To Cleveland Sports Fans

Fifty one years. Three major teams. Not one championship.

The last time a team in Cleveland won a championship, color TV was beginning to sweep the nation, Ford was a trusted car brand, the Beatles held the top 5 spots on the music charts and the Rolling Stones released their debut album. The U.S. entered the Vietnam war and G. I. Joe hit the market. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act.

Fans in Cleveland my age have never seen a hometown team win that national trophy, wear those rings. And yet…

By Moe Epsilon [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

You wear those brown and orange jerseys faithfully. You debate the skills of this or that coach or player. You suffer the slings and arrows coming from Cincinnati, Detroit. Even Pittsburgh. You buy, mostly with whatever optimism remains, season tickets. You go to the games and drink crappy beer. You have an inhuman faith in your players.

Not all of you. Some of you left. Enough so that they sell Steelers cakes in the grocery store on game day weekend. If you will, please check page 152, Section 34a (iii) of the Fan Handbook and you will see that you are not allowed to cheer for or become a fan of a neighboring city’s team simply because your team isn’t winning. There’s no exception for length of losing streak or bad coaching. If you have a personal connection (past residence of 3 years or more in said town, one or more of your parents or grandparents grew up in said town), you are allowed minimal fan-ship. But the rest of you? You don’t like the Browns just because you don’t like to lose? Then you support no one. You move on to your local high school curling team. You find a team nearby you can tolerate and you paint your face in their colors. You do not abandon your team for the rival. You don’t wear black and gold. Ever.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rmtip21/9163069867

Those who stay loyal are true fans, true believers, not just in the team but in the idea that we are nothing without each other. We may be a nation of rugged individualists, but we also know that together we are greater than the sum of our parts. Cleveland sports fans have drunk from the cup of disappointment so often, the familiar bitter is just part of the season. And they know one thing is true: at least, at least they are not home to the Cubs.