Please not on our court: While We’re Waiting

Happy Tuesday WFNY!

It’s happy for now, anyway. But will it still be a happy Tuesday later this evening?

Is anyone else having a hard time focusing on or thinking about anything other than this Finals series? Man, this series has only been five games so far, and I’m already completely fried. Emotionally, physically, spiritually. Staying up way past my normal bedtime for these games, fretting over every single call, every single coaching move, every single play. It’s exhausting.

But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Do you remember what it was like a year ago today? I found this little gem in my Timehop that helps remind us of where we were and how we got here:

A year ago, many fans were freaking out over Kyrie Irving. We were debating whether to take a chance on Joel Embiid despite his injury concerns. We were thinking about Andrew Wiggins. Can Anthony Bennett have a bounceback year next year? Will Dion Waiters take a major leap? Oh hey, the Spurs and Heat are playing. Go Spurs! LOL Heat.

Fast forward just one year, and Ben Cox’s pseudo-prediction came to fruition like following steps in a recipe. Now, tonight, the Cleveland Cavaliers play the most important game in franchise history. They must defend home court at all cost and not let the Golden State Warriors celebrate. Please, not on that floor. Not in front of those fans.

I don’t want the Cavs to lose, period. Not this game, not this series. But if they’re going to lose the series, I really, really, really don’t want it to happen in Cleveland. It shouldn’t matter, but it does. For some reason, watching the Warriors celebrate a title at Cleveland’s expense on Cleveland’s floor will just be an extra bit of pain that we don’t need.

As I am writing this, it’s 5:45 am on Tuesday morning. And I already feel sick. I’m so nervous and excited for this game. I know things feel bleak when you lose two games in a row in a series. And they feel especially dark now that the Cavs are behind in the series and one loss away from elimination. But this thing isn’t over yet.

All the Cavs need to do is win one last game at home, then go play a Game 7 where anything can happen. All bets are off in Game 7s. It’s not likely. I don’t think the Cavs will win this series anymore. But I still believe there’s a chance and I’m not giving up hope.

*****

Is losing ok?

Yesterday, WFNY’s Craig Lyndall wrote a piece in which he discussed buying in to this team. In it, he also wrote that it’s ok for the Cavaliers to lose this series.

I’m not afraid of losing anymore. That’s the biggest takeaway from this Cleveland Cavaliers run. The Cavs are great. LeBron James has delivered in a way that I never dreamed he ever could have in his first season back with the team. Losing isn’t scary anymore. It isn’t the desired outcome, but if it happens, so what? We’ve seen losing before.

We’ve seen all different shapes and colors of losing and that experience doesn’t mean this is a miserable sports town or that losing is a part of our identity. Not anymore. Losing is the hard outer shell that scoffs at ESPN misery montages in 2015. Losing is the defense mechanism that kills fear. Losing? Bring it. I’ve seen the displaced Browns, in horrendously ugly non-Cleveland uniforms, win Super Bowls with an all-time great as the General Manager not one, but two times.

You can’t scare me with the idea of mere losing.

It reminded me so much of something I once wrote a while back, under very different circumstances:

Cleveland isn’t cursed. Cleveland is lucky. Cleveland is a small market city that gets to support 3 franchises. How many cities would kill for an NBA team? I live in Columbus. I can tell you that Columbus would give anything to have the Cavaliers. I sometimes feel like Cleveland sports fans have been driven so Championship crazy that we forget to count the blessings before us.

Of course winning a title is the goal. We all want to experience it in our lifetime. Yes, we’re a tortured, battered, scarred, beaten down group of fans. And we take pride in owning that misery. It’s a part of our passion. Other cities make fun of our passion, but it’s because they don’t understand it. It’s different in Cleveland and we should be proud of that.

But maybe it’s time to let go of some of the Championship anxiety. As I listened to Mike and Mike this morning (yes, a cardinal sin, I know), Marcellus Wiley mentioned how he remembered a class in college where they were talking about setting goals. Having goals is important. But Wiley said his instructor made the point that you can’t achieve your ultimate goal until you learn to focus on the first step. Maybe instead of fretting about the ultimate goal, we should stop and think a little bit about the first step in front of us.

I’m sure that will be the Cavaliers’ mentality going into this game tonight. Forget about the series as whole. Just worry about this one thing, winning this one game tonight. But as fans, is it ok if the Cavaliers lose? Is it ok to still be proud of this team and the way they fought through adversity?

Of course it is. What this team has accomplished this year, in spite of so many circumstances working against them, has been nothing short of inspiring. But it still might not be enough to reach that ultimate goal. And that’s why winning a Championship is so hard. Everything can seem like it’s going your way, but the slightest thing can derail your run. And you only get so many good chances. LeBron James has been in five straight NBA Finals now. How many more deep runs does he left in him? This may or may not be the Cavaliers’ best chance to win a title. We won’t know that until much later. But this is an opportunity. It’s a chance. And that’s all you can really ask for.

I don’t have anything else for my WWW today. No links, no music, nothing. I already told you, focusing on anything other than this series has been tough. And I don’t want any distractions, either. I want to focus on this moment and remember to really embrace this run. No matter what the outcome, this has been fun. Oh so much more fun that the previous years. I wouldn’t trade everything that has happened this year for anything.

And now that the series and season is getting closer to an end, I just want to take a moment to let this all soak in. It’s like when you go on vacation. If you’re not careful, it can fly by before you know it. Sometimes it’s important to just stop and let it all in. And that’s how I feel this morning. Despite the lack of sleep and the nerves, I want to remember this ride. And I want this ride to keep going for another couple of days. Give us a Game 7 with LeBron James, the best player in the world. Let us see what happens.

Go Cavs!