Who is your team... I know who mine is.

This is a topic that I have talked about in a number of different arenas, what team do you follow and how loyal are you?  Anyone that knows me understands that I am a fan of the Ohio State Buckeyes, Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Browns, and the Cleveland Cavs.  Being born and raised in Massillon, Ohio you learn to be loyal to your sports teams quickly, because if you are not then you will hear about it.  We do not mind if you are a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago Bulls, or even that team from the state up north just as long as you stick with them; now you will catch hell from us because of the team you follow but just remain loyal.  So you are probably wondering, where am I going with this?

It seems that no matter how loyal fans are of the teams from Northeast Ohio they do not show the love back to us.  The Cleveland Indians have had a very long history with their fans from the 1940's and 1950's during baseball's hey day all the way up through the 1980's when they were losing over 100 games a season.  Then the mid 1990's showed up and Cleveland was selling out every game, in fact 455 straight games between 1995-2008.  Starting in 2007 after the embarrassing American League Championship Series against the Red Sox the luck changed and management started dismantling the team.  It all started with the trade of CC Sabathia in 2008, to trading Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez both in 2009, then finally trading Jake Westbrook in 2010.  Management has shown no loyalty to these players or fans even though it was all for the future success of the team.  Fans still love watching their Indians, although it is on television now and not at Jacobs Field, uh I mean Progressive Field.

The Cleveland Browns are a storied franchise in the NFL all the way up through 1995.  The name Art Modell will always be a curse word in the city of Cleveland all through northeast Ohio.  In fact, he has his own Facebook page dedicated to him not being elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.  He'll tell you it was for the good of the game but true Browns fans know that it was not for the game, it was for his wallet and financial gain.  Not only did Mr. Modell take the Browns out of Cleveland but he brought a Super Bowl trophy to the that team in Baltimore just three years later using the beloved Browns tight end Ozzie Newsome as his player development executive.  Along with the departure of the Browns also went the rivalry with the Pittsburgh Steelers who know have the rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens.  Sure the Browns came back in 1999 and the fans love them just as much as the old Browns, but the loyalty factor of the owner was never there.  You saw it when he got rid of fan favorite Bernie Kosar in 1993, but the biggest supporter of any NFL team will always be the Browns Backers.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have been a staple in northeast Ohio never really making any major waves to make anyone truly upset.  I mean come on, this is the team that built the Richfield Coliseum which was equal distance from Cleveland and Akron to make all fans in that part of the state happy.  Even when they moved to Gund Arena the fans were still happy because it was a change for the good that we all understood.  The Cavs were always that team on the brink of success but could never quite get there and then LeBron James showed up.  He took over the state because we allowed him too, he was self proclaimed king and everyone in the state of Ohio recognized him of that.  Everyone except this guy, I played basketball with LeBron as a kid growing up at a number of state run basketball camps.  He is and was then a great player, there is no denying that, but his arrogance goes all the way back to when he was a child.  He finally showed that on national television during "The Decision" which was over glorified by the media.  LeBron knows all about the loyalty factor, I mean come on this is the guy who wore a Yankees hat the a playoff game in Cleveland and a Cowboys hat to a Browns game.  We get it, you do not like Ohio sports and we are fine with that but at least show that you care about city, state and its fans by not saying "I'm taking my talents to South Beach."  All I can say is good luck playing on Dwayne Wade's team because it will never be your team, if you wanted a team then you should have made the team in Cleveland.

I am not going to lie, it can be hard being a Cleveland fan since we have not won anything since 1964 and have been so close on so many occasions.  One day in my lifetime I will see a championship come home to Cleveland and northeast Ohio.  Even if I do not I will still always be a proud fan of my hometown teams no matter how much heartache they give me.  I encourage you to take a look at the team you follow and ask yourself this question; When they start to lose, will I still follow them?