And I Stopped in San Antone

For all I know, this is the only song that mentions both Cleveland and San Antonio, the two teams that are in the NBA Finals. It's quite amazing that our little Cavaliers...the Cavaliers of Ted Stepien (scroll down to "Ted Stepien and the James Worthy Rule" to the Shot to the late-90s Mike Fratello Cavs who couldn't decide if they wanted to be a lottery team or a playoff team to 2003 when somehow the ping-pong balls bounced our way and we got LeBron James and four years later are 4 wins away from a championship.

I'll equate this to 1995 when the Indians made it to their first World Series in 41 years. Yes they made it again in 1997, but we already knew how it felt to be there. The Cavs (the 3rd team in a Football-first, Baseball-second town) have been around for 37 years, most of which the team has wallowed in mediocrity. The late-80s, early-90s Cavs were a vastly underrated team who had the unfortunate opportunity to play against the Jordan-led Bulls. He would prevent a lot of players from seeing an NBA Championship (see: Barkley, Charles; Malone, Karl; Stockton, John). It's been 43 years since this city has last seen a major championship in this town, please forgive us when we celebrate a trip to the finals.

How about those videos? Downtown Cleveland looked like the place to be on saturday night. It makes me miss the city. Back in 1995 I was a junior in high school and may have tasted but a drip of alcohol. Nobody had blogs and the best columnists were not fans but the local ones. I remember driving around the 'Wood the night the Tribe clinched in Seattle (Lofton scoring from 2nd on a passed ball!) and everyone was honking their horns. It was a feeling of euphoria, happiness, and pride. Total strangers hugging, high-fiving, clapping-hands, and sharing in the success of an athletic team. I know if I was in town, I would have been down there celebrating with everyone else. Luckily I was able to watch the game with friends instead of alone in my apartment in WV.

It's a bit of an unreal feeling. I know we haven't won anything yet and the Spurs are heavily favored. The misery of Cleveland sports fans is well documented..the only city that may be worse off is Buffalo. But we handled the Pistons pretty convincingly. The two games we lost, we had legitimate chances of winning. After LeBron's performance in Game 5, I think most Detroit fans knew that they were not winning this series. Now we've got the Spurs, the NBA's premier franchise since 1999 who will be playing for their 4th NBA title since then. Yes we are happy to be here, but you know what? This team will surprise a lot of people. Our defense is significantly underlooked and LBJ has shown he can lead the team (by scoring and finding his teammates) to victory.

This team is playing with a lot of confidence right now. Yes they beat the Spurs twice this year...the analysts are going to point to this as a non-factor as it was early in the year and yadda yadda yadda. Yes the Spurs were not the same team then as now, but you know what? Neither are the Cavaliers. The team knows that they can hang with and beat the best in any arena. This series with Detroit was not a knock-down drag-out fight. The Cavs outplayed Detroit consistently throughout. Are the Cavs going to win the series? I don't know that. I do know that teams can come together and do remarkable things.

The Cavs need to have role players such as Boobie Gibson to consistently step-up and contribute. Talk about a break-out performance. I love that whenever he gets the ball, he's got this look on his face that he's not scared and he knows he can hit the shots. I love it! Has LeBron found the 2nd man he so desparately needs? As me in a year or two...a series does not dictate a career (see: Billups, Chauncey) but hopefully this is a start. I have an idea why he suddenly burst onto the scene: he was busy on his TV show the first half of the year. And his name is Boobie to boot! Coincidence? I think not!

Remember 2004? The Pistons were an upstart team going against the juggernaut Lakers. Guess what? The Pistons beat LA in 5 games. I do think this series is going at least 6 games. I do know that if somehow the Cavs end up winning this thing that I will be in Cleveland for it. This city just wants one championship, that's all. We don't need a dynasty, we just want that it is our team hoisting the trophy. Just once. Will it be this year? We'll find out in 2 weeks.

I Am The King of All I See

Wow! What a game! Is this Cavs team for real? Seriously. They were two plays away from sweeping the Pistons (they had legitimate shots in Games 1 & 2). They went home and he led them in games 3 & 4. Then there was tonight. What a performance! This was the performance I've been waiting for. Even though I didn't voice it, my main gripe in games 1 & 2 was that when the team is in a funk, he didn't put the team on his back to lead them. Well, he did that tonight. He was hitting shots he probably had no business taking, yet they found the net. Is this one of the greatest playoff performances of all time? I don't know. I think it is too early to judge that. Remember, they still need to win on saturday (or in game 7), to really validate Bron-Bron's superstar status. This game now means nothing if they don't win the series.

You know what I like about this team? They're incredibly resilient and I would say scrappy. They've been in every game. Even when they've been down 7-8 points, they find a way to get back and make a game of it. And you know what? They're not intimidated by Detroit. Last year Detroit was clearly the better team and the fact they took it to 7 games seemed to be a fluke. This year, they're playing a hell of a lot better then Detroit and they know it. The other thing is that the Cavs are playing incredible defense. Their defense has been steller all year, but this aspect seems to get over-looked. This team knows they can beat the Pistons, they just have to finish the deal. This series is not over and Game 6 still needs to be played. The Q will be rocking on saturday night. I'm going camping this weekend and hopefully we can get the game on the radio.

Speaking of the fans, is it just me or were the Detroit fans extremely unenthusiastic tonight? There was 1:30 remaining in one of the overtimes and the crowd was not making any noise. Come playoff time, a hostile crowd can make a difference. I didn't see that out of the Detroit fans. Even when the Pistons were up 7 in the 4th, which was the point where the crowd should have carried them to victory, but it was like they knew they were going to lose.

Like I said, we still have Game 6 to go. We were in this position last year and failed to seal the deal. Have the Cavs learned and will they make their first trip to the Finals or will C-town experience more late-game devastation? I hope for the former, but if the later occurs, we Cleveland fans are conditioned (the Drive, the Fumble, the Shot, Mesa)

The Mighty Quinn

Sitting here religiously watching the NFL Draft. With the 3rd pick I really thought we'd be getting Brady Quinn. The Browns surprised me and got Joe Thomas, the stud left tackle who would rather go fishing then be at the draft. Good for him. Then the cards fell (Ginn to Miami at 9??) and Savage pulled the strings to get Quinn at 22. At the start of the day any Browns fan would be happy to have one of these guys...to have both, I'm more then pleased.

Just a couple of side-thoughts. I love how the analysts keep talking about Quinn playing for his hometown team. Maybe they should check their map (Google Maps is the best/True that/DOUBLE TRUE) because Dublin is actually closer to Cincinnati then it is to Cleveland. I know it is a matter of perspective but 141 miles away is a pretty big hometown if you ask me. This also means were stuck with Chris Berman doing the highlights of Brady "The Mighty" Quinn and then while playing in December Brady Quinn "The Eskimo." *sigh* Well this is a good draft. Now, let's see these guys produce.

Advertising Looks and Chops a Must

Great song from a great band that I, unfortunately, got into after they broke up. I did get to see Malkmus a few years ago on a solo jaunt. I can say that they put on a great show and wish I had a time machine to go back and see Pavement back in their hey-day.

So yeah, I got my haircut yesterday. Nothing special, but I'm not completely happy with it. She could have cut it shorter in the back. A haircut is one of those services where you cannot return what you bought and it is hard to get a refund. It did occur to me that I could try and go back and say something like "Could you take a little bit more off the back?" Do you think that would work? The good thing with hair is that (for most of us) it always grows back. This is my 3rd or 4th haircut since I moved her in august. Save from the one time when the OFOMOL was with me to tell her how to cut it, I've been less then happy with what I've received.

During the said cut, the woman cutting my hair asked me where I'm from and I tell her. This elicits the response of "ohhh, do you know Drew?" as in Drew Carey. Drew Carey is a funny guy and put Cleveland on the sitcom map...but most people I know (including myself) agree that the show is not that great. Yes it was nice to see all the C-town centric themes on the show, but other then that it did nothing for me.

More on my Cleveland kick. My buddy DRH commented on a new Cleveland blog, Hardaway Hates Pittsburgh. He's got a list of his Top 5 places to eat in C-Town. Not a bad list, but not the five I would choose. I still have to think about mine, but I'll be posting it soon. Keep your eyes open!

Cleveland Rocks!

What a great episode of 30 Rock tonight! Yes I am biased due to the fact that Cleveland is my hometown. But this also confirms that this is one of the best comedies on TV right now. Of course there is not much competition these days, but still the show rocks. I feel it is a lot like Arrested Development. I would group The Office in there too in the fact that these are unconventional sitcoms. It takes a little more thinking to understand and appreciate the jokes. They also all have a devoted corps of fans. I also love the Tracy Jordan character. He is just so outrageous and over the top. I would compare him to G.O.B. from AD.

Then there is the Cleveland-centric theme to this episode. It was great! They mentioned my hometowm (the 'Wood) and had a little musical montage to the city. There were some errors that were either 1) done intentionally so us natives would only catch them and add to the genius of the show or 2) not researched to show the ignorance of the writers. I'll go with option #1. Higbee's hasn't been around in 15 years , no one shops on Euclid Ave, and the Flats are dead. There was also the obvious fact that the shots of C-Town (quoted by Tina Fey in the episode) all came from stock footage. I'm not complaining however. Any show that doesn't rip Cleveland a new one is fine by me.

Yeah most of the time the city gets pissed on. Its fair. I mean, we have our share of problems (river on fire? check! city in default? check! a history of losing teams? check! Kuchinich as our Rep? check!) but it makes us have thick skin. Being part of something that is so "bad" (really it's not) makes you proud to be part of it. I've been away for a couple years now. I do find I appreciate and enjoy it more when I go back to visit. It has its charm and there are plenty of things to do there. If you haven't been there, give Cleveland a chance, it's not as bad as you think, and you just may like it!