"In Northeast Ohio nothing is given, everything is earned"
In Seattle,
this would have never of happened. No, I’m not talking about endless traffic to
and from work while you’re desperately trying to see if you have enough money
in your ‘Good to Go’ account to get into the city with one of two accessible
bridges. No, I’m not talking about coffee on discount. I’m talking about a November Rain
delay in Game 7 of the World Series in Cleveland.
Cleveland
sports fans know that from start to finish the game is never over until the
buzzer sounds. Perhaps then in baseball it’s the few sports were there isn’t
one.
We count the
beats per minute of our pulse as this game had it high, low, and everything
Charlie Sheen Tiger blood in between.
We had hope.
We had home field. We had our ace Corey Kluber on the mound. (pronounced CLUE-ber)
He's no Neegan, and all Morgan.
Kluber, who
looked like the Dali Lama of emotion who is as calm as a (metaphor for
something calm in a hurricane) didn’t have his ‘lights out’ game, but giving up
3 runs on 5 innings pitched isn’t a bad outing necessarily.
The Cubs
struck early hitting solo shots into deep center field swinging the bat like
they were Deniro in the Untouchables.
Capone would
have been impressed with this “Team.”
Capone was Neegan before it was cool.
After tying
the game up in the bottom of the eighth inning, outfielder Rajai Davis belted a
2 run home run to bring the Tribe and
Cleveland faithful back from the dead a la Travolta’s needle to Uma Thurman
Pulp Fiction style. (I won’t keep it a
secret, Uma survives, Vincent doesn’t)
Excitement
filled Cleveland. I saw Lebron Hulk it out. Hey J.R. Smith had his shirt off
now more times than 2Pac.
(Speaking of
which have you heard his new album?)
I digress.
So to was
the outcome last night at Progressive Field, as another curse was broken and
Fox didn’t show that celebrities are also fans of sports teams. No, no that can’t
be it. The Chicago Cubs won their first World Series since 1908. You know back
when America was GREAT AGAIN!
I digress.
Heading into
the top of the 9th inning the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame decided to call up the
ghost of Axl Rose past and so began the ‘cold November rain.’ The Slash solo
began as Ben Zobrist hit a double scoring in Albert Almora giving the Cubs the
go ahead lead and they never looked back.
True story, upon seeing the video for November Rain Slash's mom Mrs. Slash called her son,
"Honey you have such a beautiful face, why do you hide it?"
Cubs veteran
Jason Heyward told reporters after the game he gathered all the players for a ‘players
meeting’ only and regrouped his talented bunch from the north side. It seemed to have worked.
The
momentum, if there was any for the Tribe, seemed to be put on pause. Then we
watched, and we waited, and waited, until finally the last out came and Cleveland’s
hope for 2/3 of the sports Hat Trick was not to be.
This loss however,
honestly felt different to me. The irony
of Cleveland winning its first Championship earlier in June on the backs of
Lebron and company coming back from a 3-1 deficit only to see another
Championship (droughted)*(not a word) team do the same is bittersweet.
Have you
ever talked to a loyal Cubs fan? It’s like talking to a Browns fan with their
knowledge and love for the game. Only difference is at the end of the day a
Cubs fan’s neck isn’t strained from the constant bowing of the head.
"Wait. Wait. Wait I. I'm sorry. I'm watching the Browns, I...."
What a run.
What a year. What a year in Cleveland sports!
You can’t
really fault a fan base if you’re a Clevelander, watching those loyal Cubs fans
who have waited years to witness this. To give it some perspective, Bill Murray
was 5 last time the Cubs won it all.
Perhaps too
it’s also bittersweet that an ‘Indians’ ball club didn’t win, but a Sioux Tribe
at Standing Rock, ND might? It has yet to be seen.
It is the
year of awareness in Cleveland and across the American landscape. The one thing
you can’t say that most Americans aren’t is aware. Now of what we can all
argue.
Even for
those who don’t usually follow sports I always find baseball to be the sport
that brings it home for, well, at least me personally.
Growing up
my friends and I played home run derby at our local middle school and when the
movie the Sandlot came out I said,
“Hey it’s
me!”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, Yeah!
Yeah, Yeah!”
A game 7 for
the ages that gave us Tribe fans, Cub fans, and fans of baseball and game 7’s a
chance to feel good.
What a
series.
Next week we
Americans get to decide or not decide who will be the leader of the free world
and so snap, back to reality, ooops there goes gravity. (Ok, knock it off
internal Eminem writer!)
Until we get
back to the serious business of who runs our country and protects real Indians
and real Cubs, let’s take a moment to hug our inner child of excitement.
Remember,
your age is just a number and if you can't see an afterlife?
Harry Carrey doesn't mind
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