February 2010
Random views about Cleveland sports has me wanting the Tribe to be smart about how they do things!
My life has been in a whirlwind for the better lately. I recently was able to land a better position for myself. My focus has been trying to make this opportunity work for me. This has had me reading Anthony Castrovince everyday and glad that baseball is on the horizon for 2010 no matter what the record for the Tribe.
Yesterday I went to my first Cavaliers’ game since Shaq was a Laker. I kept looking at the uniforms and thinking I was seeing the team with Mark Price and Craig Ehlo and thinking I was on the road when the Cavaliers were playing last night while they wore the old school jerseys from the late 1980′s.
The crowd was amazing. Still i just cannot get into basketball as much as baseball. I’d much rather like to see the Indians with a losing record at Progressive Field than the Cavaliers. I guess the sport of baseball just inspires me so much. However, it was great to see my son getting so excited about LeBron, Antuan, Shaq and the rest of the team. He went home and wanted to simulate the game he just saw at Quicken Loans Arena.
I felt this way when I saw Len Barker, Joe Charboneau, Rick Manning, Duane Kuiper, Toby Harrah and the rest of the 1980, 1981 teams when I first saw and fell in love with Cleveland Indians baseball. I remember going out in my yard and simulating the players that I observed down at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
I heard that we officially signed Russ Branyan and I sighed and thought “Oh well…(no comment)..prove me wrong Russ!”
I was very glad to see that Jake Westbrook pitched in his first workout pain free. I just hope he lasts this entire year even if rumors come true that he gets traded. I wish I had some players to hang my hat on.
I just hope the Indians with their recent promotions of Mark Shapiro to President and Chris Antonetti for GM for 2011. has me thinking for the Indians to be smart about what they do to make this organization a winner again.
After all, the worst thing for the Indians to do when the Cavs are tops and the Browns are fast approaching potentially returning to glory with Mik Holmgren as their President and their late season winning streak, the Indians can ill-afford to bury themselves in the fans’ minds as an afterthought and last in the city’s major team list, especially since dollars are hard to come by for most in this town.
Hoping for better times, hanging on to the dream of winning Cleveland baseball!
Do you remember? I do!
Well, for 2010 when the money belts are tight and the offers have been very light, the Indians have tried to fool us into believing a trip by Russell “Marty McFly” Branyan as a possibility end up benefitting the Tribe for 2010. I beg to differ.
In each of the years that Branyan played for the Tribe, he had more strikeouts than hits while playing for the Tribe. Now, he had his best year in the majors last year. Still, I can’t help but think about Rob Deer when I think about Russ Branyan.
Who is Rob Deer? Well he played for the Milwaukee Brewers and seemed to hold a memory of hitting a homerun or striking out. Sometimes he led the AL in strikeouts. Oh what a mess. Well, when I see Russ, I think of the same type of player.
Now think of this scenario. Runners in scoring position and Acta has the team fighting for a win and Russ steps up as the winning run. What will he most likely do? Well if history repeats itself, lots of K’s and lots of L’s will make 2010 a big M-E-S-S with a coach that never showed a great performance while in Washington. What a potentially bad opening act!
Russ will make our team worse, not better!
To be a champion….
Starting this blog again has been tough for me, like trying to start an older car in the dead of Winter that has been sitting in the garage since last October. Thus to get it moving again on the road to successful blogging is not so easy.
Still while the weather in Cleveland, Ohio has not given most that “get out and play ball” feeling, (after all, we were considered the worst major U.S. city for winter weather right above Boston) I was inspired by the New Orleans Saints on Sunday and the trucks which left on Monday from Progressive Field to get ready for Spring Training in Goodyear, AZ to begin to write this blog again.
Speaking of the World Champions of the National Football League, the New Orleans Saints taught me a lot about how I should watch sports and how teams should play them.
Here are some thoughts about how they relate to me and I imagine many Cleveland fans.
1. Remembering our history. We Clevelanders put a lot of pressure on ourselves with history. Every year, no matter what the sport, we are constantly being reminded about the albatross of not being a World Champion since 1964, three years before the event now known as the Super Bowl. Sure we have made it to a World Series since then and even a NBA Finals since then, yet never actually won them.
Indians last won it all in 1948.
Browns last won it in 1964.
Cavaliers have never won it all.
As much as I hate to admit it, we seem to wear this title drought around ourselves like a ball and chain
The Saints have had a lot of bad football since their inception in 1967 and never made a Super Bowl in their team history. Their fans never even sensed a champion in their team history. At times in their past, the fans wanted to hide like this.
Ironically their first appearance and attempt at being a champion would be against the son of one of their favorite stars early on in their franchise history in Archie Manning. Perhaps I was sheltered from all the hype this year. I never heard references to being intimidated in facing Peyton Manning the son of a Saints legend, Archie Manning or the fact that this was their first Super Bowl ever and that they should just be happy to be there and take the loss to the future Hall of Famer in Peyton Manning.
So many times I see we Clevelanders or Chicago Cubs fans almost feeling paralyzed and relying on the excuse of so much losing, making excuses about a curse or in Cleveland’s case, the fact that we can’t win it all. This type of mentality along with owners that trade away Cy Young Award winners or all-star teams such as in 1995 and 1997 or 1954 with the Indians. Even today, some fans are creating websites that beg LeBron to stay. I don’t blame them for feeling upset, This mentality is only increased when the owner of the Cleveland Indians is giving indications that Grady Sizemore will be gone after 2011 or 2012.
As painful as the Cubs drought is or the Red Sox before them prior to 2004, I see their cities as ones who did celebrate championships with the White Sox, Chicago Bulls, and Boston Celtics. Cleveland has never won anything to date. Yes there is potential but where is the proof?
Have faith, Cleveland!
As the nation saw, New Orleans was put through Hell with Hurricane Katrina, yet I could remember the noise of the Superdome after the Saints returned on Monday and the energy of how well they won only to lose in the NFC Championship in 2006 against the Bears. This energy took a setback, yet never really faded. It just woke up in 2009-2010 to win the Super Bowl. Our city of Cleveland has really been put through problems, yet like New Orleans, through its sports teams, can win and rebuild.
Make sure the team wins when given the opportunity. When your team makes it to the Super Bowl, NBA Finals or World Series, make sure to win! We, Cleveland fans tend to push a panic button when in a final contest. Instead of looking at all the pain of a history, New Orleans rose up to the occasion and played very well to pull off the win and earn the title of World Champion by being the best this day. They stayed aggressive, were risk takers and fought the entire game to earn their World Championship. No woe is me, no “just happy to be here” attitude. It was simply take a risk and give it your all for the entire game.
Do what it takes, Cleveland! I saw moments when New Orleans could have become so frustrated and surrendered especially after being stopped from scoring in the end zone on two consecutive running plays. Instead of the woe is me attitude prevailing, the Saints and their coach stayed aggressive and we know the result.
If I could rewind the 2007 season as of late, I would see us sitting on a 3-1 lead and act like it was just going to earn us win #4 to become an AL Champion with a great chance to later win the World Series. We need to take our teams and never look back and keep fighting to win a World Championship.
Instead we need to seize the moment. If we are fortunate to gain opportunities to play in a NBA Finals, Super Bowl or World Series again, we need to look at the opportunity as once in a lifetime and be aggressive and smart in trying to prevail! If New Orleans can win it, so can we, the city of Cleveland, Ohio.
Let’s not look back but look forward to smart play. Let’s push forward like the trucks to Goodyear, even though the storms we face may divert or delay our plans to get there on time. When we do get there, we must play smart and aggressive and do what it takes to live in the moment and not in our comfort zone.
Have I made myself clear! I’m back to see Cleveland win a title! As much as I want the Indians to be the ones to do this, I really want any of our sports teams to win it all. After all, titles can help rebuild communities’ economies and spirits. Let’s do it Cleveland, one win at a time. After all they did!
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