Now that that's over...MOVE ON

I'm sitting here reading all these articles, tweets, comments, whatever by media/owners/fans/players, and they make it seem like we lost the championship tonight in losing to the Heat. While I can understand why people would feel like this game was 'our championship', it wasn't THAT important. It was a meaningless regular season game.

Am I not as big of a Cavs fan as everyone else or something? Am I missing something? Because I'm already over it. I've been over it. Yet I still see people talking/acting like it's the end of the world. I saw a man take the BROWNS away from me. This is nothing in comparison. It's just another superstar who's ego became too big for little old Cleveland. With tonight's game, we got a lot of pent up stuff off our chest tonight, and the outcome wasn't that important. Now let's MOVE ON.

The clingy-ex stuff needs to stop. Tonight needs to be that last hurdle in completely forgetting about this guy and moving on. Yes, the off-season sucked. Yes, the first game seeing him wearing the Heat uniform was really awkward and annoying. But watching them lose on opening night (as mentioned in a previous blog post) was a big step for the city of Cleveland. Watching us beat the same team that beat Miami the next night was another big step. And hopefully, after tonight's massacre handed to us (like I said, the outcome really shouldn't be that important), we can all finally get past it.

There won't be another game as hard as tonight's was to watch. For lack of better words, it was the first time we saw our ex with a new guy. Now that we've seen him play for Miami against our team, we can start to move on. We got all the pent up hatred off our chests during tonight's game. (By the way, I'm proud of how the fans handled it...nothing too out of line, nothing to make the city look bad, just good natured ribbing and mean chants. Nice work guys.) Now, there's no sense in talking about how bad he did our team/fans/city anymore. We've covered it to death. His comments about how much love he has for the fans, yadda yadda yadda, are the closest thing to an apology our city is gonna get with regards to HOW it was handled.

There's nothing left to talk about on the situation. Try to look on the bright side of things. No one took a team away from us this time. We still have the Cleveland Browns who actually are showing some signs of promise. We have an owner for the Cavaliers that is willing to do whatever it takes to win. He'll get this team turned around/rebuilt sooner rather than later. We have some young talent on the Indians. We're gonna be alright.

There might not be any championships for us in the near future, but on the flipside, LeBron James sure as hell didn't bring us one when he was a Cleveland Cavalier, either.

I've already moved on. I hope the rest of Cleveland can sooner rather than later. Let's forget about the player that left, and focus on the teams and city we all love.

Believeland

Since the name of this article carries the same name of my blog, it's only fitting that I link you guys to one of the best Cleveland-based articles I've ever read in my life.

On ESPN, no less.

Believeland

Wright Thompson did an absolutely phenominal job encompassing exactly what the city is all about, including all the ups and downs over the past 50+ years.

The Drive, The Fumble....The Trade?

For two teams that only play each other once every three years in the regular season, the Cleveland Browns and the Denver Broncos sure have some history. Mention the word 'drive' or 'fumble', or the names 'Elway' or Byner' to any Clevelander, and they'll want to punch something. Most NFL rivals are your division opponents, but if you ask most Browns fans what team they hate more than anyone not from Pittsburgh, and they'll tell you Denver. Denver took out Cleveland in the AFC Championship game in three straight seasons in the late '80's, and the pain still lingers.

Now, halfway through the season, the Denver Broncos are last in the league in rushing, while the Browns have a running back on pace for 1,300 yards and 14 touchdowns that they were gifted from Denver. Finally, it appears that the Browns have stuck it to the Broncos for once.

One of Mike Holmgren's first duties when he took over the Browns in the spring was to overhaul the roster. His first move was trading Brady Quinn (currently 3rd on Denver's QB depth chart--yes, he's even behind 'Hair Gel Jesus' Tim Tebow) for two draft picks and Peyton Hillis.

At the time, most Browns fans didn't really care Quinn got traded, but most did care that 'all we got' for him was 'a couple draft picks and a white running back'. I guess we all needed to understand that Mike Holmgren is a lot smarter than all of us. This deal has easily been the most lopsided trade of the off-season for any team, and all Denver fans can do is watch in disbelief as Peyton Hillis keeps punishing opposing defenses while their team can't run the ball to save their lives.

For once...the Browns have stuck it to the Broncos. And damn does that feel good.

As gratifying as they come

In an 82-game season, a game or two hardly ever mean much, especially when your team is a team that is expected to be a cellar dweller for the season. However, over a 24-hour span, I don't think two meaningless regular season games have ever meant more for a city than the Boston/Miami game last night, and the Boston/Cleveland game from tonight did for Cleveland, Ohio.

Last night, the 'greatest team in NBA history' managed to play like trash and lose their season opener against Boston. Now, if you ask any Cleveland fan, they'll all tell you they enjoyed watching LeBron play like crap as his Heat managed to start off 0-1. That brings us to tonight, where Boston was facing our beloved Cleveland Cavaliers in the Cavs season opener. Now, coming into the game, we all knew our odds were very slim at even staying in the game, let alone winning. Midway through the 3rd quarter, the Cavs were down 11, and we all kind of expected the team to lay down and just take the loss. Then, something happened. All the players realized that that's what everyone expected. They wanted to prove everyone wrong. They wanted to show how much heart they have. They wanted to do the unthinkable and beat the Boston Celtics a night after Boston beat the crap out of LeBron's Heat.

And that's exactly what they did. They realized that without LeBron, they can actually PLAY in the 4th quarter of a big game. They don't have to just stand around and watch #23 jack up shots anymore. They went out there, hustled on every play, and ran an offense towards the end of a close game--something Clevelanders haven't seen in the past seven years. And look what happened. The Cavs went out and won the game by 8. The same exact differential that Boston beat LeBron's Heat by the night before.

Turns out there is life after LeBron. Turns out Cleveland Basketball isn't dead. Turns out pulling the knife out of our backs might not be as painful as we all thought. Turns out getting over LeBron might be easier than we all thought.

And that, my friends, is why two meaningless regular season games are as gratifying as they come.

It's been a minute...

Or two. Let's see...since the last time I blogged it up, LeBron James took his talents to South Beach, the Indians finished up a 90+ loss season, and the Browns have played like the Browns over the first two months of the season. In other words...

Typical Cleveland sports shit.

Well, I refuse to blog about that bastard LeBron, and there's nothing left to talk about with regards to the Indians, so let's get on with the show. The Cleveland Football Browns.

2-5. Have played well enough to be 5-2. Just beat the living daylights out of the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints IN Nawlins. Colt McCoy has played well enough to have Browns fans actually feeling like we might have finally found a QB for the long haul. Peyton Hillis is the baddest white running back in the history of white running backs (sorry John Riggins). The defense has been playing decent (for the most part).

Dare I say things are looking.................up for the Cleveland Browns?

Last season, we were lucky to score a few points and not get blown out by halftime. This year, we've held a lead in all 7 games, and have had a 4th quarter lead in 5 of them. If that's not improvement, I don't know what is. The defense has been playing with a lot more swagger thanks to rookie DB's Joe Haden and TJ Ward. Add in how well Colt McCoy has played thus far (in minimal appearances, albeit), and once again it looks like The Sammich Man Mike Holmgren had a phenominal draft.

The schedule is brutal, so you can't expect much more than probably 5-6 wins this year (as usual), but the team is vastly improved over previous years. And even though the end record might not look much different, the team appears headed in the right direction. Add in another solid draft next year (and hopefully drafting a stud WR), and we could be contending in a few years. Yes, that seems far fetched, but the team is showing signs of life.

On a final note, the Cleveland Cavaliers open the season on Wednesday (or Thursday...don't really know/care) against the Boston Retirement Center. If we lose by less than 20 that would be a victory. Hopefully Dan Gilbert realizes we need to rebuild this team as quickly as possible, trades away any older talent we have (Antawn Jamison/Mo Williams/Anthony Parker/Jamario Moon/etc.) and really goes into rebuild mode. Playing for the 8th seed in the East and the 15th pick in the draft isn't gonna get this team where everyone wants it to be. As crazy as it might sound, the quicker we start to rebuild, the quicker we can all finally get over the dagger that punk LePrince inserted into our collective hearts.

Here's hoping for a 16-66 season.

Keep the faith, Cleveland.