Cleveland Sports "Heroes": My Love for the Underdogs

1. Trajan Langdon, underplayed and underrated shooting guard, 1999-2001: OK, Trajan Langdon is my favorite athlete of all-time. I’m coming out and saying that right now. If you want to read a 3,000-word story about him that I wrote, then just click here, it will be worth your time and explains everything. I’m still bitter about how his whole situation turned out with the Cavs, who drafted him in the first round and never played him even though he did everything right in practice and played well when given the opportunity…

(Here I go again, getting all worked up. Just trust me on this. The Alaskan Assassin would have made a hell of a pro in the NBA!) Did You Know?: Trajan was a sixth-round draft pick of the San Diego Padres in 1994? Such a great athlete! He was also just named the 2008 Euroleague MVP playing for a team in Moscow – keep up the good work buddy!

2. Derek Anderson, shooting guard, 1997-1999: What’s ironic about this is that he was my favorite player before Trajan, then he was traded after we drafted Trajan because who needs two identical players? Heck, who even needs a shooting guard when we can deal away a good one and not play his replacement?

3. Chris Mills, small forward, 1993-1997: When I was six, I thought his name was “Chris Miles” and he was a relative of mine. Mooooving on…

4. Matt Harpring, small forward, 2000-01: Such a hard-nosed player. Scrappy. I got floor burns just watching him play when me, my buddy Stu and his dad were three of approximately 415 fans who still went to Cavs games at the time. Did You Know?: Georgia Tech retired his jersey number, and Harpring and Mark Price – that name sounds familiar – are the only Yellow Jackets to be named First Team All-ACC three times?

5. Lee Nailon, small forward, 2003-04: Picked him up in a midseason trade and boy, could he score some points. (“Some” being the operative word there.) He was instant offense, for like three or four minutes, and that was it. A fun player to watch though.

6. Eric Williams, small forward, 2003-04: Basically the same player as Matt Harpring only without the same dental plan. Williams was one of those high-character guys the Cavs tried to surround LeBron with his rookie year – aka the anti-Ricky Davis and Darius Miles. Known most for his gap-toothed grin because his family couldn’t afford to send him to the dentist as a child, and he worked hard to provide low-income families with dental care. All around good guy, I really liked him a lot.

7. Jeff Trepagnier, high jumper, 2001-02: The buzz about Trepagnier when we drafted him out of USC was his phenomenal athletic ability. I sipped the Kool-Aid. He scored 18 points – total - in a Cavs uniform. Did You Know?

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