Blog Archives
Cleveland Rocks!
It’s unanimous: The Cleveland Cavaliers are the NBA Champions!
Favorite son LeBron James, who was forgiven for “taking his talents to South Beach” based on his personal letter rededicating himself to his hometown and the people in northeast Ohio, led the Cavaliers to Cleveland’s first professional championship since 1964 (more than half a century) by making NBA Finals history.
The Cavs beat the Golden State Warriors (regular-season record 73 wins) in game 7 in Oakland 93-89 in dramatic fashion. At 92-89, LeBron attempted to put an exclamation point on the title and went for a spectacular dunk with around ten seconds left, but was fouled by Draymond Green and fell awkwardly.
Not again…
Akron’s superstar was on the court, curled up in agonizing pain having fallen on his right wrist (shooting hand). This ending was almost “too Cleveland.” After missing his first free throw, he managed to put in his second shot to give the Cavs a four-point lead. Stephen Curry had a chance to put up a 3 with about four seconds left, but nobody fouled him and he missed anyways.
The voice of Al Michaels popped into every fan cheering for Cleveland and answered in booming fashion, “Yes, I do believe in miracles!”
LeBron James was his MVP-self (third player ever to earn triple-double in game 7 of an NBA Final), Kyrie Irving proved he’s the best point guard in the NBA, Kevin Love showed up on the boards when it mattered, Tristan Thompson was a beast down low, J.R. Smith hit clutch shots on the perimeter and Richard Jefferson was a force off the bench.
For the first time in NBA Finals history, a team trailing 3-1 came back and won the championship. That statistic alone will keep the people of Cleveland smiling for generations.
“You remember the time when…”
For so many reasons, that was the only way Cleveland should have and could have won the NBA title. With their backs against the wall, the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the basketball giants in the Golden State Warriors with three-straight wins (twice in Oakland).
We all witnessed Cleveland’s hometown king raise an entire city from a place of heartbreak and lifelong struggles to renewed belief and an almost incomprehensible victory that extends far beyond sports.
The Drive.
The Shot.
The Fumble.
The Curse.
Last night, today and tomorrow, Cleveland will be known for The Win.
Congratulations to my fellow Ohioans with connections to Cleveland!
Right in the Middle of It All
Basketball season is in full swing, both at the collegiate and professional levels. Watching the athletic dunks, improbable shots and skill (not ability, but skill!) of the best players is great fun. Still, no player quite compares to my favorite basketball player of all-time: Penny Hardaway. Penny made crazy shots that were highlights every night for the Orlando Magic. Plus, he dished some stellar passes to this short and shy guy named Shaq. Hardaway also had the best little brother in the wise-cracking, Chris Rock-voiced Lil’ Penny.
And yet, his legacy is being defined in a middle school gym in Tennessee.
Penny Hardaway’s Legacy: Instead of offering our “two cents,” let’s volunteer one cent.
Happy Monday!
Yesterday was Mother’s Day, but we shouldn’t reserve all of our gratitude and love for our Mom’s for just one day a year. Kevin Durant (of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder) was a great example of this recently while he was accepting his MVP Award with a speech that’s become a sensation for all the right reasons as he thanked the one person who pushed him to levels he wasn’t always sure he could reach.
A truly inspiring team effort.
Happy Monday, with a Special Shout-Out to All the Most Valuable Moms!
Crafting a Role Model
Ohio State’s Aaron Craft is everything that’s great about college basketball. Scratch that: Ohio State’s Aaron Craft is everything that’s great about basketball in general.
In the age of showboating, multimillion dollar contracts, vulgar trash talking and tattoos, Craft is a pleasant and welcomed anomaly from the days of John Wooden, as ESPN’s Rick Reilly put it recently. He hustles, bustles and flexes his muscles on the hardwood and in the classroom for athletic and academic records every single student dreams of having (at Ohio State and around the country) and every single parent hopes to see their child achieve.
He’s a role model. Not just for young kids running around and cheering in Buckeye jerseys with #4 stitched in Scarlet and Gray, but also for his classmates and contemporaries and their parents alike. His effort is as relentless as his honesty in post-game interviews, which underscores the metaphorical significance of sports to life.
In Craft’s case, it’s basketball.
You won’t win every game or ace every test, but you need to prepare as if you will and should. In college basketball, there are only 40 minutes. That’s it. Craft is a prime example of an athlete (and student) who wants the opportunity to win and excel and will do whatever he has to in order to earn those opportunities. Not a guarantee at victory, but the opportunity for victory, just as in life.
If you’ve watched him carefully throughout the past 4 years, he’s undeniably one of the most opportunistic basketball players around, which is what separates him from the rest.
As The Ohio State Buckeyes prepare to battle the Dayton Flyers in Buffalo, New York today, everyone in Scarlet and Gray will need to rise to the level of their relentless senior point guard if they want the opportunity to continue a journey towards repeating a championship moment in Buckeye history from the days of short shorts and $.10 popcorn.
If this were a movie, it might be called, The Human Rubik’s Cube Rises.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 