Say it Aint So, Joe! Orlando Magic, 3, Cleveland Cavaliers, 1. A Fan’s Rant.

The Cavs are down 3-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals! I know some people would point out that 8 teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit and won the series, and to those people, I say: Yes, miracles do happen…just not in Cleveland. I’ve been a Cavs fan all of my life. I was practically in love with Bob Sura when I was younger. I’m one of those crazy Cleveland people who support all of my Cleveland teams, losers that they are. I won’t pretend that I watch every game. I may see the occasional game during the season (except for when Bob Sura was playing, back then, I rarely missed a game), but I’m always there for the playoffs.

Now back to the situation at hand. What I don’t get is why the Cleveland sports teams, can’t just lose games? Why do they always have to lose big games in heartbreaking ways? Why are the fans always left with ifs, and could of, should of, would ofs? What happens if the Cavs don’t turn over the ball so many times in overtime? LeBron’s shot could have, should have gone in, just like Delonte’s three at the end of game one and Mo’s desperation three at the end of game one. Why is it always the opposing team that gets the roll, the bounce, the key play?

As a Cleveland fan, I wondered what ailment would besiege us this time, because it’s always something. Now we find ourselves staring down the barrel of elimination. Am I surprised? Not really, this is a Cleveland team after all. Failing this season would be the typical Cleveland thing to do. The surprise would have been if they actually made it to the Finals and won.

I’m not trying to take anything away from my guys. It was a great season! The best in Cleveland Cavalier history! So good in fact, that the fans, eternal optimists that we are, actually believed for a moment, that maybe, just maybe the curse had been lifted and Cleveland’s drought would be over. I’m not going to say the standard Cleveland refrain of “there’s always next year” because I’m sick of that phrase. When will it be “this” year? When will we be able to say, “we’ll win again next year and repeat!” Of course we’re Cleveland, so our chances of actually winning the first time are slim to none, which means the probability of winning two years in a row is pretty close to non-existent, but it would be nice to have a championship win under our belts.

I said it at the beginning of this series and I’ll say it again: Cleveland teams do not fare well in close games. Yes LeBron saved us in one game, but what is one game if you lose the series?

Orlando rained threes on Cleveland’s hopes and dreams and all I could do was watch. I knew at the end of the fourth quarter that the game was over and the Cavs would be returning home down 3-1. When overtime started and a fatigued LeBron had some careless turnovers, it only confirmed what I knew to be true. Cleveland lost. It’s what we do best.

I don’t mean to sound like a whiny fan, but if all of your city’s major sports teams had a history of being seconds or half an inning or one play away from winning big games, you would understand. It’s something that you begin to expect, but never really want to see.

I’m a witness alright. I witnessed another typical Cleveland let down. I’m not bitter though. I’ll still be cheering on my Cavs next year. It’s what we do here. We lose and move on.

I think all of Cleveland’s fans and players should hold hands around Quicken Loans Arena and bring in a shaman to lift the curse, and then after we finish there, we should march over to Progressive Field and do the same thing and then head down to Browns Stadium and do it there too. I figure if we try to lift the curse off of all three, maybe we can luck out and actually lift it off of one of them, and hey, if we’re really lucky, our prayers will work for all three.

If all else fails, we should change the name from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Toledo Cavaliers or any other Ohio city that isn’t Cleveland, because the Cavs have changed venues before, so the curse is obviously with the name, not the building, right?

I know, I know, there is no such thing as a curse. The Orlando Magic beat us, we should deal with it. To people who say that, I say, go look at the game footage and put your team in the place of the Cavs. How would you feel if your team lost the way the Cavs lost?

I understand that I should have hope and that I should believe that the Cavs will win three games in a row and make it to the finals. I know they are physically capable of winning the next three games, but as a Cleveland fan, I know better than to hope or believe in such madness. It is possible that they will win but I’m not willing to hold my breath on it.

The Cavs definitely need to make some personnel changes. I’ll address those later though.

The only good thing that will come out of the Cavs season ending is that my posts will finally stop being about sports for a while.

Status: Looking forward to next season and still proud to say Go Cavs! It’s not your fault you couldn’t escape Cleveland’s sports history this year. Maybe next year, right? Lol.