Red Right 88

Cleveland sports fan and sports writer

Name:
Location: Cleveland, Ohio, United States

quit my job decided to drive west

Friday, July 09, 2010

What Red Right 88 means to me

So personally it has been a tough week. My freshly repaired car overheated and died minutes after my six-day vacation started. I drove overnight in my parents’ car to Wisconsin where I was greeted by my bright-eyed niece with, “You are allergic to feathers!”

Guess what all my sister’s new furniture is made out of.

And I discovered that some upstart has started blogging under the name, Red Right 88, which is a moniker I have used to write about Cleveland sports at two newspapers and on a blog for over five years.

I emailed this person who writes under a pseudonym questioning it and he said he was sticking with it because he worked hard building up a Google search hits the last few months which struck me as odd because a Google search would have shown the name was taken. He also said it might not matter because if a certain someone left, he might quit Cleveland sports which told me he didn’t understand what Red Right 88 really meant.

At my old paper I had a second political column called Half A Glass of Water. It came from a job interview where the interviewed actually poured water into a glass and asked me how much was in it. I knew what she wanted me to say but instead I told the truth – that there was half a glass of water in it.

She pressed on for the answer she wanted and I resisted. I get the urges to be positive or negative but sometimes you just have to be factual.

That is what Red Right 88 means to me. I choose the name so instantly those who were of my age and background would have idea of where I was coming from. But I have found that the name doesn’t mean the same to everyone else.

The name isn’t just about heartbreak. It isn’t cry for sympathy. Yes being a Cleveland Sports fan is about those terms and clips the networks have to roll out over and over and yes I have flash points of anger.

The new guy at work once asked, “So how did it feel when the Browns left town.”

My fists clenched and I rose out of my chair and noticed every Cleveland area native was doing something similar.

But it is also about knowing I will always come back for more. I will believe again.

I was born in Cleveland. My first job was as a vendor at Cleveland Stadium. A Steeler bumper sticker or Yankee cap makes my blood boil.

I have never trusted Dan Gilbert because well he is a carpetbagger from that state up North. Yes he invested a lot into this community and frankly he has profited well. While we all enabled that Kid, he was at the top of the list. But have to stay that Gilbert’s open letter was the perfect antidote. It rallied the troops and it got Cleveland fans ready to fight back.

The truth is Mr. Gilbert as bad as I thirst for a title you don’t have to deliver on your madman promise. As a Cleveland fan all I ask for is that you rebuild this Cavs team the right way. Take your time, I have waited all my life and I can wait a little more. All I ask if that you demand one thing of your employees, your coaches and your players – Don’t ever quit.

Every season, it is just expected that sometimes NBA players don’t show up and they walk through the motions. Don’t tolerate that. Play hard for every minute of every game. Play to win but if you play hard even if you get beat this town will embrace you.

Red Right 88 is the two sides of being a Cleveland fan – there is the heartbreak but there is also eternal optimism. Someday, one day Lucy will hold on and keep the ball still.

The point is in the middle of all that is the simple fact that we don’t deserve to win anything and we won’t always lose because we are cursed. One day a team will figure it out, the breaks will go there way and they will get the job done because they did it right and all this will be worth it because we didn’t give up.

Thursday, July 08, 2010

The King surrenders birthright to be Wade's LePippen

The city of Cleveland will not burn.

I have heard over and over that “The Decision” is the worst thing to ever happen to Cleveland and will destroy the psyche of the town.

Seriously?

How quick people forget?

One may remember that the Browns did leave town.

And that was an entire team in sport we actually care about.

Before “The Chosen One” graced our presence, there were only a few thousand Cavs fans in town and even less than that before Price, Daugherty, Nance and the boys showed up.

But the media is portraying this as the end of the world and there are plenty here in town willing to play the part.

I don’t care how talented you are, one player is never bigger than the franchise and especially the city.

I watched the Cavs play before LBJ and I will watch them after.

I am not saying it hasn’t been fun.

It was a compelling story. A native son was to be the one to end our title drought. He was going to remove the sting of decades of losing.

Hollywood would have rejected the script. The expectations were unreasonable for a kid right out of high school and yet it looked like he would exceed them.

The fourth quarter of game five against the Pistons in 2007 was moment I never thought I would experience. It was breath taking. It was so unexpected and so beyond what I thought possible – I almost didn’t remember to enjoy it. I was in pure shock. Which of course made game six of that same series so much fun.

As Boobie dropped shot after shot, it was the best party of my life. It was such a magical night that promised so much more that the loss in the Finals to the Spurs didn’t hurt at all. I believed a title would one day be won.

The pain of losing him to another team was definitely dulled by another game five and six. Again I saw something I never expected. “The King” quit. His teammates took his lead and they quit too.

In that moment, I quit on him too.

I have been mad the last several weeks. I wanted to write a column telling him to leave town forever. I want to vent and stew and say just go. But I resisted mostly because if he resigned, I knew the first time on the court he did something no one else could do I couldn’t help but forgive him.

Over the last week, I really softened. It seemed for a while that his staying wasn’t only possible but probable. There were plenty of reasons for him to stay. He could make more money in Cleveland. The organization and the press have protected his mother and family, something that won’t happen as easily in other towns. And this was home, how could he turn his back on his home?

I figured he would make an announcement at the end of his camp in Akron and accept the massive love his local fans have for him.

But then he started to twitter and when it was announced the decision would be made live on ESPN, I knew he was gone.

I don’t hate LeBron. After all he is just a basketball player but I don’t respect his choice and the manner in which he did it.

He didn’t have to drag out this process. He didn’t have to have a one hour special. He ripped the hearts out of many in this area and he did it in an unbecoming way. And frankly he doesn’t care.

He says this is about winning championships but not all championships are created equal. People don’t talk about how Scottie Pippen won six titles in Chicago as the lead. And frankly that is what he has chosen to be. Which is why to me forever, I will now refer to him only as LePippen.

The simple truth is he wasn’t who we thought he was. And that is more our fault that his. We gave him the title of King before he won anything. He is just a pretty good basketball player. The best ever? Not even in the conversation. In fact, he quit on that contest too. He has abdicated his false throne to be a prince in the court of Dywane Wade.

The ironic thing is if this experiment of putting together two superstars in Wade and LePippen plus a above average player like Bosh with no one else on the roster actually works, Wade will get the credit and if it doesn’t LePippen will get the blame and possibly get downgraded to LeBarkley as in All Entertainment and No Titles.

As for the city, we will be fine. I may actually be able to afford to go to more games as the bandwagon will have much more room.

And while no NBA titles may be in our future, rather than a long and fruitless regular season paired with pressure filled and ultimately disappointing playoff run, I expect next year’s Cavs to be fun to watch.

There will be no expectations and those are always easily exceeded. (And yes I am going through the stages of grief, this is called bargaining.)

Plus we still have the Browns, and despite all the witness shirts around town, that’s the team we really care about.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Calm down everyone

Did you enjoy the Indians fifth straight win yesterday?

Chances are you didn’t?

Most of you have probably given up on the Indians. Trading two Cy Young winners two years in row and fielding a lineup of quadruple "A" guys will do that to a fan base.

If you are fan with a iron stomach that watches no matter what, you likely missed the game because, despite owning its own network, the Indians and their marketing geniuses refused to televise a home game and instead pushed three innings and lunch to the corporate crowd of downtown Cleveland.

Regardless a four-game sweep of the Blue Jays has invoked big dreams from the Pollyannas among us. I heard a local radio host discuss with a Tribe player about how in this division the Tribe "can" get back in this race.

I instantly turned off the radio with a "Child please" and later, when I went to mock the outrageous of it at the office, our office’s fearless leader sheepishly rolled his eyes and stated that just earlier he was discussing the same point.

"They are only 12 games out," he tried to bargain.

I looked at our assistant fearless leader for help.

"Don’t worry," he assured me. I got up and walked out of the room before he finished his point.

It was just four weeks ago when the Indians won four in a row, including two against the mighty Red Sox. Ears perked up and people looked up from their bar stools to say, "Hey how about that Tribe?"

Then, the National League made the Indians their interleague red-headed whipping post.

Despite the five game outburst, the Indians still have the second-worst record in the American League and that is only because the Orioles are such a joke.

Sure, Matt LaPorta has homered in three straight games, Carlos Santana appears to be the real deal, the starting rotation have each put up a solid start in succession and the bullpen has saved five straight, including Kerry Wood mowing down batters three days in a row.

But before you dig out your Tribe gear from the Goodwill pile, as our assistant fearless leader likes to say in the office, "You need to check the schedule."

After this weekend’s holiday tilt with the just-below .500 Oakland A’s, the next time the Erie Warriors play a team with a losing record will be August 10 and by then, the Browns will be just days away from their first preseason game and the Tribe will be pushed off the front page for stories about Mangini’s practice regiment.

So, if you are expecting a exciting summer of young talent and thought to be washed up veterans making an inspired run for a division title, you better get in the basement and find your VHS copy of Major League.

This is not to say there is no hope. Watching Santana, LaPorta and other young Tribe players grow together this summer could be fun. But it’s hard to have confidence in an Indians front office that has blocked LaPorta with retreads and continue to play players with no future in Cleveland rather than letting kids have a chance.

The putridicity of the division is what convinced the Tribe "brain trust" to sign Branyan, Austin Kearns and the like. The pipe dream of contending stunted the youth movement. You are in last place, it can’t get worse playing prospects.

When Valbuena was mercifully put to pasture, the Indians decided to play Anderson Hernandez and Jayson Nix, rather than let a young kid, Cord Phelps, who is tearing it up in Columbus, have a chance.

This makes little sense to me. I could care less how productive Kearns or Duncan can be. They won’t be here if the Indians one day contend for real. Let’s find out if Michael Brantley will.

No one should care if the Indians finish ahead of the Royals this season. Don’t let a bad division fool you into thinking you can contend, forget the final record and play the young kids with no thought of wins or losses.

In the words of the Astrodome crowd in The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, "Let them play."

Why the three columns?

So tomorrow the Morning Journal has rather early deadline. There will only be two people working in the sports department so it will be crazy putting up the paper. I am working on the Sports Today agate desk and I have written three columns in advance so I can just plug and put one in.

I have posted all three. I also noticed I forgot to post an Tribe column so I will add that next.

If LeBron stays

I have imagined this moment many times over the last few years. And it is nothing like I expected.
During the majority of that time, I always knew LeBron James would resign with the Cavs and this would be much ado about nothing.
Yet I relished the thought of taunting those in New York and the mainstream media that assumed Cleveland had no shot at retaining “The King.”
They believed New York was the end all and be all. In fact that was the only argument they had. Well it’s New York.
Of course had the Cavs actually won a title, in my mind he would have been free to go. More than I once I have said if James had brought one title to Cleveland, I would drive him to New York himself.
Today was supposed to be a day of unbridled joy and a little vindictive payback.
Instead I have an empty feeling and the thought of be careful what you wish for.
For me LeBron’s tenure in Cleveland is tale of two pairs of game five and sixes.
The fourth quarter of game five against the Pistons in 2007 was moment I never thought I would experience. It was breath taking. It was so unexpected and so beyond what I thought possible – I almost didn’t remember to enjoy it. I was in pure shock. Which of course made game six of that same series so much fun.
As Boobie dropped shot after shot, it was the best party of my life. It was such a magical night that promised so much more that the loss in the Finals to the Spurs didn’t hurt at all. I believed a title would one day be won.
But the contrast of that was game five and six this year against the Celtics. Again I saw something I never expected. “The King” quit. His teammates took his lead and quit too.
In that moment, I quit on him too.
I have been mad the last several weeks. I wanted to write a column telling him to leave town forever. I want to vent and stew and say just go. But I resisted mostly because if he resigned, I knew the first time he did something on the court no one else could do I couldn’t help but forgive him.
The frank truth is LeBron’s ego has been the biggest detriment to Cavs returning to the Finals. His desire to be wined and dined by New York, Chicago and Miami has hurt this team. LeBron has seemed to be more about drawing media attention to himself than winning.
Danny Ferry lost his job because of LeBron’s inability to commit to the future. It forced Ferry’s hand in Shaq and Jamison trades and led Mike Brown to a roster he was uncomfortable with. Any fault with the construction of this current Cavs team starts with LeBron wanting to test free agency.
Contrast that with Kevin Durant’s quiet announcement to resign early with Oklahoma City. Durant’s lack of ego will help his general manager Sam Presti form a roster to move the Thunder closer to the NBA elite.
LeBron painted the Cavs into a corner but I think he did himself no favors. By flirting with the big markets, he has lost a lot of credibility.
New Yorkers will say he couldn’t handle the bright lights and the pressure cooker press they have.
Chicago will say he couldn’t fill Jordan’s shoes, as they believe they have a roster that gave him the best chance to win a title. Miami will say he doesn’t care about titles because he would have won multiple titles there if wasn’t afraid of giving Wade the credit.
And had he left his hometown on national TV, the entire world would have viewed him as a heartless fiend of the worst order.
Because of his choice to be wooed and his desire to the most famous person in the world, LeBron gave himself no good choice.
Whatever his decision, outside of the team he played for and bandwagon fans that follow the famous, he has made himself the most hated player in the NBA.
In the end he took the money and stayed home. We don’t know if it was because he didn’t want to be the second banana. We don’t know if it was because he couldn’t bear to be hated at home.
But I doubt it is because he wants to bring us a title. I am not sure it is something he is even capable of.
I hope I am wrong. And I hope come November the first time he throws the hammer down, I am back on board because right now I have my doubts.

If LeBron goes to New York

The city of Cleveland will not burn.
I have heard over and over that “The Decision” is the worst thing to ever happen to Cleveland and will destroy the psyche of the town.
Seriously?
How quick people forget?
One may remember that the Browns did leave town.
And that was an entire team in sport we actually care about.
Before “The Chosen One” graced our presence, there were only a few thousand Cavs fans in town and even less than that before Price, Daughtery, Nance and the boys showed up.
I watched the Cavs play before LBJ and I will watch them after, but I am not saying it hasn’t been fun.
It was a compelling story. A native son was to be the one to end our title drought. He was going to remove the sting of decades of losing.
Hollywood would have rejected the script. The expectations were unreasonable for a kid right out of high school and yet it looked like he would exceed him.
The fourth quarter of game five against the Pistons in 2007 was moment I never thought I would experience. It was breath taking. It was so unexpected and so beyond what I thought possible – I almost didn’t remember to enjoy it. I was in pure shock. Which of course made game six of that same series so much fun.
As Boobie dropped shot after shot, it was the best party of my life. It was such a magical night that promised so much more that the loss in the Finals to the Spurs didn’t hurt at all. I believed a title would one day be won.
The pain of losing him to another team was definitely dulled by another game five and six. Again I saw something I never expected. “The King” quit. His teammates took his lead and they quit too.
In that moment I quit on him too.
I have been mad the last several weeks. I wanted to write a column telling him to leave town forever. I want to vent and stew and say just go. But I resisted mostly because if he resigned, I knew the first time on the court he did something no one else could do I couldn’t help but forgive him.
Over the last week, I really softened. It seemed for a while that his staying wasn’t only possible but probable. There were plenty of reasons for him to stay. He could make more money in Cleveland. The organization and the press have protected his mother and family, something that won’t happen as easily in other towns. And this was home, how could he turn his back on his home?
I figured he would make an announcement at the end of his camp in Akron and accept the massive love his local fans have for him.
But then he joined Twitter, and when it was announced the decision would be made live on ESPN, I knew he was gone.
I don’t hate LeBron. After all he is just a basketball player. I don’t respect his choice.
If he was about winning, he would be in Miami and referred to forever as LePippen, he didn’t go there because Wade would be Jeter to his A-Rod. Or he would go to Chicago but he would forever be in Jordan’s shadow.
Guess it is fitting he ended up with the Knicks
A team that spent the last two years gutting its roster and playing not to win is perfect landing spot for the King of Quit.
If he was convinced he couldn’t win in Cleveland, he might as well not win titles in New York.
It will be interesting to watch how long the honeymoon lasts before the media turns on him there and they will. His mother and family will be Page 6 fodder and the back page of the tabloids will be brutal when the Knick don’t win.
He wants the bright lights and the big city. Be careful what you wish for.
As for the city of Cleveland, we will be fine. I may actually be able to afford to go to more games. And while no NBA titles may be in our future, rather than a long and fruitless regular season paired with pressure filled and ultimately disappointing playoff run, I expect next year’s Cavs to be fun to watch.
There will be no expectations and those are always easily exceeded.
Plus we still have the Browns and despite all the witness shirts around town, that’s the team we really care about.