C-Cap Recap: Cookie Crumbles + More 4th Starter Ideas
September 13, 2016Cleveland Browns Progress Report: Week 1
September 13, 2016Happy Tuesday, WFNY!
I know, these are such dark times for Cleveland sports fans. The Cleveland Indians lost last night and the Detroit Tigers won, knocking the Tribeâs AL Central lead down to âonlyâ six games. The Cleveland Browns lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in a frustratingly familiar fashion in the season opener. Robert Griffin suffered a shoulder injury late in said game that is now going to cost him most of this season and could very well end his tenure in Cleveland. But as the saying goes, âNo matter how dark the night, somehow the sun always rises and the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals.â
I might have to get that saying tattooed on my body as permanent reminder. But I wanted to talk a little bit about this “3-1 lead” meme that has been a constant on Twitter timelines of anyone who follows the Cavaliers or the NBA in general. For those who may not be aware, a simple Twitter search of âwarriors 3-1 leadâ will bring you back literally thousands upon thousands of variations of the same joke.
Cleveland…just a reminder, Warriors blew 3-1 lead pic.twitter.com/l7ZzrSurKn
— Alex Hale (@TheCLESportsGuy) September 12, 2016
When RG3 is hurt already but the Warriors still blew a 3-1 finals lead with the unanimous MVP to Lebron James pic.twitter.com/H9gWhxoM1l
— Eric Michael (@EricWesty45) September 12, 2016
When you remember that the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead. pic.twitter.com/j8p30ddIkZ
— #DivisionalRound on NBC (@SNFonNBC) September 11, 2016
Wow RGIII's shoulder MRI tells you all you need to know pic.twitter.com/g4KK4QJQFg
— Ramzy Nasrallah (@ramzy) September 12, 2016
Warriors also blew a 3-1 lead "@Sports_Greats This is one of my favorite quotes. https://t.co/QWYH1CRNbo
— Eric Lauzin (@Lauzin) September 13, 2016
https://twitter.com/SportsTalkJoe/status/775668926160175104
The fact that this is available makes me want to move to Oakland pic.twitter.com/5OmDkuMSYG
— Ohio has only vaccinated 3.54% of its population (@demeatloaf) September 10, 2016
I don't live in Oakland but i could still do it… https://t.co/iHuftKzVkG
— conrad kaz (@conradkaz) September 12, 2016
purchased pic.twitter.com/scoGBlLrZg
— conrad kaz (@conradkaz) September 12, 2016
it's gonna be really great because it'll say 3 1 LEAD and be surrounded by this pic.twitter.com/iLwQxpk1YT
— conrad kaz (@conradkaz) September 12, 2016
HMMM….. pic.twitter.com/X3vTvx9cIO
— Prescott Rossi (@PrescottRossi) September 12, 2016
You could spend hours looking at all of these and still not see them all. Probably not even half of them. This thing is literally everywhere. It has reached a level of Twitter ubiquity that is on par with Harambe. Almost.
Obviously, when something becomes this pervasive, there is backlash. And the backlash against Cavs fans is starting to pick up steam as more and more people are either annoyed by their timelines being filled with the same joke, or they seem to find it petty for a fanbase to keep antagonizing their opponents this long after the season.
I get it. I mean, Cleveland is a fanbase that has seen countless unimaginable heartbreaks in our lives. There is a montage of misery made up solely of those unthinkable collapses and excrutiating close encounters with greatness. So how petty must this fanbase be to be so callous and mean spirited to mock the team they beat? Right?
Well, sorry. I donât feel sorry for the Warriors or their fans.
Remember when Warriors owner Joe Lacob let us know he's smarter than everyone? I'm sure he's got a plan now. pic.twitter.com/PLfL483fSW
— Chase Gunter (@WChaseGunter) May 25, 2016
After spending a year listening to the Warriors being insufferable Champions,1 Iâm simply not surprised that Cavs fans are having their fun.
For years Cleveland sports fans have been antagonized by fans of other cities and teams. Weâve had to listen to âAt least weâre not Clevelandâ jokes for decades. Fine, Cavs fans could take the higher road. Me personally? Iâve not made a single 3-1 lead joke (other than the one I made in the opening paragraph above, which I only did for effectâŠ.I promise), nor do I even find most of them particularly funny or clever2. Itâs just not really my thing. But you will never find me criticizing those who do make the jokes. Not one bit. If itâs your sort of thing and youâre having fun, then knock yourself out. You deserve it.
As fans, this is what winning a Championship is all about. We get to not care. For so long we as Cleveland fans have been so hyper-sensitive to what anyone has said about Cleveland and our sports team. But now? Nobody seems to really care. Say what you want about Cavs fans being obnoxious and driving this 3-1 lead meme into the ground. We. Donât. Care.
I joked above about the Indians being in darkness, but I donât really feel that way at all. Itâs mostly just me having fun with it. Before the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead, I might have been worried that the Indians were going to collapse in âtypicalâ Cleveland fashion. Now that the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead, I feel good about the Indians. I donât worry about the weight of the ghosts of Cleveland sports past.
And when it comes to the Browns, yeah, they suck. Itâs going to be a long season and I truly think they are going to go 0-16. But thatâs OK. I donât have to feel angst about that because the Cavaliers have absolved that pain. I believe in the Browns front office and I believe in Hue Jackson. There have been many bad seasons of Browns football where the Browns tried to put together a good team and failed. This year is different. The Browns are bad because the front office made them bad. This Browns team is not trying to win no matter what Hue or the players say. The Browns have a long term plan, and they are executing it. Itâs painful now, but you have to go through this and be patient. Having the Cavaliers and Indians makes that so much easier.
So no, these arenât actually dark days at all. These are great days. These are fun days. The Indians are about to play postseason baseball and are such a fun team to follow. The Cavaliers are going to get to defend their Championship soon. So keep having fun. Donât give in to the pressure to stop celebrating any way you want to celebrate.
And look, maybe the Cavaliers fall apart this season and donât defend their title. Maybe they blow a series in dramatic fashion. And if that happens, the wrath of the rest of the NBA will come pouring down on Cavs fans. So be it. Thatâs all part of the game. Fans are going to be fans. Weâre going to be happy when our teams win and miserable when they lose. Weâre going to make fun of teams when our teams win and weâre going to be annoyed by the fans of the teams who beat us. Thatâs just how it goes.
Which is why Cavs fans are living it up now. Before long, it might be someone elseâs turn to have all the fun. We waited 52 years to have our fun. Live it up while it still lasts. And when things turn around and others are trying to rub it in our faces, we can always whisper to one another about the time the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead in the Finals and remember all the good times we had this summer celebrating it. Thereâs no crying Jordan meme mean enough to take that away from us.
29 Comments
I prefer to think of it as the Cavaliers fought back from a 3-1 deficit.
Andrew, regarding the Browns, I truly feel the moral challenge for our fan base is to use this year to gain some emotional distance from the team. From the ownership, to the management, to the social media team on down, they give us so little substance to actually feel good about, much less serve as a platform for “hope”. To wit, I’m sure many will have seen this story floating around on social media in the last 24 hours: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-08/nfl-s-cleveland-browns-are-on-a-cash-making-data-mining-mission
NFL franchises have always been a vehicle for making money for billionaires, but I’m not sure it’s ever felt so cynical or alienated from the fan base. At what point does our loyalty to an incompetent but profit-generating franchise become aiding and abetting a corrupt corporate structure? And this is to say nothing about the head injury issue the league is still failing to truly confront while billions of dollars flow in.
Anyhow, this is a jumble of thoughts, but I think the NFL is in some degree of trouble, and I wonder if the Browns are a sort of canary in the mine.
If the NFL ever does fall, then it shall be replaced by something else to fill humanity’s insatiable thirst for gladiator entertainment. Boxing fell to football. Football might fall, but would Lacrosse take its place?
Memes in general are terrific for several reasons. I love the long-standing ones like Harambe and 3-1, and love the creativity of the Crying Jordan as it’s no longer as simple as some shoddy MS Paint paste that gets the job done. Anything that motivates creativity and care is OK in my book. But I think my favorites are the ones where you have to be there, watching a specific game or other moment at that very time, to be a part of them. Yelling Stanford Fan is the perfect example.
http://i2.wp.com/usatftw.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/screen-shot-2016-01-01-at-7-12-35-pm.png?w=500
Remove the steroids and HGH, and American Gladiators would be a fine milquetoast replacement http://cdn.hitfix.com/photos/5632391/American-Gladiators.jpg
too cheesy in the WWE, American Ninja Warrior type realm
we need something more gruesome but that we can also rationalize away as “sport”
On a serious note, I think we need to be careful about making ‘essentializing’ arguments about human nature (e.g. that we inherently crave violent sport). One could make a similar claim about being naturally inclined to warfare, and yet we have found ways to forge treaties/alliances and avoid large scale combat (knock on wood). Certainly, someone from the Middle Ages would marvel at the absence of local violence in contemporary society.
As pertains to sport, we’ve discussed this elsewhere, but a sport like basketball to me is a perfect balance of controlled aggression and physical grace. Violence is a small, harshly penalized part of the game rather than being fetishized as it is in football, hockey, boxing, MMA, etc. This is, in part, why I feel so increasingly drawn to the game (as well as the fact the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead). My hope is that fans will start shifting more to sports like basketball, and putting greater (financial) pressure on the NFL to adapt the game. But hey, I’m admittedly someone who would be psyched about watching pro athletes play flag football
I have derived way too much pleasure from tracking the Harambee meme. It will have reached its full potential when blended with the Browns in some way
Conrad is officially the GOAT, kudos to him.
Baseball is a game of beauty unto itself that no other sport shall ever surpass.
But, yes, was being quite facetious with the human nature arguments though there is some underlying truth in that parts of our brain are happy to give in to cheering the violence. These are things that can be controlled though.
Reading “Warriors Blew 3-1 Lead” memes like…
CC: Demeatloaf
Baseball is a beautiful game. I miss playing and being a fan but hope to work my way back by coaching little league one of these days. I do think pitchers need to wear helmets on the mound đ
I submit cat curling…
https://media.giphy.com/media/qW68lTebNpLCE/giphy.gif
soft-core helmets and rib protectors is what they should probably wear
I didn’t know 3-1 was a meme, I must be getting out of touch with the internet in my old age.
That being said I keep thinking back to being down 3-1. That game 4 loss felt way worse than watching the Browns Sunday. The Championship is great enough that the Browns can go 0-16 and I won’t care.
Here’s to Hue Jackson leading the 1018 Browns to 8-8. Go Cavs!!!
Whenever the Indians and Browns annoy you, just look at that Cavs championship hat, shirt, poster, etc.
And here we thought the glory days we’d missed were the 50s and 60s. Turns out it was the 11th century.
This is terrifyingly hilarious. I can’t tell the men from the women.
It’s so far in the future the years value overflowed
Except, globally, the last 100 years have been the most violent in recorded history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5duEA95Zn_s
The last 50 though have the greatest decline of violence in recorded history (due to them not including either of the WW or Korean War)
I’ve seen conflicting studies. Of course, the intensity of conflict has lessened (no huge field armies engaged in all-out warfare), but the scope has broadened. There are now more local or regional armed conflicts throughout the world than in the 50 years prior. It’s tough to make a good comparison. But yes, the numbers of people killed in the last 50 is definitely lower than in the previous 50 (which was the worst 50 years in the history of humanity).
Um, UCF?
Great post. Billionaire class is arrogant and in denial. “corrupt corporate structure” is what is becoming mainstream. NFL will just get sucked into the vortex. The data analytics mentioned in that article may be cutting edge for the NFL, but it’s child’s play compared to what’s going on in the tech/comms space.
I’m mad at Central Florida for being terrible
If you meant UFC, I think the general public needs something easier to rationalize
wow, that is an article of a different era in just about every sense possible
I know this point (declining violence over time) has been in some dispute in recent years. Steven Pinker has been a leading proponent of the hypothesis, but I need to read up on the critique to see if it has legs
Admittedly, there are a thousand variables. Technology increases the impact of violence; the availability of information provides more insight into otherwise hidden corners of the globe; “deaths” and “violence” are not necessarily interchangeable; medical advancement masks the raw data of death; etc.
I don’t know what the real data will actually say, but it’s safe to say that I subscribe to the belief that man’s inhumanity toward man has never declined; it just looks different.
(Which just caused me to realize that an article entitled “Never Forget” was published on 9/13 – but it’s about the Golden State Warriors’ basketball defeat. No judgment. Just, wow.)