Cavs Lose to Hawks, But Joe Tait is Back!
March 28, 2011WFNY Bracket Challenge – Ohio State Out
March 28, 2011
How much more of this am I supposed to endure?
I am a proud graduate of the University of Kansas who was born and raised in Cleveland. I attended my first Indians game before I could walk. The only reason I couldn’t attend the infamous “Red, Right, 88” game in January of 1981 was because my mother said -25 wind chill was too cold for a four year old. I witness “The Drive” and “The Shot” live in person. So by the time I first stepped foot in Lawrence, Kansas in the fall of 1994, I had already been hardened.
The majority of my college buddies were from Chicago, and I was in college during the Bulls second three-peat. That was painful for the lone Clevelander in the group. Also while I was at KU, the Cavs were irrelevant, the Browns were taken away from us, and the Indians were in the midst of their “Era of Champions” (SIDE NOTE – only in our city would the “Era of Champions” not have a single world title attached to it).
With the Indians failing to bring home a World Series title despite two appearances in the Fall Classic in three years, things were especially brutal for me with my friends. They all knew my kryptonite at the time – my lack of championships. If I had a dollar for every time I would get into a sports argument that ended with “yeah, well how many rings do you have,” you could rename Mark Cuban.
So where am I going with this?
In case you were living on another planet yesterday, little Virginia Commonwealth from the Colonial Athletic Conference, a team that finished the regular season losing five of their last eight and a team that didn’t even get together on Selection Sunday because they figured they weren’t going to get into the NCAA Tournament, stunned my alma mater 71-61 to advance to the Final Four.
I had a week of listening to everyone talk about how Kansas had the easiest route to the Final Four in history. Now I have to deal with the “Kansas choked to another mid-major” talk. I vowed not to buy into the hype. After all, I should have known better because as my college buddies used to say prior to the 2008 National Title, “you have brought the Cleveland Curse on us.”
But I made the cardinal mistake. I have to come clean now.
Last Friday, thinking Ohio State would end up in the title game against Kansas, I used miles to book a ticket for next Monday to the National Title game in Houston. Living in Cleveland, I thought if I was going to have a chance to get a ticket, it had to be then because if the Buckeyes made is through to the Final Four and the title game, I’d have to hedge my bets and get in early or else I’d never get there.
Again, I should have known better.
The Kansas loss yesterday hurts especially because other one friend of mine who just moved here in the last six months, I know nobody else in town who went to Kansas. I’m on an island here. And everyone who knows me knows I’m the Kansas guy.
Take last year for example. Another epic meltdown as KU was the #1 team in America all year long and was stunned in the second round by Northern Iowa. While my good friends knew how to handle the situation, everyone else I knew gave me the “your team ruined my bracket” routine. Guess what, I don’t care about your bracket. I care that the team I love so much had their season abruptly ended by an inferior opponent.
But you know what, I can take it. Because I’m from Cleveland. Its in my DNA to deal with tough losses.
Sports are obviously a passion for me and a distraction from the craziness that is the rest of my life. I couldn’t fall asleep last night, but my anger has subsided this morning. In years past this would have had me in a funk for weeks. I have recounted my 1997 World Series story in the past, but if you need refreshing, its a classic:
In my apartment in Lawrence, Kansas, I sat to await what I thought would be the greatest moment of my life at the time. The Indians were finally going to win a World Series and end this city’s misery. Well you all know what happened after Jose Mesa got the first out in the ninth.
What you don’t know, and can be corroborated by my wife (who was my girlfriend at the time) and my friends who were watching with me, was that when the game went to extra innings, I became violently ill. After the ball went passed Charlie Nagy’s glove, I shut down. I went into my bedroom and layed there. Next thing I know, the room began to spin. I ran into the bathroom and began to throw up. Not proud to say it, but this story is all true. (I promised my wife I’d leave out the part where I took a shower and began to sob uncontrollably).
I have learned you can’t take these losses too hard. It’s not life and death. I lost my father to cancer in 2004 and my outlook on sports losses changed from that day forward. Its all about perspective. I’ve got an amazing wife and two healthy kids (and the 2008 National Championship). That is what its really all about.
Did that sound convincing enough?
Is it Opening Day yet? What am i going to do until Friday????
Is Matt LaPorta going to finally reach his potential? Do the Indians have enough starting pitching? Can Jack Hannahan hold down third base?
Bring on the Tribe!!
photo via Nick Krug/Lawrence Journal World
17 Comments
Great article!!!!! Bring on the Tribe indeed…watch out for a darkhorse player named BUCK!
ok, let me level-set with you for a moment.
you are a fan of Kansas one of the most historic college basketball teams in existence.
you have won at least a share of the BigXII championship in every year that Bill Self has been your coach after his first season when you finished 2nd (7 years running champ).
you have made the tourney EVERY year with Self.
you have made the Sweet Sixteen in 5 of the 8 seasons.
you have made the Elite Eight in 4 of the past 8 seasons.
you won the NCAA championship in 2008.
Kansas fans have everything you could want (including reaching the peak) under Self. Any complaining is not going to be tolerated on a Cleveland board when we currently have 3 of the worst teams in their respective sport 🙂
@TD – ok, I know you have heard that from Cleveland fans before and that you are likely sick of it. But, I think you needed to actually see those accomplishments laid out there to see how good Kansas basketball has been despite the heart-wrenching defeats.
if you didn’t have that ’08 championship, then I’d feel your pain. But you do.
I mean, I’ll bet the Yankees felt like they had some heart-wrenchers in the playoffs last year too. Or the Red Sox down the stretch towards the playoffs. And just like Kansas, they reloaded in the offseason and fully expect to be in position to make another run this year.
great article, though I know better than to get hyped about the Tribe… or the Browns.. or the Cavs. That’s probably the hardest part after a tough loss as of late; no other decent team to look forward to. Wake me up in 5-7 years.
You won a title in 2008. Really? I guess I can feel your pain but if Mesa slams the door in 97 I am not posting this, this site has a different name, and I am still grinning.
I feel badly for Kansas; when a team is hitting 3’s like VCU was, there is nothing you can do to stop it. This has been one the strangest tournaments I’ve ever seen. VCU’s win sets up a historic game with Butler, two unranked teams in Final Four game. This occurrence says a lot about college basketball today, anyone can win it all.
this weekend (osu PLUS the sixth straight year for a top 10 miami to lose to hockey east in frozen four) was the first time i regretted persuading to my son root for my teams.
(we live outside of boston, he has options.)
it’s dark enough for me; he truly didn’t need this.
@jim….I feel your pain….dang redhawks
I’m right there with you…down here in Jax, I’m the only Cleveland fan around, and it’s brutal living in the heart of fair-weather fan SEC country and the constant beatdown from Florida sports “fans.” A good buddy of mine down here is a Kansas grad, so we get together to watch the games Friday night. To come clean on my part, we started making plans for what we were going to do for next Monday. I told him that I had my last 6-pack of Great Lakes Christmas Ale waiting to be finished, and that we’d open it for the Kansas/OSU final. So Friday ends and I’m pissed…and he was hosting a cookout after the Kansas game on Sunday. I simply told him that, as a Cleveland fan, I felt that I could offer some solid moral support – which is drinking good beer.
As for my Christmas Ale, I believe that Opening Day is a valid enough reason. 🙂
ya know reep, here’s the thing:
miami is #1 seed, they’re playing #4 seed. where are they playing?? MANCHESTER NH!!! i mean seriously? and it’s like that every year.
meanwhile yale as a #1 plays 10 miles away in bridgeport. (and no tears for BC playing in denver this year… they’ve had enough NCAA love to last a couple decades.)
i used to think they should schedule some frozen 4 regionals in detroit or chicago… now i think they should schedule a regional in cincy or hell, just play it at cady. they owe us.
^^University of NEW HAMPSHIRE is #4 seed. forgot to mention that point.
“yeah, well how many rings do you have,”
Just answer the way I answer all the pittsburgh people I see at work (I live in PA):
I have no rings, just like you. You’ve have never played a second.
How DID Virginia Commonwealth get into the tournament? Until I read this article, I assumed that they won their conference tournament, but they lost to Old Dominion. Its not like they had a great record either, 23-11. How does an 11 loss team from the Colonial Athletic Association get into the tourney without winning their conference? Meanwhile, major conference teams like Alabama (21-11) and Virginia Tech (21-11 also) were left out. Kind of a head scratcher.
I mean dont get me wrong, the “they dont deserve to be there” argument is out the window. But their underwhelming regular season and questionable tourney bid just makes this run all the more remarkable. This might be the most unlikely Final Four team ever. Imagine if they win the whole thing, it would trump Villanova in 85 in my opinion.
Jim,
I honestly can’t believe they haven’t had one in Oxford yet. MU has to have one of, if not the best arenas in the NCAA. I’m sure there aren’t too many college only/hockey only venues out there, and the newness of Goggin/Cady has to put it at the top.
Only problem/roadblock I could see is the closest airport is an hour away, and the lack of decent hotels in the area.
As the great Al Swearengen once said: “Pain or damage don’t end the world. Or despair or … beatings. The world ends when you’re dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man… and give some back.”
I’ve seen more bad teams, disappointing seasons and more unbelievable finishes than any one person should have to endure in a lifetime and trust me, you’ll be OK.
@Ghost – if VCU wins the tourney, then the only upset that I can think of that would even be a comparison would be Gardner over Karelin. And since most people don’t follow wrestling, I think this would trump it.
As a current Miami student, I was extremely irritated to see us have to play at New Hampshire. I would have rather been a 2 seed and played in another region than have played in UNH’s backyard. My sports memories only go back to the late 90s so I don’t remember most of Cleveland’s sporting woes, but I have learned to accept losing and have transferred that sentiment over to the collegiate level. I still can’t believe we lost to Boston a couple years ago. It was a painful a loss as any championship game I can think of. If you haven’t seen it then here you go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-mBI7jEfVU&feature=related