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In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the category “Cleveland sports history”

Can the Cavs avoid another Cleveland moment?

lebron james finals

The Cleveland Cavaliers did the improbable on Thursday night in forcing a Game 7 against the Golden State Warriors.

Tonight, they have the opportunity to do the seemingly impossible in delivering Cleveland its first major pro championship since 1964.

On that December afternoon at Municipal Stadium, the Cleveland Browns defeated the supposedly invincible Baltimore Colts – a similar situation facing the Cavs against a Warriors team that many were calling the NBA’s best ever after a 73-win regular season.

Tonight’s game will be just the second time since 1964 that a Cleveland team has been in a title-deciding game and, again, the situation has a familiar feel to it.

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ESPN turns its 30 for 30 focus on Cleveland sports fans

ESPN-30-for-30ESPN has decided that Cleveland sports are ready for a closeup with the announcement that the network is making a 30 for 30 film about Cleveland sports fans.

Well this is certainly going to be fun.

All kidding aside, this has the potential to be interesting – we can’t really say entertaining, now can we? – and there is little doubt it will be well produced. We haven’t watched all of the films so far in the series, some of the subject matter just wasn’t that interesting, but the ones we have seen have all been very well done. According to ESPN’s website, the documentary series is “similar to feature-length films in that each piece represents a specific point of view of the filmmaker and is a reflection of how they blend the narrative with their own visual style.”

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When it comes to the Indians, it’s all just a matter of trust

The Cleveland Indians made it official on Monday, naming Terry Francona as the 42nd manager in team history, which raises two questions.

First, if you could manage any team in Major League Baseball, why would you choose the Indians?

Second, does this really change anything for the Indians?

The Indians say they trust Francona is the right man for the job. Francona says he trusts that the front office has his back. The team is asking its fans to trust that it knows what it is doing.

But in a sports town like Cleveland, where fans have been living on hopes and dreams since 1964, is that too much of an ask?

Find out at The Cleveland Fan.

Sorry, but we just can’t do it

Browns running back Peyton Hillis has somehow made it to the finals of an ESPN contest to see who will be on the cover of the Madden NFL 12 video game.

ESPN.com’s SportsNation announced Monday that Hillis earned 61 percent of votes cast to “upset” Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Hillis now will face Philadelphia quarterback Michael Vick in the finals.

Hillis’ campaign has grown with get out and vote calls from many.

But not from us.

We know it’s just superstition, just a coincidence, there’s no basis in logic or fact, but … the Madden Curse is real. Don’t be swayed by so-called “logic.”

The Browns and Cleveland sports have enough problems without going out and looking for trouble. Why not just start selling Hillis voodoo dolls in Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Cincinnati? Or have a gypsy come to the locker room and give him the evil eye?

With the way things work around here, if Hillis makes the cover he probably won’t even make it to training camp before being stricken by some fluke injury or strange, never-before-seen ailment.

This is Cleveland, after all.

And we’re going to sit this one out.

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Another reason to like Cleveland is the upcoming opening of the Sports Research Center, which is scheduled to open April 25 in the Cleveland Public Library.

According to The Plain Dealer, the center, the only one of its kind in Northeast Ohio, will showcase the best of Cleveland sports history with more than 25,000 books and magazines and research materials, including old photos, scrapbooks, movies and movie clips.

“We will have more baseball-related material than any other building in the country” except the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., Tena Wilson, a library administrator, told The PD. “We’ll be revealing a lot of hidden treasures.”

“Sports are a part of Cleveland DNA,” Felton Thomas, Cleveland Public Library director, said in the article. “Clevelanders either love or hate the changing weather seasons, but they always embrace the start of a new sports season. And this [center] gives fans a chance to travel back into Cleveland sports history to reminisce about a favorite player or game or discover something new about their beloved sports teams and heroes.”

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