As good as the last nine months were for Ohio athletics, I cannot help from being a dejected sports fan. I have been cursed with being born in Cleveland and having a special attachment to its sports teams. In my 14 years of following Cleveland teams, I have never been through a nine-month stretch as terrible as the one I went through this school year.
Hopes were not high for the Cleveland Browns going into the season, but no one expected them to be as wretched as they were. The Browns teased many and led most to believe that they might actually compete after their impressive victory against the Baltimore Ravens to start the season. One broken leg, one fired head coach and 12 losses later the Browns finished in the basement of the AFC North with the NFL's second-worst record.
False hope led to my demise during Winter Quarter. Before the All-Star break, the Cleveland Cavaliers had a 30-21 record and were playing their best basketball since the days of Mark Price and Brad Daugherty. I thought it was a lock that the Cavs would end their seven-year playoff drought, but I was horribly mistaken. The Cavs would go on to lose 19 of their last 31 games and lose a tiebreaker to the New Jersey Nets for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. To add insult to injury, it was apparent that superstar LeBron James was unhappy with the progression of the team, and rumors have been swirling that his stay in Cleveland might be short-lived.
Coming into Spring Quarter, I tried to convince myself to not get my hopes up about the Cleveland Indians. I could not help being sweet-talked by analysts like ESPN's Harold Reynolds, though, who picked the Tribe to be the surprise winner of the American League Central. My hopes for a contending team were quickly abolished after the Tribe's sluggish start, coupled with Chicago's surprising dominance that has left the team a long shot to win the division.
If the Tribe's miserable start was not enough to ruin my spring, the Browns' and Cavs' offseason activity has been deplorable enough to make me the saddest sports fan on campus. Whether it be Kellen Winslow Jr.'s Evil Knievel impersonation gone sour or Dan Gilbert's potential hiring of LeBron-hater Larry Brown as president, I have been given no reason to be positive about the future of Cleveland sports.
Maybe this bleak outlook is what I need to survive my sophomore year at OU, because I believe the only way a Cleveland sports fan can avoid depression is by having no hope at all.
-Gribble is a freshman journalism major who would rather let Kellen Winslow take him for a ride on his new Kawasaki than see LeBron James leave Cleveland. Send him an e-mail at ag358604@ohiou.edu.
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Andrew Gribble
