A very cleveland night

Tonight is a big deal. Everyone who is from Ohio, watches basketball, or has ever heard of Lebron James knows this. Tonight is opening night for the NBA and our beloved Cleveland Cavaliers host the hated Boston Celtics. This marks, perhaps, the last possible chance for a Cleveland championship in any sport. It is, coincidentally, also the night that the Lakers receive their championship rings from last year.
Truth be told, the sports landscape in Cleveland has rarely ever been in the type of situation it is now. The Cleveland Browns hired a coach who the fans already hate. The quarterback everyone wants to start is on the bench and receives his mandatory once a quarter face time on TV while holding a clipboard. We traded away a chance at drafting a franchise player and also recently gave away our best receiver (however, that move was cheered by most brownie fans).
The Indians have recently finished up yet another disappointing season, finishing well below .500 and were out of the playoff race about 9 minutes into the season. We have now hired a new manager whose prior job was running the Washing Nationals, one of the few teams worse off then the Indians. To top all of that off we have traded away 3 all-stars in the past 18 months and now get to watch our two former Cy Young winners face off in the world series. (my heart silently weeps)
These two teams have consistently crushed the spirits of fans and yet we follow them because if nothing else we are loyal. For 2 out of the 3 big sport seasons every year we suffer, but then the end of October rolls around...
This basketball season offers a variety of elements that we simply aren't used to seeing in Northeastern Ohio. We have arguably the greatest player on the planet, the two biggest personalities in the league, an owner who openly says money is no object and backs it up, and a truly talented group of players surrounding Lebron. With this format it would seem that the Cavs are ready to compete for a decade at least. But if you follow the NBA at all you know the gigantic monkey wrench that can be thrown into this plan. Lebron is a free agent after this year and no one on Earth, himself included, knows where he'll be playing basketball next year.
If Lebron decides to leave his home state for the bright lights of bigger city the results could be literally the end of a city. Cleveland lives and breathes LBJ and without him I don't believe Cleveland will make it. That is how polarizing of a figure Bron Bron is. He has the ability to effect an entire city... just ask Braylon.
No one knows what the future will hold and throughout the year we will be pestered with the constant, "Where will he go?" questions. I don't know the answer, and I don't care. I'm going to take these next 7-8 months for what they are, a unique situation which we may never come across ever again. It may be cheesy but this year, I am a witness. He very well may end up staying in Cleveland. We could win the championship in June and Lebron could sign right then and there, giving C-town a reason to stick it to the rest of the country for once. But it doesn't matter because win or lose I'm going to enjoy every moment of every game with Lebron and Shaq and the rest of the crew. That way if Lebron does leave, I can tell my kids some day that I got to watch the most interesting season of basketball in the history of the league. Enjoy the game, I know I will.




And hey, if he does leave in June, so what... the world cup will be starting.... ole!