More Game 7 Thoughts

Vetern Cleveland fans know, this was to be expected.

Our fair city has a history of losing big games. And sure, yesterday wasn't exactly shocking, I mean, the Cavs did lose to the better team, it still sucks.

By any reasoning, the Cavs had a hell of a year. I'm pretty sure this will be the last time, ever, that LeBron will be an underdog.

People are already starting to hate the kid, mostly because ESPN and the media go nuts over him. I can't really blame them, growing up, I hated Michael Jordan. Absolutely hated him. I could never understand why kids in my class would wear Jordan shirts when he was beating OUR TEAM. I definitely got made picked on for wearing a Mark Price jersey to class (I bet they are all Cavs fans now... fuckers).

As much as this loss sucks, I refuse to put it with all of Clevelands other failures. I mean, this was predicted by everyone (okay, not 7 games, but the outcome). Sure it hurts, but come on, if the Cavs would have won yesterday, it would have been one of the great upsets in NBA playoff history. I don't get how, since the Cavs lost, it could be a great crushing defeat.

Yesterday, ABC ran down a list of Cleveland sport failures, and let me tell you, they were ill prepared. They started off with "The Catch", which I thought was really stretching it. For those of you who don't know, "The Catch" was a play made by Willie Mays during Game 1 of the 1954 World Series (ya, 1 out in game 1) versus the Indians. I wasn't aware that one in the first game of the World Series was really that bad.

So ABC starts off with "The Catch" and then we get "Red Right 88" and Brian Sipe. Then John Elway and "The Drive" and Ernest Byner and "The Fumble". They showed Jordan and "The Shot" over Ehlo. Finally, they showed Tony Fernandez's error and the Indians losing the 97 World Series.

I thought they missed a few there.

I would've put Pedro's game 5 Heroics. He came in from the bullpen in game 5 of the 98 ALDS and threw a perfect 6 innings. That was fun. Shut down the best offense in baseball. In Cleveland.

I also would've shown "The Shot II" This time was Jordan over Gerald Wilkins in 1993. This wasn't a close series, but he did hit the winning shot in Cleveland, at the buzzer, to send the Cavs home for the summer.

"The Modell". How about Art Modell moving the Browns franchise to Balti-less. I've said it before and I'll say it again: If you can't make money off of Browns football in Cleveland, you shouldn't be in the money making business.

How about "The Drop"? "The Non-Catch"? Grady Sizemore lost a fly ball in the Kansas City sun late last year and it sent the Indians on a downward spiral. I would almost call the entire last week of the 2005 season "The Choke".

There are more heartbreaks as well ABC. How about getting a superstar and having him eat himself out of the league (Shawn Kemp)... "The Twinkie"? How about the refs changing the rules and reviewing a play after another play has been run (Browns vs Jags) ... "The Bottles"? How about Jim Chones breaking his foot during the second round matchup vs the Celtics in 1976... "The Foot"? How about losing a NFL playoff game when you are up by 17... "The Butch Davis"? How about all of Z's foot injuries.. "The Feet"? (okay, I'm stretchin here).

Now if LeBron gets hurt or leaves in free agency, this series loss will hurt a lot more (cause it means that they blew their chance) but that it doubtful. However, it looks like the Cavs and LeBron will have many more chances in the playoffs.