. 9th Street in as soon as two weeks. Based on history, it's natural to approach the series with a twinge of apprehension. Clevelanders have raised their hopes time and time again, only to have them dealt a punishing blow on each occasion.
No fan base has been more patient, more persevering, more tormented. A championship would change the group's disposition. No more montage. No more re-living past agony. Instead, streets filled with people clad in wine and gold, filled with smiling faces, filled with a sense of relief.
Do you need to see it before you believe it? That's understandable.
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