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By Alex Kuhn
Sports Editor 

Hear me out...What the h%#* Cleveland?

 

November 2, 2016

COURTESY/MGN

Seriously, what the hell Cleveland? Isn't your first NBA championship good enough? You have LeBron James, the best basketball player on the planet and after his career is done will probably be the second greatest of all-time. Is that not enough for you?

You don't need this World Series.

The Browns are well on their way to locking up No. 1 overall draft pick in the NFL. Yes, you've had to endure five seasons worth of soul-crushing losses packed into half a season and Jimmy Haslem is an underrated worst owner in all of sports. But it's still the No. 1 pick, if you're not a fan of LSU running back Leonard Fournette you can trade down for a bucket full of draft picks. I know the Browns track record during the draft, is to put it politely, abysmal, but it looks as if Haslem has stopped taking the advice of homeless people and is letting the professionals he's hired make the calls.

You don't need this World Series.

As a millennial Chicago Cubs fan (Since they've made the World Series it's cool to mention them by name) I haven't experienced the full spectrum of devastating Cubs losses, but I've been through enough.

There was the infamous Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS against the Florida Marlins. Some might call it the "Bartman game," and while it's popular to think that fan Steve Bartman ruined the Cubs chances at a World Series birth, being up 3-2 and only five outs away, it was not his fault.

If a scapegoat needs to be assigned it would go to shortstop Alex Gonzalez, starting pitcher Mark Prior and manager Dusty Baker, in that order. Every true Cubs fan I've talked to agrees with those names and those that blame Bartman are dopes that need to be regulated to the kid's table.

The worst part of the entire 2003 NLCS series was the Marlins were flat out a better team. How the Cubs even got up 3-2 was impressive enough.

Next on the Cubs playoffs stinkers, the 2007 NLDS 3-0 bludgeoning by the Arizona Diamondbacks, then the 2008 NLDS in which they were swept again, this time by the LA Dodgers who had a rejuvenated Manny Ramirez.

The worst loss for me by far, recent bias may be a factor in this, was the 2015 NLCS. Not only did Chicago run into the red hot pitching staff of the New York Mets but Daniel Murphy, a career .296 hitter, decides to transform into Reggie Jackson hitting .529 with four HRs and six RBIs for the series. It was ridiculous and even more infuriating when he reverted back to his means in the World Series against Kansas City. It was as if God anointed him the fail-safe to takedown the Cubs in case the Mets pitching staff didn't hold up.

So again, Cleveland you don't need this World Series.

As I'm writing we're about five and a half hours away from Game 6 starting. So this column might need an update if they lose, but I have faith in Jake Arrieta and Kyle Schwarber. It's not absolute faith, because the MLB playoffs are as random as anything in sports.

But there is this weird stat, the last time there were two ties in the NFL regular season, the Cleveland Indians lost Game 7 of the World Series. At first I laughed it off but oddly enough it has given me more comfort in winning the series than knowing the Indians will have to take down Arrieta in Game 6 and Kyle Hendricks in 7. I agree that it makes no sense and is insane to believe in such a random fact, but, hey, that's the life of a Cubs fan.

So Cleveland, knock it off. You have the defending NBA champs, who just might repeat, and a light at the end of the tunnel for the Browns.

You don't need this World Series; and if you've won Game 6, well....I'm not allowed to print what I'd actually like to say.

 
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