Cleveland Sports Heartbreaks: NBA Championship Series

  • Thread starter Thread starter BobG
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Series
AI Thread Summary
Cleveland's sports history is marked by a series of heartbreaks, with the last championship win occurring in 1964 when the Browns were led by Jim Brown. The city's decline is mirrored in its population drop from 876,000 in 1960 to 452,000 in 2005. Anecdotes about past mayors highlight the city's unusual political history, including Ralph Perk's hair-catching incident and Dennis Kucinich's brother's robbery during a law speech. The Cavaliers' ownership by Ted Stepien is remembered for a bizarre celebration involving softballs, which inadvertently caused chaos in the city. Amidst this backdrop of sports misfortune, LeBron James is celebrated for his positive influence and supportive nature, contrasting with other sports figures. The discussion also touches on nostalgic moments from other sports, illustrating a broader theme of longing for past victories and the emotional connections tied to sports events.
BobG
Science Advisor
Messages
352
Reaction score
88
Yet another opportunity to add to Cleveland's long list of heartbreaks.

Cleveland Sports Heartbreaks

The only question is what new bizarre way they'll come up with to lose.

The last time Cleveland won a championship in any sport was 1964 when Jim Brown was playing for the Browns (and Paul Brown was still coaching the Browns).

Their sports misery pretty much follows the other miseries of the city. In 1960, Cleveland was the 8th largest city in the US with a population of 876,000 people. By July 2005, the population was 452,000 people.

Their list of mayors is rather bizarre, as well. In the 70's their mayor (Ralph Perk) accidently set his hair on fire with a blowtorch. His successor (Dennis Kucinich) suffered the embarrassment of giving a law and order speech on one side of town while his brother was robbing a liquor store on the other side of town (it was the era of embarrassing brothers, I guess - Jimmy Carter's brother, Billy, was quite a character, as well).

The article neglects to mention how Ted Stepien celebrated buying the Cavaliers. He threw softballs off of the tallest building in Cleveland that players from a softball team he owned were supposed to catch. He failed to account for the wind and spectators and cars wound up being pelted by the softballs, instead. The incident was the inspiration for the WKRP Thanksgiving episode.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
:smile: Ouch!
 
BobG said:
Yet another opportunity to add to Cleveland's long list of heartbreaks.

Well, I'm cheering my heart out for LeBron anyway. There's nothing not to love about that guy. He's so positive and supportive of his teammates. I read a great article about him a few days ago in which the author argued very well that he's the antithesis of Kobe Bryant. I couldn't agree more.

The incident was the inspiration for the WKRP Thanksgiving episode.

Best. Episode. Ever. This past Thanksgiving I YouTubed that episode in celebration.

"With God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." :smile::smile::smile:
 
Last edited:
The thread title is NBA championships series, so my little tale should not be to far off topic.

It was just 30yrs ago that I was sitting on the floor of Oregon State's Gill Coliseum waiting to receive my BS in Physics. We were listening to Pres. McVicar's speech over the main loud speakers while in every other seat on the floor and in the audience someone had a radio tuned to the Blazers Championship game. Pres McVicar was forced to pause and acknowledge the victory, which occurred mid speech.

Needless to say the Blazers have not yet repeated.
 
The Bulls took Championship #1 the night of my high school graduation. It was also publicly acknowledged.

As I recall the Bulls got more applause from the parents than we did. :cry:
 
Back
Top