A Whole New World

I have to admit, I'm still in a bit of a haze over this one and it still doesn't feel entirely real. Remember that last post where I was talking about Cleveland never winning a sports championship? In my entire life? Actually in longer than I've been alive?

No more.

The Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA championship last night. (I'm sure the trophy they won has a name but I have no idea what it is).  Being the native Clevelander that I am, I was sure that they were going to lose, especially when LeBron James was writhing around on the court with about 10 seconds left in the game because he smacked his wrist on the rim while being fouled.

Ahead by 3 points with only 10 seconds left? Doesn't matter. I'm sure that this is the beginning of the end.  I mean, the way he was writhing on the floor I was sure his whole hand was going to be hanging off by a tendon or something! I figured this was the basketball version of Elway coming back 90 yards to win.

But you know what? I was WRONG!!!! Amazingly and gloriously WRONG!  LeBron made a free throw, and the Golden State Warriors would keep missing and before you knew it, the clock went to zero and history was made.

Now I am going to be the first person to admit that there would be many people that might call me a bandwagon fan.  I'm going to say not exactly, I've always had the Cavs on the radar, but off to the side of the radar.  As we've already covered, hockey is my true love when it comes to sports, and I don't have time to be totally obsessed by two sports playing REALLY long seasons at the same time. That being said, unless you've lived it you have no idea what it means to have this team bring home the first championship in 52 years.

Of course, now I don't know what to do. I'm so used to saying "wait til next year," I'm not sure what to say. So I guess I will just say this:

Thank you to this team for giving Cleveland something it's wanted for such a long time.

Not in Cleveland Anymore

Toto, I'm pretty sure we're not in Cleveland anymore.  Yesterday I got to do something that I've never had the chance to do in my entire life - attend a parade to celebrate a home team winning a sports championship.

Hockey is my favorite sport.  It has been for, well for a long time. Let's just say I celebrated my 25 year reunion for college, and I've liked hockey longer than I've been an alum.  So understandably the fact that we were moving to an NHL city 6 years ago was a pretty big deal. During those 6 years the Penguins have been good. They've made it into the playoffs each year, but then they've kind of fizzled.

But hey, I'm a native Clevelander! A team that CONSISTENTLY makes the playoffs each year, even if they don't go very far?  I can sort of live with that.  But still it's sad when the season moves on and your team isn't in it, even if you did go farther than other teams.  Eventually you begin to wonder if maybe you brought "the curse" or "the jinx" with you and somehow this is as good as it will get.

This year really wasn't looking so great though. By mid December the team wasn't really doing so well, 15-10-3, isn't going to get you very far.  A coaching change was made and it was like there was a new team on the ice!  Granted there kind of was, with injuries and bringing up baby Pens from the farm team to fill their spots, but the baby Pens stepped up and by March they went 12-4-0 for the month.

And that is when the glimmer of hope starts. The glimmer that you're afraid to mention out loud, because if you say it out loud or even think it too hard, it will slip away.  But secretly you wonder, "Will this be THE year? The year MY team hoists Lord Stanley's cup overhead?"  And with each game, each round of the playoffs, you begin to hope just a little more.

But still, you brace yourself for whatever the hockey equivalent of "Red Right 88" is (no comments from anyone about a certain collegiate team that blew a 2 goal lead with one minute to go to lose the NCAA championship).  And before long, there are only two games left in the Stanley Cup final!!! Two stinking games and your team only needs to win ONE of them to win the Cup!

And guess what??? THEY DO IT!!!! No jinx, no curse, no surprise loss after a comfortable lead, nothing.  Just a win.  A win that is so amazing, so awesome that you sit in your living room watching this team that you love take their turns skating around with the Cup overhead and you are crying. Real tears, crying.  Because you're now part of a city that has a championship team, in a sport that you love above all other sports.

And there's going to be a PARADE! A parade that will allow you, your husband,  and 399,998 of your closest friends, (because lets face it for that moment we're all friends), to thank this team for all of their hard, hard work, for bringing home what is arguably the toughest trophy to win in major league sports.

Thank you Penguins ...  can we do this again next year?

Welcome to my world

Well I've tried this blogging thing before and like most people it kind of just fizzled and died. For some reason I have an urge to blog again, so I thought a new blog was in order.

This one will be full of the adventures, I may be using that term in a generous fashion, of a person born and raised in Cleveland now living in Pittsburgh for nearly 6 years.  And enjoying it more than she ever expected.