So, this past weekend was a weekend of highs and lows in the local sports world. As always with the massive swings in fandom, local talk shows light up with people who are so anxious to cut themselves off from any possible future disappointment. Disappointment, of course, is something that any fan of Northeast Ohio team is quite used to...BUT does it go deeper than that? This guys thinks it does, and I want to lay down on a couch and talk about.
Let's start with our beloved Browns. Now, the Browns have always been the team that many were ready to support despite any lack of talent or...scoring. Yet, I believe our inadequacies have finally caught up with us. One single game has run people to the edge of the cliff, but why? Abandonment. To this point in time, our "new" Browns have never been able to live up to what we once had...the "old" Browns. Somewhere deep down, we still have not gotten over the fact that OUR team is running around wearing purple and black, winning games, and sitting annually atop the standings of the AFC North Division.
Up next? The Cleveland Indians. One day, in the not-so-distant past, they were our new hope...Cleveland's Luke Skywalker. They got close, so close, and yet nothing. Then, at the top of our love affair with the Tribe, they began to abandon us one by one. Belle, Manny, Thome, and then our own team starting shipping them off for the "hope" of a brighter tomorrow. Yet, here we sit...still waiting for promises made.
And then...LeBron. This is where we all got snookered...he was supposed to be one of us, someone who understood our pain. However, in the end, he just up and left too...
So...you're probably thinking...what is he getting at? Well, you know who never leaves us? Who can never uproot itself or turn it's back on us? Ohio State! The Scarlet and Gray are firmly planted in our state's capital, and every year some lucky few make the pilgrimage to the good ole Shoe. Our hope and dreams can be realized by watching a few musical coeds spell out our favorite four letters (OHIO) and dot our expectations with a high stepping sousaphonist. Our Buckeyes come and go with each class, but that is okay because we are cheering for the name on the FRONT of the jersey and not the back. No abandonment, no disappointment. THAT is why we love our Buckeyes, THAT is why other people find OSU fans obnoxious! Because of our history, we have only one thing we can count on...and THAT is the Scarlet and Gray. In them we have no fears, in them we have seen that they CAN win.
You see...we all share this common fear. It's not just some "curse" upon one city or another, but instead the very things that worry us deep down. We watch sports to escape the fact that we have something missing on the inside. That hole that can only be filled by one thing...GOD. Thousands of fans spending hundreds of dollars each week to try and feel better by hoping that their team can come through...but in the end it's bigger than that. Bigger than a loss, or a win
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