Monday, May 19, 2008

Another season ends without a title...

It's days like Sunday that remind me what it means to be a Cleveland fan. Not that I expected the Cavaliers to run away with an NBA title this year - I didn't. But it's easy to get caught up in a playoff run, especially with a unique talent like LeBron on your roster. And after the Cavs lost Game 7 yesterday I realized I wasn't quite ready for this year's run to end. After he dropped 45 on the Celtics I fully expected to walk away from there with an improbable win. But it wasn't meant to be - I should have realized this when Ben Wallace deflected a pass and it landed perfectly in the hands of Paul Pierce who drilled a three. Or when Kevin Garnett drove wildly to the hoop, lost control of the ball and is crashed hard off the backboard, somehow dropping right through the hoop. Or when the Cavaliers forced a jump ball late in the game and the tap from Z somehow squirted loose, Pierce fell on the ball with two Cavaliers and the refs somehow awarded Boston a timeout. Or really, when 87-year-old PJ Brown just couldn't miss a shot.

There were a lot of signs that the sports gods just were ready to piss on another season for me, but I had my Cleveland sports blinders on again I guess. I started to believe after Game 6 on Friday night that the Cavaliers would do the improbable, but I'm still proud of the heart most of them showed yesterday (and yes, I've gotten way too used to saying that over the years). As my buddy Niro painfully reminded me last year - we're in our early 30's now, and if we're extremely lucky we might have another 50 years on this earth at best. That leaves about 150 more chances at best to see the Cavs, Tribe, or Browns win a championship. Make that 149 at best now.

Keep fighting LBJ, you are so close

And to add insult to injury, the Tribe decided that 3 games over .500 wasn't fun and were swept by the lowly Reds in Cincinnati over the weekend. The focus shift squarely back on them tomorrow night. I think I'll use today to just mourn and hope for a big offseason for the Cavs.

1 comment:

sportsgirl132 said...

I feel your pain.

My son is 6 and there is a part of me that would LOVE to see him carry on the tradition of being a Cleveland sports fan. Then there is a major part of me that doesn't want that misery and disappointment for him.

Indians can't hit a whiffle ball these days. It's over for them before it's even begun.

When does football start again?