Last weekend, I had the pleasure of hosting my parents for my fraternity’s parents weekend. Part of the weekend was a father-son golf outing.
My dad, whose golf skills are equitable to Jessica Simpson’s cooking talent, and I played with one of our freshmen, who hails from St.. Louis. The freshman’s father recently completed a business transaction in my native Cleveland, and one of the first things he asked my father and I was about the rumor that the Cuyahoga River caught on fire.
Yes, the rumor is true. For those unaware, in June 1969, the Cuyahoga, which feeds into Lake Erie, was set ablaze, due to excessive pollution.
Time magazine made two pointed statements about the river: It oozes rather than flows, and a person would decay, not drown, in it. The river fire, as well as Dennis Kucinich’s mayoral term, is undoubtedly one of the low points in this blue-collar town’s history.
However, the “Mistake by the Lake” (our “nickname” that my buddy Jack likes to remind me of so often) is poised for a rebirth, at least athletically.
Tuesday marked a day Cleveland fans have longed to see. After watching the Major League Champion Chicago White Sox (sorry Chi-town, but the Japanese are the world champions) receive their World Series rings, the Tribe came out and subsequently spanked the Sox 8-2. Later that night, the Cavaliers came out and embarrassed the Philadelphia 76ers 124-91, in a game where they had 99 points after three quarters.
Couple those teams with the Browns and their impending upswing, and future successes are inevitable. For the first time since my mom was picking me up from middle school in my Bernie Kosar jersey, Cleveland has good teams to root for, sans the Crunch/Force.
Numerous prognosticators have selected the Indians to win the Central Division, and as potential World Series champions, and some went so far as to select centerfielder Grady Sizemore as the MVP. That may be a stretch, as Sizemore is only in his second full season, but his talent is undeniable. Their young core of Sizemore, shortstop Jhonny Peralta, Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez and a young pitching staff have them ready for a several-year run at a title, similar to the mid-to-late 1990s.
The Indians have a deep farm system with pitchers Jeremy Sowers, Fausto Carmona and Adam Miller, third baseman Andy Marte and outfielders Ben Francisco, Franklin Gutierrez and Ryan Garko.
Hope runs high for this year and beyond when it comes to the stadium at East Ninth and Prospect Avenue.
The other half of the Gateway complex, Quicken Loans Arena, clearly has Cleveland fans in high spirits. Local product LeBron James has single-handedly turned around a franchise that will make its first postseason appearance since 1998. That was so long ago that a key reserve, Danny Ferry, is now the Cavaliers general manager. SLU product Larry Hughes has been anointed as LBJ’s sidekick, along with center Zydrunas Ilgauskas to man the middle.
The Cavaliers will most likely not win the NBA championship this season. But James keeps getting better and better, and his supporting cast will only improve over time, as the Cavs can sign more free agents and develop their draft picks.
Michael Jordan won championships with Luc Longley as a center-when a transcendent player is on the floor, he needs role players, not superstars. Now, the Cavs are starting to model themselves after the Bulls of the 1990s.
I highlighted the offseason signings of the Browns two weeks ago, and the same thing I said then holds true now. Bringing home kids with Cleveland pride, who still have talent, will help re-establish a franchise mired in ineptitude.
The tagteam of Phil Savage and Romeo Crennel have beenjudicious in their free-agent signings, and this April’s draft will provide more depth. The Browns may still be a few years away from the playoffs, but there is still a reason for hope.
Rather than attempting to be profound, I will steal directly from what should have been 1994’s best picture: “Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things.”
For a city who has not won any kind of championship since the 1960s, who was named ESPN.com’s most tortured sports city, who had its river catch on fire and who was bankrupted by a young mayor who every four years considers himself worthy to lead the nation, hope is all you can hold on to.
And for clarification, the river has been cleaned and has not caught on fire since 1969, although Randy Newman chronicled that night in “Burn On,” which was the opening song to Major League, the baseball movie that depicted the Indians’ rise from incompetence to a championship. A foreshadowing, perhaps .
