Congrats to Cleveland: History Made, Local Boy Done Good!
The man and legend known as Lebron James has done it. He is approaching the elite status of luminary names as the more recent Kobe Bryant, and before him Michael Jordan, and before them Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and before them Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bill Russell.
Legends of the roundball all, signified and punctuated with multiple championship rings. For those like me, it conjures up hushed tones of reverence, because I and a few others respect the effort, focus, and sheer power required to make a team of people running and jumping on a 97 foot wooden waxed floor score more points than the whole rest of the world in a system known as the National Basketball Association.
Be the best, play the best, overcome all other limitations. It took the city of Cleveland and their native son from Akron decades, a whole life time to finally pull it off.
Lebron and his not to be ignored teammates have done it, and in historic fashion. 32 previous times NBA teams had fallen down 3 games to 1 in a series and did not win game seven. The Cavaliers just did. Impressive, and against a worthy champion caliber foe. 2016 will go down in history similar to how the Boston Red Sox reversed the curse in 2004 and upset the New York Yankees being down 3-0, remarkably coming back in baseball in the American League Championship Series and then cruising through the Fall Classic to win one for Beantown, for those long-suffering Red Sox fans of most of the 20th century. Some teams are known for their futility in not winning, or having very talented teams and never achieving the final crown. Boston made a lot of people weepy back in 2004.
But Cleveland had a different type of futility than Boston. Cleveland did not have the all-time champions in the Boston Celtics in basketball, or the best NFL team of the 21st century New England Patriots, or the sometimes victorious Boston Bruins in hockey. The city of Cleveland's last championship in professional sports occurred in 1964, before the Super Bowl existed. And to make things more confounding, its star back then, running back Jim Brown, took early retirement and let the Browns flirt with glory and ignominy enough to lose its team to Baltimore decades later, where the Ravens were able to achieve the ultimate success in football while Cleveland was left with the Browns, often called the Clowns.
Poor Cleveland! For years back in the 1990s, the baseball games were sold out; I couldn't order tickets in 1997 to see my favorite player's team visiting there, they were so good. But no, the Indians could not get it done. Cleveland revived the Brown's franchise, but a whole lot of losing there has been their byword. The Ravens of Baltimore took all their luck and mojo, it would appear.
In a stinging sequence of drama, native son and wunderkind Lebron James "took his talents" to Miami and managed to win two championships in 4 years. Cleveland fans burnt his paraphernalia in effigy and cursed his name. He became a traitor of the ilk of Benedict Arnold, he had betrayed his home.
But in retrospect, most observant spectators saw Lebron's heart and mind and knew he never left his home state and region behind. James magnanimously developed school programs and scholarship programs in down-and-out poor neighborhoods of Akron and Cleveland, all while playing for the Heat and reaching the championship every June he played there. Lebron looked to reach out to and inspire youth who were born and raised in less successful circumstances like he was, and more importantly, he would fund deprived youth with the outreach of his influence and largesse.
And then: he went back! Wow. This took some heart and will.
They immediately became one of the elite teams of the league, but with less star power than Miami. They made it to the finals his first year back but fell to the upstart Golden State Warriors, who simply outproduced a talented Lebron-led team missing two key players to injuries. This year the fates were turned as the Warriors dealt with injury as Cleveland remained whole.
And Cleveland, for the first time since 1964, prevailed as the champs.
Congratulations to Cleveland. Now I hope a few other never-have-won cities can enjoy some of the same results. Seattle? San Diego? There have to be at least have dozen more, plus even more individual franchises.
Thanks Lebron; hope restored.
In a world where serious events lead to disaster and ruin, where there are failed states across the Middle East like Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and Syria, where Iraq and Afghanistan deal with daily threats of attacks and bombings and all types of strife against poverty (millions suffering privation and worse), a less-than-stellar city in the American mid-west now shines a bit of life on possibility. In a political atmosphere where a US socialist has galvanized millions to share more wealth to the masses (read: Bernie Sanders), but cannot overcome the established traditional parties in power, Lebron and the Cavaliers perhaps can inspire many to look deep within and dig deeper, try harder, "represent the people", stand up for the less fortunate, and shoot for the stars. And make it!
Thank you Cleveland. Thank you Lebron. He is the best we now have on the court. Best of this century, or at least this decade (Kobe, you owned the 2000s) Kyrie Irving, clutch shooter, JR Smith, sometimes maligned but a deserved champion, also maligned Kevin Love for being too slow, hugely vital Tristan Thompson, aging veteran Richard Jefferson, hustling Imam Shumpert, and some bench players, particularly Matt Dellevedova who spelled a lot of tired legs most of the season and showed a lot of spunk and fight, and other role players who also contributed like surprisingly hot for a spell Channing Frye, and the supporting presence of Timofy Mozgov, Mo Williams, and Jermaine Jones.
Lebron needed all of you, they needed him, and Cleveland and the seemingly forgotten needed the Cavaliers.
I am glad this season has ended this way. Next year, I hope another team finds its way to the promised land of NBA glory. Paul George and the Pacers, I would be happy to see the Clippers or any other team to win it all. De-thrown the current champs, take Lebron down a few pegs as happened to Kobe and Michael and Larry and Magic in generations passed. There will be a new champion of the people to inspire the rest of us.
But for now, Lebron is the chosen one. Thanks for giving back to those who look to you as a servant for good. You have done this in your own neighborhoods, the place you hail from and will not forsake! Congratulations for helping entertain all of us, showing us greatness and grace and power, and not forgetting that there are millions of us hoping to achieve our own dreams, giving many more a chance to do the same.
Blog on, EMC
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