This just in: Tribe signs new player

Utility outfielder C. Gull was called up from the minors this week.

A Tribute to Dick Jacobs

The Jake. That’s what I will always lovingly refer to the stadium in which the Cleveland Indians play. Now more than ever. Dick Jacobs, the man behind the revival of the tribe, passed away on Friday. He earned himself a place in Cleveland history.

The developer behind such notable Cleveland icons such as the Key Tower and the Galleria, he helped rebuild a city and a team. Like many Clevelanders, I have many fond memories of Tribe games growing up. His legacy will live on. Thank you, Mr. Jacobs. Rest in peace.

Charles Barkley's a Round Mound of Bitterness!

Let's take last night, and repeat it twice. Minus that 3rd quarter stuff. What I said in my last post still applies. If you haven't read it yet, do so. But in the meantime, enjoy this:



A perfect union of my love of Mike Polk (the guy that brought you the Hasitly Made Cleveland Tourism Videos) and my distaste for Charles Barkley!

Now Is Not the Time to Be Pessimistic

Self loathing. Self pity. Misery. Depression. Angst. Strife. Agony.

These are all words that the Cleveland sports fan knows all to well. But I'm here to tell you right now, FORGET THEM.

It's easy to (again) dismiss a season as over, to start lamenting and grumbling "next year". Resist that temptation. Now more than ever we need to stand behind this team. I'm not talking about all of the bandwagon "LeBron" fans out there. I expect this from all of you. I know who you are. You are the ones to whom the names Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, and Larry Nance mean nothing. You are the people sitting in the row behind us at game two that we yelled at for the last five minutes of that game to get off your fat asses and stand up and cheer. You are the people who are kicking yourselves for getting up and walking out or shutting off the game when we were down by two with one second left. You are the ones who dismissed this series as over after game one. No. I'm not talking to you. You've jumped ship, and you will not be welcomed back when we persevere.

I'm talking to the true CLEVELAND fans out there. Those of you that year after year endure the fates of the Cavs, Browns and Indians, and year after year return to cheer on your team. Those of you that remember the old days of the Coliseum. Those of you that coped with the struggles of the 90s team. Those of you that have been following King James since his days at St. V, salivating at the fact that there was a chance that he'd end up here. Those of you that win or lose, better or worse, are not afraid to stand up and say, yes, I'm a Cleveland Fan. Yes. I'm talking to you.

Let's not abandon this team now. Since moving from Cleveland, I've noticed something. This city has this quality to bring people together that I don't see anywhere else. Clevelanders have a common bond. Our loyalty to our teams is part of that. This Cavs team has helped revive our city. Attending the first two games of this series, I noticed how alive it felt. Let's not lose that. I spent entirely more money than I should have to attend those first two games, and if I was still in Cleveland, I'd spend even more to go tonight. I'd sell my kidney on the black market if I had to. We have the home court ADVANTAGE. Get out there and make it that.

So tonight when Mo, Z, Andy, West and King James take the floor, what are you going to do? Cheer twice as loud. Clap twice as hard. Give the Cavs energy to feed off of. Show this Magic team and everyone watching that Cleveland is proud. We refuse to go down without a fight.

Sports thoughts for the ADD mind

I don't have the time or attention span to post much of anything right now, but here's some quick thoughts on some things, ADD style...

Western Conference Finals: at least the Lakers are struggling too....

Indians come-from-behind win: !!!??? um ok? I'll take it

Eastern Conference Finals: I'm terrified. Keep me away from bridges if we lose tonight.

Other Cavs News: Hey China, SHOW ME THE MONEY!

I'd go on but..

.... OOH something shiny....

This will NEVER get old

I will be eating ramen for the next month, because I spent all my money on Cavs tickets. I have priorities you know. I debated whether or not to attend the game last night. I was pretty sure I was bad luck. But I had this gut feeling that told me I didn't want to miss this game. A part of me knew that something was going to happen, and I wanted to be able to say "I was there for that". Absolutely 110% worth it.

And the city of Cleveland let out a collective sigh

Ugh. I didn't even want to write about this. But I feel like its my duty. At the very least, this blog has been an outlet for me to lament my misery, so why stop now?

It all started out so well. There was definitely magic (with a lower case "m") in the air at the Q, and it had nothing to do with Orlando. (No, just because we lost, I will not spare you the cheese).

But the game started off weird from the beginning. About a minute into it, Dwight Howard (more ranting on him to come) decided to start breaking things. An overly aggressive slam brought down the shot clock on the backboard. To make things fair, the one on the opposite basket was shut off, and two clocks on the floor were used the remainder of the first half. DH, didn't your mother ever tell you that when you go to play at someone else's house, its not nice to break their things?

After a little show from the maintenance crew at the Q, the Cavs lit up the first quarter. The crowd was electric. At one point a friend of my brother's, who does regular reporting on the Cavs and is in the press box at nearly every game, sent him a text that said he'd never heard the place as loud as it was at the end of the first quarter. I believe it. I don't know if I've ever had that much fun at a game.

The second quarter the Magic woke up a little bit, but we still managed to play strong. I turned to my brother at one point and told him, I just want to be up by 15 at the half. Up by 12 with the clock expiring, Mo Williams launched up a truly amazing shot, sinking it from behind the half court line just as the buzzer sounded. I got my wish. The place went nuts. This is what playoff basketball is all about.

And
.....then
...........things
...................went
.........................downhill.

I really don't even want to talk about the second half. It was like watching the most fun two quarters of play imaginable, and then getting punched in the stomach repeatedly for the next two. If I had balls, I'd imagine that's what it would feel like to be kicked in them.

I don't know if it was that we got over confident, having come to expect easy wins, or what. Our defense got sloppy. Orlando's shots started falling. And we were in trouble. I understand we don't have an answer to Dwight Howard, but that's not an excuse. I officially HATE Dwight Howard. What kind of name is Dwight Howard anyway? He's like odd combination of a dorky Office character and a duck. We need to be able to stop that. Also, LeBron had 49 points. I'm so sick of hearing people say that LeBron carries this team, because we have a lot of other talent. But last night he did. Hey everyone not named LeBron, do you hear that, STEP UP! I thought we've moved past this and learned to play as a team. Take a look in the stands. Those free t-shirts everyone is wearing, and towels we're waving all say "One Goal". Let's act that way, K?

In a discussion with a friend this morning about the game, he said we need to defend the 3. And I agree. What it ended up coming down to is they made theirs, and we missed ours. When it counted most. Launching up a 3 pointer with seconds left and down by 1 infuriated me. We hadn't been hitting them all night. I don't care how wide open you are, if you are not 110% sure that ball is going in, don't take it. Drive the lane, draw the foul, take your shots. Make them both we win. Worst case scenario, tie it up, go into OT. Dwight Howard had already fouled out. (I refuse to see missing them both as a possible outcome). But alas...

So my takeaways from last night. It sucked. A lot. But maybe it was the wake-up call that we needed. We knew we weren't going to be able to coast through this round like we did the last two. No team has ever swept all the way to the finals. We had to lose a game at some point. The NBA was not going to lose out on all that extra revenue because we wanted another 4 game series and week off between games. Yes, it sucked that it had to happen in our house. But maybe now we'll realize that this isn't Detroit or Atlanta. I see us taking this series in 6 games. Before last night I thought we could do it in 5, but I think Orlando's got one more game in them.

As we pulled into to the driveway last night, already heartbroken, i-pod shuffle decided to put its two cents in on the matter. (Hey i-pod shuffle, screw you!) The Rolling Stones, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" began to play, and all my brother and I could do was shake our heads and sigh. But you know what? When life gives you lemons... you make LeBron-ade. Ok yea, that only half makes sense, but whatever. GO CAVS.