Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Believeland Fans Finally Rewarded for Their Faith & Celebrate Cavs Triumphant Return

Well, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA title, and so the city of Cleveland can finally celebrate their first sports championship in over half a century.

There have been other enormous droughts that have been broken fairly recently in sports history. As someone who lived most of my life in the greater New York metropolitan area, I remember well how much it meant for Rangers fans when their team finally hoisted the Stanley Cup after a 54 year drought. Boston fans finally were rewarded for decades of underachieving when their team became the first to overcome an 0-3 series deficit to win, and that came against the hated Yankees, who had long been their tormentors. They went on to sweep the World Series against St. Louis for their first championship in 86 years. The very next year, the Chicago White Sox managed to win their first World Series in 88 years. Many hope and even expect the Chicago Cubs to win the whole thing this year.

However, what makes this particular title so sweet for Cleveland is that all of their teams have suffered through a long drought of titles. The last time the city of Cleveland could celebrate a championship was when the Browns won the NFL Championship in 1964. President Kennedy had been shot only a little over a year before. President Lyndon Johnson had just gotten the nation majorly involved in the Vietnam War. Official Jim Crow segregation had been officially outlawed with the Civil Rights Act earlier in the year, although legislation to empower blacks with the right to vote, as well as legislation to legalize mixed marriage between races, was still in the future. The Beatles had visited America earlier in the year, and had taken over. The Super Bowl had not even been invented yet, and Cleveland was still seen as a mostly decent city, as the decline that coincided with the city's sports fortunes had not yet taken place.

In the decades since, fans of Cleveland sports teams have had to endure one embarrassment and heartbreak after another. There was "Red Right 88," when the hosting Cleveland Browns, who had quite a bit of talent and promise, found themselves down 14-12 in a playoff game against the Oakland Raiders. They obviously wanted the touchdown, but were at least in position for a winning field goal. The call, "Red Right 88," was a pass in the end zone which ended up getting intercepted, icing the game for the Raiders. It was kind of like the Seahawks infamous 2nd and 1 in Super Bowl XLIX decades before that happened.

That was the first, but that was not the last, and certainly not the worst. In 1986, the Browns once again looked like a solid team heading to the Super Bowl. They were hosting Denver, and had a 20-13 lead. The Browns even pinned the Broncos on their own 2-yard line, and it was late in the final quarter. But Elway orchestrated something incredible, known forever since simply as "The Drive." The Broncos went the length of the field for the tying touchdown. Then, in overtime, the Broncos got the field goal that secured their trip to the Super Bowl, which the home fans in Cleveland had to endure.

The next year, the Browns once again met the Broncos in the AFC title game. They fell behind badly in the first half, but came roaring back in the second half. It was once again late in the final quarter, and the game was close at 38-31. Although the Browns were trailing, their running back, Ernest Byner, was on fire. Denver simply had no way of stopping him, and he was on the verge of scoring the tying touchdown. With Cleveland having all of the momentum, it seemed that they might have a date with destiny. But then, inexplicably, Byner fumbled, and the Broncos defenders jumped on it to recover the ball and get possession, handing the Browns yet another heartbreaking loss. Two years later, the Browns would once again fall to Denver in the AFC title game, a third time in four years, and that came one year after watching the other Ohio team, the Cincinnati Bengals, go all the way to the Super Bowl and very nearly win it against the heavily favored San Francisco 49ers.

The Browns were nowhere near good enough to reach the AFC title game in the 1990's, but they once again broke the city's heart when owner Art Modell moved the franchise out of Cleveland and relocated to Baltimore, where they became the Ravens. Particularly cruel was when Cleveland fans had to watch Modell and his Ravens hoist the Lombardi Trophy after winning the Super Bowl just four seasons after leaving Cleveland.

In the 1990's, it was the Cleveland Indians who broke the city's heart on the field by coming as close to winning the championship as possible. After decades of struggling, the Indians were incredibly good in 1995, and they went all the way to the World Series, although they ultimately fell short against Atlanta. But two years later, they were back, and in Game 7 at Miami, they had the Marlins in serious trouble. The World Series trophy was brought into the Indians locker room, and the champagne was on ice. But then, the collapse happened, as impossibly, the Marlins found a way to tie the game. They would go on to win, denying Cleveland fans once again.

But there was new hope in the 2000's, as a homegrown talent, LeBron James, came to play for the local NBA team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. He got better and better, and so did the Cavs, until they finally reached the NBA Finals in 2007, although they got swept by the San Antonio Spurs. They were still quite solid the next couple of years, but after the team went 63-19 in 2010, they got bounced by Orlando in the Eastern Conference Finals. Later that simmer, LeBron made his infamous announcement about bringing his talents to South Beach, and Cleveland fans once again suffered incredible heartbreak.

LeBron came back, however, and apparently, all was forgiven. That was especially true when it became clear that the Cavs were legitimate contenders, making it all the way to the NBA Finals in 2015, although they fell short to the Golden State Warriors.

This year, they were good enough to earn a rematch in the Finals against those same Warriors, and after losing Game 4 and finding themselves down 3-1, the Cavs suddenly got very tough, beating down the Warriors in Game 5, held serve in Game 6 at home, and then completed the comeback with a tremendous, exciting, and historic road win in Game 7 to finally clinch the franchise's first ever NBA championship.

And the city finally got to celebrate their team's triumphant return yesterday. Tomorrow, the city will honor their heroes with a much anticipated parade, and the fans of Cleveland sports finally get to celebrate a long overdue championship!

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