How do you explain it? What is the reason? Is it bad management, bad players, or just bad luck? Heck, is it relevant to say at this point that you just might be cursed? However you want to call it, being a sports fan in the city of Cleveland for the last 40 years has been nothing bad pain and sadness. Since the Cleveland Browns defeated the Baltimore Colts for the 1964 NFL Championship, there has been nothing to lift the cities spirits since. During that period, no other city has has been on the wrong in of so many signature sports moments. If you need some evidence, all you need to look at is “The Drive” and “The Decision”. Heck, even the events that aren’t known by name are still painful. Just look at the Indians 1997 World Series loss to the Marlins, or the 2007 ALCS collapse to the Red Sox.
The fact is, though, Cleveland fans do it to themselves. After all of this misery, we still go out there and root on our teams. We are die-hards in a city were our sports teams have done nothing but disappoint us for four decades. If you watch nationally televised Cavaliers games this season, you’ll hear shock at the fact that even when our team is in the midst of a 25 game losing streak, we still sellout the arena. Heck, the Browns have two winning seasons since they were reborn in 1999, and yet we still go to the games. The reason for this is simple: while losing as become our culture, we still love our teams. Heck, what else are we going to do? We need our distractions with unemployment at a record high and factories rusting in our midst. Cleveland sports teams might disappoint us, but at least they give us the hope that one day we will rise again.