Believeland: End of the Championship Drought
For 52 years, the 1964 Cleveland Browns have stood as Northeast Ohio’s last major sports champions. They were led by Jim Brown, arguably the greatest NFL player of all-time and one of America’s most well-known athletes.
Cleveland teams had won some division and conference championships, but no world championships in any of the four major American professional sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL) since 1964.
That all changed Sunday night, when the Cleveland Cavaliers stood alone atop of the NBA world.
In general, professional sports championships have been few and far between for athletes and teams of “The Land”. During the 1990s, the Cleveland Crunch won three NPSL championships. During the ’00s, Vonda Ward and Kelly Pavlik won multiple boxing championships. Otherwise, only in the scripted world of professional wrestling could Northeast Ohioans like “The Miz” Mike Mizanin (Parma Ohio) and “Dolph Ziggler” Nick Nemeth (Cleveland Ohio) win world championships.
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Last year, the sports world observed as LeBron James bowed in respect towards Jim Brown before Game 3 of the 2015 NBA Finals. Like Brown, James has emerged as arguably one of the greatest NBA players of all-time and has quickly become one of America’s most well-known athletes. With this simple gesture, the championship torch was finally being passed on from one Cleveland sports great to another.
With a major sports championship potentially on the horizon, Elyria’s, Andy Billman of ESPN Films directed the critically acclaimed 30 for 30 film “Believeland”. Billman sought to embrace Cleveland’s nonstop sense of hope despite heartbreaking losses such as The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot, The Move and The Blown Save.
Shortly after the debut of this film, the year 2016 began turning into the year of Northeast Ohio’s rise to prominence in professional sports. With a powerful right hand punch, Stipe Miocic became the UFC’s heavyweight champion. Then, the Lake Erie Monsters swept their way to the Calder Cup of the AHL.
With these two victories, the stage was set for the Cleveland Cavaliers to make NBA history. On June 19th, 2016, the Cavs completed the first 3-1 Finals series comeback in NBA history in order to win their first NBA championship. They defeated a heavily favored Golden State Warriors team—who, as defending champions, were looking to set the record for most games won by an NBA championship team in a single season.
Well aware of Cleveland’s hunger for a world championship, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver declared during the trophy presentation: “The curse is over. The 52-year drought has come to an end.”
As Northeast Ohioans know, this championship was not just for basketball fans. As James screamed during the trophy presentation: “Cleveland, this is for you.” As confetti fell and fans across Northeast Ohio rejoiced, hugged and cried, they bid farewell to the disappointments of yesterday.
Goodbye Drive. Goodbye Fumble. Goodbye Shot. Goodbye Move. Goodbye Blown Save. Goodbye curses of Rocky Colavito, Paul Brown and Ron Harper. We will never forget the disappointments and defeats, but we will no longer be burdened by them. Instead, we know that our nonstop sense of hope—combined with team chemistry, hard work, good coaching, good health, and a bit of good luck—pays off. We are just as capable of winning as everyone else. We are winners. In the NBA, we are the champions.
It is only a matter of time until the Indians and Browns find their way to another world championship. For the Browns, a new era is here. I said it two months ago and I will say it again: Winning is on the horizon—I can see it. Can you?
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