Going into 2016 Finals, Game 7
A few years ago I wrote a piece about Lebron returning to Cleveland and how I felt moving forward as a Cavs fan. It’s here for those who want to read it. Today, I again find myself in need of writing down my thoughts to find wisdom in this crazy world.
I don’t like the concept at all, but in a sense, the most reasonable way to look at this upcoming Cavs game is to throw the data, all the analysis, out the window. The chance that the nation would arrive at this particular Game 7 at this particular time was so small it feels… ah, I hate this too… fated. The reality is that it’s not. This Game 7 will be the product and clashing of two great teams that played a lot of basketball and crossed a lot of hard paths to get to the bittersweet end, undecided. Someone has to win, someone has to lose, and now you’re dealing with a sample size of one, where anything can happen.
It’s painful how much investment I, my family, and my city has in this game and this team. Cleveland has waited so long, most of us our whole lives, for true glory at the hands of one of these franchises. I feel it’s an essential part of the Cleveland psyche to wonder how much pain to endure for the preservation of hope. The Cavs could win and reshape my outlook on sports, my city, and probably my life as well. Is the world, my life, my home, a place where good things can happen? Or is disappointment destiny? The Cavs could easily lose and this game would stand atop the mountain of close-but-eventual-heartbreak. It’s hard being powerless, but the reality is that so much of life is just beyond your control and you have to sit back and wish for the best.
Maybe that’s at the core of why we watch these games and why we care so much. An objective analysis of putting balls in hoops and running back and forth yields only dribble. It is the emotional connection to a team and a place that drives all great Cavs and great Cavs fans. We want to believe that the team we stood behind during the worst has the strength and skill and fortitude to survive everything and stand alone as the best. Good things can happen. And they’re powerful because bad things can happen too. I, like my family, like my fellow Clevelanders, will watch the game and cheer, win or lose, and never stop cheering, never stop hoping, not even if things fall the other way. We’ll be back next year too. And the year after that. And every year until we die. Not because we’re masochists or need the franchises to continue with our everyday lives or even that we believe a win will eventually come. Many do believe, but that’s not why we come back every year. We come back because we can’t abide the thought of being the one who gave up and then witnessing from the shadows something truly amazing and wonderful come to pass. We’ve sat through a lot of cold, a lot of gray, many long winters, and we’ll keep sitting here, just in case.
This is Cleveland.
This is our home.
Go Cavs.
Go Cavs!