Being A Cleveland Sports Fan

During the post-game commentary after last week’s Liverpool versus Manchester City soccer match, announcer and former Major League Soccer star, Taylor Twellman, exclaimed what a wonderful match it was for the neutral observer. Liverpool came into the game ahead of Manchester City. The teams were one and two in the English Premier League when the game was played and City won 2-1. It was exciting play from both teams – end-to-end with boundless energy. Pure entertainment for the neutral fan.

The comment, though, led my thoughts to the pain of being the fan of a particular team. This is magnified many times if you happen to be from my hometown, Cleveland, Ohio. When you’re a Cleveland sports fan you always assume disappointment – Cleveland teams do that to you. It’s an interesting conundrum because no one forces me to cheer for the Indians, Browns, or Cavaliers. When I was a kid I actually regularly attended the games of the Cleveland Barons minor league hockey team and the Cleveland Pipers basketball team in the National Industrial Basketball League. Both of these clubs challenged for championships. But with the three major teams, losing and disappointment was ingrained. Although the stakes as a fan are not actually very high, individuals, myself included, take continuing losses hard even though they have no substantive effect on our lives. For me, this was so deep-rooted that I became an Arsenal soccer fan and of course they too became a losing team when I was a supporter. Actually, I flip-flopped between Arsenal and Manchester United. Like rare successful moments in Cleveland sports history, I became engrossed with Manchester United in May 1999 when they scored two goals in extra time against Bayern Munich to win the Champions League, the highest honor in European team soccer. There were many, many further successes but they too eventually disappointed. Legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 and since then they’ve not competed for honors in England or Europe.

The point though is more poignant if we speak directly about Cleveland teams. The last time the Indians won a World Series was in 1948. I was born a year later. The Browns won the 1964 National Football League championship upsetting the Baltimore Colts. Yes, the Colts used to be in Baltimore until they recklessly moved to Indiana in the middle of the night and paved the way for the Browns to leave for Baltimore – another disappointment for Clevelanders. The Browns were good in the mid-1960s, but the ’67 game against Green Bay brought us back to earth – Packers 55 Browns 7. And finally, the Cavaliers competed the during LeBron’s first stint in the city as well as in his return for four years from 2015 to 2018. LeBron also left the city with the magical 2016 championship. When he was gone, however, they were the worst team in basketball. They again claim that dishonor at the present time.

What does all this disappointment mean? For starters, when you watch a game you always expect to lose. Even if everything is going well. Even if the Indians are good you never expect them to win in the playoffs let alone win a championship. They flirt but they don’t win. Even if the Browns are up three touchdowns you anticipate them losing fumbles and interceptions. And now, even if the Cavs are up sixteen at the half, you know that they’ll probably lose by ten or more. The Cleveland fan’s reality is that you expect them to lose. You watch games waiting for the worst. You always feel the team is in trouble even when they’re playing well. The effect is not only during the events. Besides the malaise of no expectation of success, certain losses change your mood. If you’re from Cleveland just think “The Drive” or “The Fumble.” Here’s a non-Cleveland example: In 1999 South Africa played Australia in the semi-finals of the Cricket World Cup. I was living in Cape Town at the time, had gone to some matches, and had become something of a fervent fan. South Africa needed a tie to reach the championship match. If it was baseball here’s what you need to imagine. Your team is down one with two outs in the bottom of the ninth but the bases are loaded. Your best power hitter, a lefty, is at the plate and the opposition puts on a major shift because he only hits to the right side of the field. He already has three home runs in the game. This time, he hits a ground ball into left field that should be a game winning single. For no apparent reason, the baserunner on third doesn’t run, doesn’t run and is forced out at the plate. You lose!

If you’re from Cleveland you might understand all of this as inevitable. I do! Yet, I always return – after all, next comes the Baker Mayfield Era.