Wow, what an eight week ride for a city that has always been synonymous with losing. A city where black cats roam the fields and arenas. A city that has not only gone 50 years without winning a title of any sort, but has also endured more than it's share of gut wrenching sports disappointments.
Old school sports fans remember the 80's Marty Schottenheimer led Cleveland Browns. Not once, but twice did they lose in dramatic fashion in back to back AFC championship games. First was John Elway's 98 yard masterpiece (the drive) in 1987. Not to be outdone, and with a minute left in regulation, Ernest Byner fumbled away the game tying touchdown as he drove toward the end zone in 1988.
Seven years later the owner moved the team to Baltimore. Moved the team? The Cleveland Browns ARE the NFL, and so are their fans. Everyone knows who you are talking about when you mention the dog pound.
As a born and raised Nashvillian, I would be devastated if the Titans relocated. And we've had them for less than 20 years. I now live in Dallas, and as much as they complain about Romo, the city would be on suicide alert if the Cowboys moved to Los Angeles.
But I digress.
The minute they touched down in Baltimore, the (now) Ravens draft Johnathan Ogden and Ray Lewis. Two Hall of Famers. Two Super Bowl victories.
Wow.
An empathetic pat on the back....followed by...."damn that's messed up"...is all a non Browns fan can muster as consolation.
And it's not like the basketball gods have been any nicer.
Who can forget Michael Jordan's series clinching free throw line pull up jumper over Cleveland's Craig Ehlo in the 1989 NBA playoffs. The Bulls went on to own the 90's. The Cavaliers, who were a young and upcoming team at the time, faded into oblivion as the millennium came to a close.
In 2003, Cleveland struck gold, drafting the best high school player that most of us have ever seen in LeBron James. Like the Browns, LeBron left the city high and dry. And like the Ravens, he has two rings to show for it.
"Damn that's messed up"...says the non Cleveland fan.
But if the past eight weeks are any indication, it seems as if Cleveland is finally starting to catch some breaks.
It started in May. Johnny Manziel fell to the bottom of the first round where Cleveland was able to snatch him up...after initially passing on him with their earlier first round pick. A Heisman trophy winner, Manziel has the intangibles to be a great player. Don't know if he will, but at least there's hope.
Shortly after, the NBA basketball gods pulled Cleveland's ping pong ball last in this year's draft. Andrew Wiggins was the prize. Now let's rewind to this time last year. Wiggins was widely considered the best high school player to come along since you know who, and was universally destined to be a star. Yea, that Andrew Wiggins. Even if the Cavaliers trade him (as rumored to Minnesota for Kevin Love), Cleveland still gets in return an All Star power forward.
That in itself is a nice run.
Then came today's news that the most polarizing athlete in the world is coming home...with a message of..."I missed you...and I'm coming home to finish what we started."
A win for the rejected.
If this were a movie you'd be all teary eyed by now. How can you not be happy for Cleveland?
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