July 6^th, 2006

By: CRS Staff

So, the ink has not even dried on my April column theorizing that this might just be the dawn of a ‘Golden Era’ in Cleveland sports.  As I said then (and still believe), our teams have a reasonable opportunity to compete at the highest level for many years to come, a rarity since at least one Cleveland sports team has usually been on the decline since the year I was born (which, for those of you counting at home was 1974, or ‘Year 10’ of the title drought).

However true that observation may have been, I made it without considering one crucial element of any team’s championship hopes – the competitiveness of other teams that surround Cleveland teams in their respective divisions.  While this may be the dawn of the ‘Golden Era’ of Cleveland sports, it is apparently also the ‘Golden Era’ for the American League Central, the AFC North, and with the Bulls signing Ben Wallace and assuming the Knicks’ lottery draft picks for the next 13 years (or whenever Isiah Thomas is mercifully fired, whichever comes first), the Eastern Conference Central Division as well.  That’s right, friends, this could be the start of something special, or our teams may just become the Buffalo Bills for the next ten years.  Allow me to further explain. 

Since it’s been in the news most recently, we’ll start with the NBA.  You remember the Cavaliers, right?  With LeBron in tow, we were the darlings of the NBA just a short while ago.  Taking out the upstart Wizards on two game-winning shots, pushing the mighty Pistons to the brink, everyone jumped on the bandwagon while Nike focused an entire ad campaign on our gritty city.  LeBron scored a lot, was officially crowned the ‘next Jordan’, and the national media became more obsessed than a pedophile on MySpace.  At one point we even thought a frizzy-haired Brazilian guy with one discernible offensive move might help lead us to an NBA title.  Even after a disappointing outcome, everyone agreed on the future – we got next, right?  Then came the Eastern Conference Finals, and suddenly the national media moved on to drool over Dwayne Wade, who scored a lot, then a lot more, then became the official ‘next Jordan’….well, you know where I’m going with this.  And as if that wasn’t bad enough, after the NBA Finals and all of the Wade-dom came free agency and the potential rise of a new team.  Poised with Isiah’s picks and flush with cash, we soon realized that the Pistons are not the only team to worry about in the Central.  You know the Chicago Bulls, right?  Remember the last time we were chasing the Pistons in the 80’s, when the Bulls overtook a promising young Cleveland team and dominated the 90’s instead of the Cavaliers?  Um, I’m sure that can’t happen again (I may have just vomited a little).  So, now mere weeks after the Cavs were the ‘It’ team, the Bulls have stolen the title quicker than an American League baserunner running on Victor Martinez.  Miami became the new Cleveland, then Chicago became the new Miami.  Just like that - pink is the new black.  The NBA is officially a gossip magazine, and the Cavs are already so five minutes ago.

Now let’s focus on the Indians.  Yes, at the time of my April column things sure looked rosy for the Wahoos.  All off-season we were told the team had a strong nucleus of young talent, a great GM/Manager combo, and owners who were really fans like us at heart (only with lots more money and big houses and stuff).  We were fed all of this while the Cleveland careers of Kevin Millwood, Bob Howry, Coco Crisp and others were being simultaneously buried somewhere under left field at Jacobs Field.  But you know what?  I really believed the hype, bought the cow, whatever.  I’m not afraid to admit that I drank the Kool-Aid, and chances are you drank it too.  On the heels of the Chicago White Sox winning the World Series last year, the A.L. Central has suddenly turned into, well, the A.L. East.  As of this writing, the Central division features not only the best two teams in the major leagues (led by the Detroit Tigers, who snuck up on us like the tomboy girl in junior high who cleaned up nicely by high school), but three of the top five teams in the American League overall.  It kind of makes you nostalgic for the low-budget Central days in the 90’s, when Jerry Reinsdorf was more worried about basketball than baseball, and the rest of the division was so minor league you practically expected to see a midget sack race break out after the 7^th inning of a Kansas City game.

Now that you’re thoroughly depressed, let’s move on to discuss our beloved Cleveland Browns, the crown jewel of the Cleveland pro sports scene.  Similar to the A.L. Central, the Browns’ AFC North features the defending world champion Pittsburgh Steelers (do you sense a trend here?).  Fellow rival Cincinnati also made the playoffs last year with a young team, and the Baltimore Ravens are now the North’s version of the Bulls having made their splash in free agency with QB Steve McNair, who according to ESPN is worth 3-4 wins and probably about 5 new jobs in the team’s medical department.  To add insult to injury this off-season (no pun intended), the QB of the Super Bowl Champion Steelers even slid across the windshield of a moving vehicle, did a face plant onto the cement, yet inexplicably will miss no game action in the regular season (actually, that makes perfect sense).  True, the Browns added more credibility in early free agency than just about any other NFL franchise, but when 3 wins in your division would be a fantastic improvement over last year, well, let’s just say that’s not very ‘Golden’.

In 1994 the Indians had one of the best young teams in baseball, and were in the midst of their first bona fide pennant race in almost 40 years by mid-season.  The reaction from the rest of the league?  With the Indians in contention, everyone else took their bats and balls and went home in a strike-shortened year.  That figured.  Twelve years later the sports gods have again found a new way to torture us.  Better get your bridesmaid dresses ready.  Welcome to the ‘Silver Era’ of Cleveland sports.