We are the Indians

One of the most historically inept "good" teams of all time was the Cleveland Indians. They had the AL Central locked down for almost a decade, winning the AL Central crown 6 times in 7 years from 1995 to 2001. The Twins are a little bit less successful in that regard, having only won their 6 titles in 9 years. The Indians were always regarded as an exercise in futility, winning the crown but never taking down the World Series. Everyone felt bad for Cleveland since it has such a sad sports history.
Well here's the thing. The Indians went to and lost 2 World Series and managed to find their way to two more ALCS's. In the Twins' stretch, the team has one SERIES victory under their belt. I guess I shouldn't have said the Twins ARE the Indians, because when held up against the Indians, the Twins are substantially less successful. I think that as a fan, this will be a significantly less enjoyable post season than usual, if only because I will no longer accept just getting to the post season as a success.

Position in the Spotlight: Cleveland

Cleveland. It quite possibly ranks higher on the sports misery scale than any other city in America. They have 3 major sports teams, the Indians in baseball, the Browns in football, and the Cavaliers in basketball. They used to have a 4th, the NHL's Cleveland Barons, but they will be remembered as the last of the 4 major sports leagues' teams to completely fold and disappear from the league, and no one can forget the original Browns bolting to Baltimore in 1996. Cleveland has not enjoyed a championship since the Browns won the 1964 NFL title, and this was during the time period where the AFL was also playing games but there was no Super Bowl, so technically, they have not enjoyed an "undisputed" championship since the Browns won the 1955 NFL title. The Indians have only won 2 world titles in over 100 years of existence, and if it wasn't for the Cubs they would have the longest World Series drought of any team, last winning in 1948. LeBron James and the Cavaliers are the shining hope for the city right now. He led them to the finals in 2007 and has a chance to do it again this year, but before James was drafted, the Cavs only made it as far as the Eastern Conference finals twice since they joined the league in 1970. Not much history there....

So which direction should we go for position in the spotlight? The Browns have had the most success of the 3 franchises, and are also probably the most popular team in town. They are also known for having arguably the greatest running back of all time, Jim Brown. So running back is an easy choice here, right? I don't think so. Jamal Lewis is a very good running back, but I don't really think any Cleveland fans watch him with the expectation of filling Jim Brown's massive shoes, and they haven't really had a solid running back that was with the team for several years since the early 90s. So, for my position in the spotlight pick, I'm choosing a position that many highly touted college players have attempted, but few have enjoyed a large amount of success at. That position is Cleveland Browns Quarterback.

The bar was set high for the Browns when they started play in the AAFC back in 1946 with their inaugural Quarterback, Otto Graham. Graham was actually a star tailback at Northwestern before being drafted by the Lions (4th overall in 1944), but after a term of service in the coast guard and a new contract from the Browns, he switched to quarterback. Graham turned the brand new franchise into the most feared team in football and won 4 consecutive AAFC titles from 1946-1949 before the league merged with the NFL in 1950. As one of only 2 teams (49ers were the other) to actually join the NFL in the merger, their AAFC titles were looked down upon by the rest of the league, but Graham shut up the detractors and won the 1950 NFL championship. He then led the Browns back to the NFL championship game in 1951, 1952, and 1953, where they lost, but then won the NFL championship in 1954 and 1955 before retiring. In total, he won 7 championships and 10 title game appearances in 10 years of play, and has the best winning percentage of any quarterback to ever play.

Filling in for Graham was Tommy O'Connell, who led the Browns back to the title game in 1957, which also happened to be Jim Brown's rookie year. After a few mediocre seasons with Milt Plum, Frank Ryan brought some balance back to the team, leading the NFL is passing TDs in 1964 and winning another NFL title for the Browns. The Browns also returned to the NFL title game in 1965 with Ryan, which was Jim Brown's last season. The tandom of Bill Nelsen and hall of fame RB Leroy Kelly, resulted in 2 more trips to the NFL title game for the Browns in 1968 in 1969.

Shortly after the merger the Browns began to sink, and taking over for Bill Nelson was highly touted college prospect Mike Phipps, who the Browns drafted 3rd overall in 1970. Phipps enjoyed a nice first season as starter in the record books, but not with his individual stats. The retirement of Leroy Kelly and Phipps' high number of interceptions quickly dropped the Browns to one of the worst teams in the league, and backup QB Brian Sipe wasn't providing much help. Sipe eventually became the starter in 1976, and the Browns wallowed in mediocrity (except in 1980) until Sipe retired in 1983.

After a year of former backup Paul McDonald in 1984, the Browns grabbed Miami's Bernie Kosar with the first pick of the 1985 supplemental draft (because there were issues with his eligibility during the actual draft) and was named starter after a few games. Kosar helped turn the franchise around, leading the Browns to 3 AFC title games in the late 80s, but he couldn't get over the hump, losing all 3 to the Broncos. Kosar started to fade in the early 90s, eventually being released in 1993 after being replaced by Vinny Testeverde. Testeverde was another highly touted college quarterback from Miami, drafted #1 overall by the Buccaneers. He basically did what he does best, play mediocre.

When the Browns returned to the NFL in 1999, the were given the 1st pick in the NFL draft. Coincidentally, 1999's quarterback class was being compared at the time to 1983's, with 5 quarterbacks being selected in the first round. The Browns went with Kentucky's Tim Couch. Couch failed to live up to expectations and the Browns struggled with him. The Browns struggled to find a decent replacement for Couch after releasing him, and returned to the draft well once again in 2007, picking up Notre Dame's Brady Quinn, who slipped dramatically in the first round, giving the Browns the chance to pick him up. The Browns cut Charlie Frye after only one game in 2007 and promoted Quinn to backup behind another youngster, Derek Anderson. Anderson then proceeded to come out of nowhere and have a great season, leaving Quinn on the bench, and raising Cleveland's fans hopes that Anderson might be "the one." Unfortunately, Anderson came back down to earth last season and injuries destroyed the team. It seems likely Quinn will win the starting spot this year, and he will try to buck the nearly 40 year trend of top quarterback prospects failing to lead the Browns to the promised land.

Honorable Mention: Cleveland Browns running back: The Browns started their existence with 3 excellent hall of fame running backs, Marion Motley, Jim Brown, and Leroy Kelly. Since then they have had some other good running backs in Greg Pruitt, Kevin Mack, and Earnest Byner, but haven't had a consistent running back since returning to the NFL in 1999.
Whoever ends up replacing Lebron James as the Cav's star player: He won't be as good as LeBron. Fans won't like him. I promise, I've seen it happen with my favorite team, the Bulls.
I couldn't think of a good single position for the Indians. Feel free to post your suggestions in the comments.

The Cleveland-Denver rivalry lives!

Here's what I'm hoping happens tonight. I hope that Cleveland wins convincingly over Boston, and the media continues to talk about Joe Torre's departure from the Yankees and how Boston should have beaten the Indians if they just hadn't used Tim Wakefield in game 4. Then, the series itself would be a mishmash of stories involving Todd Helton, Colorado's magical run, and the Rockies team faith. If I were a Clevelander, I would be licking my chops.
It may come as a surprise, but Cleveland and Denver have one of the most heated, quiet sports rivalries out there. Just looking at the cities, you can see the dichotomy, and the almost movielike difference between the cities. You have Cleveland, the gritty industrial town, full of down on their luck, hard working blue collar citizens, and then you have Denver, picturesque, thriving as a commercial center, full of affluent white collar citizens. And time and time again, Denver kicks Cleveland in the stomach.
Look no further than the NFL, and the late 1980's. In 1987, the Browns and Broncos met in the AFC championship. The Browns were up 20-13 with 5 and a half minutes remaining. They had the Broncos right where they wanted them. And then this happened:

Certainly one of the most epic possessions in football history. The first kick to the city of Cleveland's collective gut. Fortunately, next year, they made it to the AFC Championship game again, facing their nemesis, the Broncos again. Running back Earnest Byner was running all over the Broncos, but Denver was ahead 38-31 with time winding down. Cleveland was driving, looking to make up for the previous season, and they had the ball at the Denver 8. They gave it to Byner again, he made it to the three, until:

The Fumble. I really think these two games crippled the entire Cleveland psyche. Sure, the Indians came around, becoming the dominant team in the AL Central, even making the World Series twice. How much of the losing mentality learned in those years against Denver still lingered with the crowd, though, as in the same year Denver won the first of their two Super Bowls, the Indians lost their second World Series, this to the Marlins, a 4 year old team from Florida. their first loss was to the Atlanta Braves, who had a pattern of losing when it really mattered. Until, of course, they played Cleveland.
Around the turn of the century, both cities stopped being relative in most competitions, until the 2003 NBA draft, when the Cleveland Cavaliers had the first pick, with a hometown hero, Lebron James, the top player available. But this draft was stacked. There were two players of particular note in this draft, James, and Syracuse freshman Carmelo Anthony. And of course, where do you think Anthony went? The Denver Nuggets picked him third. Now, while both the Cavs and the Nuggets are successful, Anthony hasn't shown up to any Rockies games wearing paraphernalia of the opponents.
So yeah, I think a Cleveland-Colorado World Series would be delightful. The Rockies are getting all the headlines, and they certainly seem like the team of destiny, sweeping their way to the World Series. They'll be more than happy to tell you that they are blessed, although I find it hard to believe that God is really all that interested in baseball (or football for that matter, Jon Kitna) when there are seemingly bigger things to worry about. The Indians would come in much more quietly, with their opponents having received all the headlines. The Yankees, out of the playoffs, have been making headlines all week, and the news out of the ALCS is all Red Sox oriented. It seems that people have already tacitly ordained the Rockies as the World Champions. How sweet would it be if Cleveland could finally stick it to Denver?