LeBron James and Cavs Might Finally Bring Cleveland a Championship

If you're a fan of Cleveland's professional sports teams, you've suffered—and you've suffered a lot.

Cleveland hasn't celebrated a sports championship of any kind since 1964, when the city won the NFL Championship with a running back named Jim Brown. That was in pre-Super Bowl era!

Cleveland hasn't won a World Series since 1948. Only the Chicago Cubs have gone longer since winning a World Series.

What about basketball? Cleveland has never won an NBA Championship. Cleveland's best teams, those in the early 1990s, kept getting shot down by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Who can forget the heartbreak of Jordan hitting that game-winning shot over Craig Ehlo?

There was the 1986 playoff game with the Denver Broncos, and "The Drive" as sports fans called it: A John Elway 98-yard gem of a drive in the closing minutes.

In 1980, quarterback Brian Sipe and the Cardiac Kids couldn't get it done, even though they were one of NFL's best teams that year.

Even the Indians made the World Series, only to lose to the Atlanta Braves in 1995.

But now, it's 2009, and Cleveland has the NBA's best player and biggest star in LeBron James.

LeBron and the Cavs are rolling through the playoffs. They're 8-0 in two series against the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks. They haven't won a game by less than 10 points. They are winning at home and on the road.

The Cavaliers are, at the moment, the NBA's best team.

The Los Angeles Lakers are struggling with Houston. The Boston Celtics are a game bunch, but without Kevin Garnett, does anyone think they can finish the deal?

What's especially scary about Cleveland, is they are no longer a one-man show. It's not just James anymore. It's eerily similar to when the Bulls started pushing through in the early '90s, when the Bulls became more than Jordan.

The Cavaliers are getting solid scoring contributions from Delonte West and Mo Williams, while Anderson Varejao is pounding the boards.

The James guy is only scoring, distributing and basically dominating the floor the way no other player has since Mr. Jordan. Sorry Kobe, you had Shaq and so did you, Dwyane Wade.

James is averaging 32.9 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 6.8 assists per game in the playoffs. Those are ridiculous stats.

Let's not forget coach Mike Brown, who should be congratulated for bringing it all together this season.

Now the Cavs wait, and get rested for the Celtics or an Orlando Magic team that will play at least six games to get to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Cavaliers are the favorites to win it all, now that they have two more series to close the deal.

Then Cleveland, you can celebrate that long-awaited championship.

Hopefully another heartbreak isn't just around the corner for you.