April 16th, 2006

By: CRS Staff

Despite the Indians falling back to earth after a hot opening week, and LeBron and the Cavs getting drubbed at the hands of the Detroit Pistons, one thing these days is relatively certain - whether 2006 is the year or not, for the first time in a long time all three Cleveland pro sports franchises appear to be on the upswing.  OK, so I know we're known here at CRS more for taking the um, jaded view of the local sports landscape, but just hear me out on this one.  Somewhere between realizing the Indians are the new darlings of baseball, the Browns now actually have a few guys who are jersey-purchase worthy, and the Cavs, despite the possibility of an early playoffs exit appear to 'got next' (at least after the Pistons finally have a few injuries or Rasheed bludgeons his teammates to death in a technical foul-fueled locker room rage, whichever comes first), I began to think that maybe being a Cleveland sports fan isn't so bad anymore.  After all, I'm 31 years old, and never in my lifetime have I honestly been able to say the Cavs, Tribe, and Browns are among the more promising young teams in each of their respective leagues. 

Not with me yet?  Then let's take a little history lesson in Cleveland sports.  The Cavaliers didn't begin play until 1970, so we'll start our litmus test there.  The Indians playoff drought was already in its 16th year in 1970, and would stretch for another 25 years before finally, mercifully ending in 1995.  So while the Cavs 'Miracle of Richfield' team in 1975-76 gave fans hope, the Indians were just settling into their role of perennial doormat, and the Browns would go from 1969 to 1986 between playoff victories.  Therefore, short of giving us one of the greatest members of the Cleveland sports all-name team (Browns 1972 rookie WR Fair Hooker), and the ill-fated Ten-Cent Beer Night, the 70's were really a pretty forgettable decade for our teams.

So, having eliminated the 1970's from Golden Era contention, let's move on to the 80's.  You remember the 80's, don't you?   Parachute pants, hair bands, and one-hit wonders.  To anyone old enough to watch a television during this decade, you already know what I'm about to say.  In those ten short years we experienced four collapses so prolific they are now remembered nationally only by their names; Red Right 88, The Drive, The Fumble & The Shot.  At least the Indians were smart enough to suck so bad they weren't even in a position to experience any heartbreaking losses worthy of being named like a hurricane.  Good thing too, since apparently we did something to seriously upset the sports gods during this decade.  And while you could make an argument the end of the 80's saw some promising times for the Cavs & Browns despite the gut-wrenching losses, the putrid Indians of '87, '88 & '89 closed out the decade losing an average of 91 games.  That doesn't sound too golden to me, so let's move on.

Now to the 90's.  Shortly after Michael Jordan's Bulls officially stole the Team of the 90's label from Mark Price, Brad Daugherty & the rest of the Cavs before it could actually happen, we finally had a good baseball team they could stop making farcical movies about.  Art Modell hired a young Bill Belichick, who, along with a staff that included something like 147 future NFL head coaches & executives, would lead the storied Browns back to the playoffs in 1994.  But how about that basketball team, you ask?  Uh, everything you need to know about the post-Brad Daugherty Cavs can be summed up in this brief, absurd 1997 exchange I had with my best friend John (a Spurs fan) at The Gund, shortly after an uninspiring Cavs win:

John: I think the Cavs may be the Denny's of pro basketball.

Me: Huh?

John: At Denny's you are guaranteed an average breakfast, never very good but never all that bad, and with the Cavaliers you are guaranteed an average basketball team year-after-year.  Therefore, they are the Denny's of the NBA.

Although I tried my best to argue, I soon realized he had hit the nail squarely on the head.  The 90's for the Cavs meant mediocre drafts, bad trades, boring style, and superstar-less teams that won just enough games to prevent themselves from being in a position to draft one.  Basically, they really were the Denny's of the NBA, and for the record I've never been able to eat a Grand Slam breakfast without thinking about one of Mike Fratello's plodding Cavs teams since that bombshell.  Of course, considering the 90's also saw Art Modell steal the Browns and gave us another epic Cleveland choke to add to our vernacular (two words - 'Game 7'), this decade was never really in contention for Golden Era status anyways.

So that brings us to the new millenium.  Now in the second half of the century's first decade, our reborn baseball team has been, well, reborn again.  With a solid core of position players, pitchers, and a still-loaded minor league system, the Indians could contend for the remainder of the decade and beyond.  The Browns finally hired a solid GM/Head Coach combo who have assembled possibly the best O-line the team has seen in twenty years to go with a solid core of offensive skill position players.  Most of the remaining question marks are on defense, and with Romeo Crennel's pedigree you have to think he'll eventually figure that one out too.  As for the Cavaliers, IF LeBron sticks around (a big 'IF', we realize), many feel it's less a question of 'if' and more a question of 'when' LBJ gets his first ring.  And as long as he continues to wear a jersey with 'Cleveland' printed across his chest, someday we should be the benefactors of that.