Monday – 6/20/2016

I’ll never forget the moment.

Sunday night.

Game 7.

Against the odds, here we were, my beloved Cleveland team playing for the world championship!

Clinging to the thinnest of a lead, with only a few plays away from the seemingly impossible…

The first world championship for a Cleveland sports franchise in more than several decades.

I kept telling myself to remain calm. After all, this was Cleveland. I knew what it meant to be a Cleveland fan. The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot. I had witnessed them all.

I kept telling myself this would be different. I just knew it.

There was no way we were going to let the other guys take this from us.

We don’t have the 12 months of sunshine like they do to dull the pain of a heartbreaking loss.

We have our sports teams. We have this moment.

Sitting still, just as I had been for the entire game, I could feel my body on the verge of wanting to jump up and celebrate.

And then, just like that, it was over.

We had lost.

Another epic collapse.

Another long off-season.

Another brutal reminder that “there’s always next year.”

That was 1997. The Indians had just lost to the Florida Marlins in the World Series.

I was crushed. Devastated. Exhausted from pouring my heart and soul and passion into another season.

Life can be so unfair.

But life goes on. The sun came up the next day. And eventually I moved on.

They say history repeats itself.

Fast forward almost 20 years, and there I was, once again finding myself in a very similar situation.

Oh, boy.

Here we go again.

Only this time, it was the Cavaliers.

But something was different. There was a very strange and quiet sense of optimism permeating throughout the city.

Cleveland really was BelieveLand.

The Land and its people were actually preparing to celebrate a victory.

By now, I think you all know how the story ends.

As we all know, sometimes it only takes one moment to completely change things forever.

I experienced that moment several years ago. Not sitting in front of the TV watching a baseball game, but diving into a lake on a sunny day.

Last night I experienced another one of those moments.

A local Cleveland news anchor summed it up perfectly, “The best way to end a drought isn’t with water, but with champagne!”

Whether you’re from Cleveland are not, make it a point to watch the 2 short Nike videos below. The first was released a few months after Lebron returned to Cleveland in 2014. The 2nd was released last night, a few seconds after the Cleveland Cavaliers became world champions.

(And as for the Indians, something tells me another memorable October awaits).

Stand Strong!

Scott