Your Move, Beanie Wells
October 29, 2008Shaun Rogers, the Running Back?
October 30, 2008I watched the Phillies win the World Series last night. I was happy for them, and Charlie Manuel. Mostly though, I was happy for their fans. I was thrilled for guys like Dan Levy and Enrico over at the 700 Level. I was happy that the Why Can’t Us idea caught on and they have a great story to tell about the year the Phils won it all.
Watching them celebrate brought some sadness though. Around here, we thought all of our professional teams were inching closer to that championship that has eluded us. Since WFNY was brought online the Cavs lost a heartbreaking game 7 to the eventual champs, the Indians completely fell apart this year, and the Browns are…well the Browns. Obviously these kind of disappointments have been around long before WFNY, or we would shut the site down in a heartbeat. No, we as Cleveland fans know all to well how long and hard it has been without vindication.
So this morning I’m checking out ESPN’s coverage on the web, and I come across this piece by Rob Neyer and Mark Simon. The premise of the piece is “What if…” as in what if Gibson hadn’t hit the home run, or Buckner had fielded the ball. In true ESPN fashion, of the 6 scenarios they wrote about, 2 of them are Red Sox related, with no Indians pieces.
So I started thinking about that game. You know which one. I was thinking about how close we really were to finally winning a title. 3 outs. 3 outs away. It’s so depressing actually. And what about the 11th inning? What if Fernandez doesn’t miss that ball? What if Bonilla wasn’t able to scamper back to first on the line drive that Charlie caught? What if the Indians had completed the comeback in game 5? It’s maddening really, to think of all that could have gone differently in that series, or last year’s ALCS for that matter.
The bottom line is that we fans want our moment to celebrate, like Philly did last night. Some have suggested that we should follow other teams if we want to celebrate at the end of the season. Some, like our own LeBron James have done just that, choosing teams from other cities. Let’s be honest, if we were to change allegiances, any celebration would be hollow. And LeBron, you are our best chance to celebrate, and to do it together. Here’s hoping the Cavs can provide that moment for us at the beginning of June!
(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
16 Comments
was looking for this post last night… you should transfer the comments from the jurevicius piece to this piece…. more relevant here….
we are finally in the running for a championship! the most tortured sports city champhionship!!!!
I read your comments from there. I want people to know that the “WFNY mentality” around here is that we are EXPECTING a championship to happen in Cleveland. We know our turn IS coming, we just don’t know when…
Rick, I am glad to see that you and the boys at WFNY “know that our turn is coming”…. I am expecting it some time too. I don’t know if I will be alive to see it but I expect it. I hope to expect some other city will give us their team manager/coach (Charlie Manuel), their free agents (thought we had it this year with Stallworth, Rogers, Williams), farm their prospects for us to buy (CC and basically any other pitcher from the Indians organization who is worth anything), and we can win a championship with them. I am hoping, waiting for Jamal Lewis to be that turn around player. I see the potential in him, yes the Browns finally have an O Line and running game (at least last year and on paper this year). I do disagree about Lebron though, I think the dude just wants to be in a big market. Nice Yankees/Cowboy hat dude. Do they make one like that for the Athenian B-ball team? I’m asking cause I don’t know.
dont get me wrong, i expect it as well…
i still think all three franchises are just a click shy of striking distance…
im still holding out hope that when it finally does happen, we go for the whole enchilada and the triptych… no cleve champs since 64, then all three in the same year… 09 is good for me…
I’m never one to be happy for other fans, because as a competitive person, I want that to be my team. But the 700 Level are good people, and I’m as happy for them as I could possibly for someone celebrating a Championship that, at the beginning of the year, I thought was going to be Cleveland’s. And so we wait some more….
I am SO done with the national media jumping on the Philadelphia bandwagon. Those poor Philly fans! They really needed a championship, right? Let’s just forget for a walk that Philadelphia fans and rude, obnoxious, spiteful and whiny brats (I lived 15 minutes away from Philly for two years, trust me: their fans are awful) for a second and just look at a cold hard fact:
Last Philadelphia championship: 1983…and one directly before that in 1980.
Last Cleveland championship: 1964…and that is ONLY if you count the Browns’s AFL Championships. If you don’t, not only is the year 1948 but it puts the three sports teams in Cleveland at 2 championships in 188 possible seasons.
That, my friends is one championship a century among three sports franchises
So, it would be REAL nice if everyone got out of Philadelphia’s back pocket saying how tortured they are and stopped coddling self-righteous brats that don’t even know what the definition of “torture” is.
And, yes, this is the angriest I have ever been in my life….I need to go calm down.
espn.com page 2 poll has cleveland as the city most deserving of a title.
not if, but when. i like that mentality.
Saw an article that Charlie Manuel was offered an ivy league scholarship – good to know as many ignorantly went to the “dumb hillbilly” card on him. He made some mistakes here as manager but that’s the most 2nd-guessed position in a sports city. Congrats to Charlie – class act all the way. Look at all the impressive hitting talent he cultivated in the last 15 years.
I was born in Akron – so I have been a devout Clevelend Sports fan since birth – (seriously, birth)… however i grew up in the Philly area, so i did form some allegiance to them too. So, by the time i was old enough to realize it, i was a sports fan of the 2 cities that had these long droughts….
While i am happy that the Phils won it, because in baseball they’re my #2…i still wait for the day when I can say that the Cleveland _______ are champioins.
WFNY – you guys rock – keep it up.
I don’t know…like…I know like…I’m really happy for Charlie and all like…seems like a like classy guy like…and a fun interview
anyone who discusses changing allegiances from cleveland isnt a true fan – i say “f ’em,” go root for someone else. you said it best – if we were to change allegiances, any celebration would be hollow. no doubt about it. being a true fan isnt a bandwagon, “it” kind of thing. its a part of you. you can’t just jump ship and go elsewhere and expect to receive the same gratification once it happens (and it will happen). the first championship of any kind i vividly remember was the orioles winning the ’83 world series. i was about 6 then, so i figure ive spent about 31 years of my life living and dying with cleveland sports. if i were to leave now, it would be like selling my investments today with the stock market at a low.
and no, im not “happy” for charlie manual, the philly fans or anyone else. charlie’s not my manager anymore. from what i remember, manual basically forced Shapiro’s hand mid-season and said “contract extension or fire me.” basically, charlie put himself ahead of his team back then. im sure he’s a good guy, but i dont feel happy for him.
I was just making fun of his tendency to say like over and over in his interviews. And I’d rather see a guy like Charlie win the series than freakin’ Larussa again or something.
I was happy for Philly for about 3.2 seconds. Then I remembered the Drive, the Fumble, Art Modell, John Elway, Joe Table, the Choke, the Shot, the Sweep, the 2000-2001 Ravens.
The hell with feeling good for other teams and other cities. I’m a Cleveland fan–I want to feel good about MINE.
2000-2001 Ravens= the real Browns
Well, as a Cleveland fan, I’m actually pretty happy. I live in the Philly area, and I have a lot of friends who are just experiencing that championship for the first time. So good for them.
And, in typical compartmentalization/rationalization fashion that is the M.O. of the Cleveland fan, it sure as hell beats having to be jealous of the Rays or non-stop coverage of the most annoying fanbase in baseball, Red Sox Nation.
Congrats Charlie-a class act, fine man, and a leader adored by his troops. None of those traits would describe one dour Eric Wedge.
Charlie-you had the courage to call Dolan/Shapiro out for what they were and are, and for that you were fired. You’re view of how a major league team and organization did not mesh with “new” ownership-Eric Wedge was waiting in Shapiro’s Harvard suck-up cab all the while.
Congrats Charlie-a true baseball man, a winner, leader, and someone deserving of true respect.