Hey Cleveland! Scoreboard
By Tony Fischer
Oct 2, 2012; Cleveland, OH, USA; A Cleveland Indians fan during a game against the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Last night in the midst of Tigers fans chanting “Lets Go Tigers” you classless Cleveland fans chanted “Detroit’s Bankrupt”. Detroiters have been through quite a bit in the last 10 years. Really since 1968 Detroit and the Southeast Michigan suburbs have been struggling with economic downturn and racial strife. Sure we fight with each other about who is to blame and we don’t always get along. We are also used to being made fun of by the National Media for one reason or another. We can even laugh it off when John Hamm says “somebody needs to clean that place up” in reference to the Giants sweep of our Tigers in the 2012 World Series.
But to take it from YOU.
Cleveland
No. That is where this writer draws the line.
I am are not going to take that kind of classless behavior from the likes of Clevelanders. I won’t mention here that in 1969 the Cuyahoga River was such a polluted cesspool that it actually spontaneously combusted. Sure you guys liked to say it was a regional problem but none of our rivers caught on fire. I also won’t mention that Forbes listed Cleveland as the #1 most miserable city to live in. Sure Detroit’s number 4 on that list but no one ever remembers who came in fourth.
Which leads us to your sports teams.
I remember fondly the year that the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA championship. Oh wait that NEVER happened. But I do remember when Art Modell pulled a pathetic Browns football team out of Cleveland and relocated them to Baltimore only to win a multiple superbowl championships, something Cleveland has yet to achieve. He completely screwed you over and now some in the NFL want to put him in the Hall of Fame for it. That’s gotta hurt.
I also remember watching John Elway ripping the guts out of Cleveland fans in the 1986, 1987 and again in 1988 during the AFC Championship. Would have been nice to have a shot at the title eh? Too bad you blew it.
And back to baseball. Have the Cleveland Indians even won a world series championship in the modern ERA? I think the last time they won was in 1948 over the Boston Braves. 1948 is a long time to wait for a World Series Championship isn’t it? You came close in 1995 and 1997 with two of the best teams in your franchises history but that still wasn’t quite enough now was it. Too bad you blew that too.
We can also talk about the Cleveland Barons. The great NHL franchise that was so successful it lasted 2 years and had some of the worst attendance numbers in NHL history.
Fact is Detroit is a better sports town than Cleveland would ever hope to be. We have successfully supported 4 major sports franchises, two major college football programs, not to mention the championships. Not one of our franchises has left our city because of poor attendance or lack of support from it’s fan base. Cleveland on the other hand lost an NFL Franchise!! How is it possible to lose a franchise for the most successful sport the country has ever seen? Even the Carolina Panthers have been more successful than the Browns.
No wonder why LeBron left that unmitigated disaster of a fan base and you actually want him back.
Sorry to give you a dose of reality Cleveland but before you start dropping “Bankruptcy Bombs”on the motor city consider the absolute disaster your city is. Fact is your city ranks behind Detroit in nearly everything. There is a reason that Cleveland’s most prominent sports websites fight over the name “Factory of Sadness” .
Maybe the “Factory of Sadness” that is the Cleveland Indians baseball club can churn out another extra inning debacle just like one last night. That way Detroit can finish burying your pathetic run at the Central Division championship and you can go back to delusion of thinking Cleveland is better than Detroit.
Detroit may be bankrupt but we have scoreboard! And we all know that is more important to Cleveland fans.