Deadlines and Commitments

Ashtabula... Elyria... Cuyahoga Falls... CAVS!

2007-06-06T22:02:00.000-05:00

I am to understand that a major professional sports team from Cleveland is playing for a championship.

As predicted earlier in this space, starting now, I love, love, love the Cleveland Cavaliers, and I will be rooting hard, perhaps even watching the game (games? does the NBA identify its champion by way of a series?) as Cleveland takes on the San Antonio Riders.

My leap onto the bandwagon is easy and graceful, though, because I am well schooled in the art of assigning myself to a successful team's fan base at the last minute.

In light of the developments of the day, I thought I'd assess my five most ridiculous all-time maneuvers in this department -- including where the Cavs fit in.

5. Ohio State Buckeyes football, 2002

Credibility: 8 (on a 10-point scale). Had lived in Ohio and had rooted for the Buckeyes. Spent much of the season in Ohio. Watched more than half of games.

Style: 8. Carried fan support back to Pennsylvania; made fool of self on Second Street in Harrisburg after bowl win.

Result: Bucks top Miami 31-24 in double overtime at the 2003 Fiesta Bowl to win an improbable national championship.

For some reason, more than any bandwagon-related endeavor, this one draws fire from my pals. But viewed objectively, it was more of a large step than a leap. I was in the middle of making the transition from Pennsylvania back to Ohio and spent probably half of my fall weekends in Athens or Cincinnati. I absolutely, positively watched all of the games against Northwestern and Penn State. By midway through the season, I was paying as much attention to the Buckeyes as I was to any other team. I took in most of the Purdue game ("Holy Buckeye!") from my couch in Harrisburg, much of the Illinois game (decided with the help of some friendly officiating) at Jillian's in Covington, Kentucky (which is de facto Ohio) and the whole Michigan game at an apartment in Athens. And we held up the music at the bar as the game stretched into the night of January 3, 2003, at the conclusion of which my shouts of O-H were answered not by I-O's from the disinterested friends whom I talked into watching the game with me, but by the I-O's in my heart.

Furthermore, the Buckeyes were on my short list of teams prior to 2002... and they're still on that list (see the news links to the right). I will hear no objection to my claiming of a stake in this championship.

4. West Virginia Mountaineers football, 1988

Credibility: 7. As a Pittsburgh kid, was already following WVU, Pitt and Penn State football and had heard of Major Harris. Still following Mountaineer football.

Style: 7. Had fired a gun by this point in my life, but not a rifle, like the mascot has. Didn't flip anything over or light anything on fire at the end of the season.

Result: Mountaineers fall to Notre Dame 34-21 in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl, closing the books on an otherwise spectacular 10-1 season.

I think it would be fair to call this one my first bandwagon experience. It was quick and ended with mild embarrassment but a strong interest in trying again, as first experiences often do. WVU caught my ten-year-old attention by pounding my Pitt Panthers early in the season, then rolled the rest of the way on the strength of the arm of one Major Harris. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that, at the end of this season, Major Harris was my number three all-time sports hero, behind Bernie Kosar and Mario Lemieux. (Bernie and Mario are still first and second on that list. Major, not so much. On the bright side, Tony Rice is as good a punchline to any remember-the-'80s joke now as the other #9 is.)

Again, I note that I still follow the team in question, and -- as with Ohio State -- I was more than aware of the team all season long.

3. Cleveland Cavaliers, 2006-2007 (okay, just 2007)

Credibility: 5. Lifelong Browns fan and advocate for the city of Cleveland and northeast Ohio.

Style: 6. Have never blogged about a bandwagon jump before.

Result: TBD.

The Northcoast has not seen a major professional sports championship since 1964. Since I assume the Browns will never manage one, and the new rule in baseball is that every team in the AL Central except the Royals has to finish above .500 every year, the Cavs could represent Cleveland's best shot. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure I haven't watched all of an NBA game (not series, game) since 1997, when Chicago beat Utah 4-2 in the finals and I was dating a Bulls fan (note that I was willing to watch those games, but I was not willing to root for the Bulls).

This year's Cavs have everything a fan could want. LeBron James. The other kid his age (Gibson?). The guy from one of the Baltic states. A coach, presumably, unless LeBron is the coach. The building that hosted the 2003 MAC men's basketball championship.

2. Arizona Diamondbacks, 2001

Credibility: 3. Was not sure until October 2001 that Arizona was in the National League.

Style: 4. The emotions that spurred this leap -- baseball, apple pie, America! -- were valid, but really, the U.S. does not have a long and storied history relating to sports in a desert.

Result: Diamondbacks edge the Yankees, 4-3, to win the World Series.

Now we're getting dumb. These were the Johnson-Schilling D'backs who conjured up a championship. For me, it was about centering myself again after September 11. I had to pick a team, the other team was the Yankees, and I was having none of that. I experienced some legitimization only in the last at-bat of the series, when former Cub Luis Gonzalez slugged the walkoff hit that brought in former Pirate Jay Bell as former Pirate Tony Womack (who was on first) crossed in the foreground. I reasoned then that this was as close as either the Cubs or my Bucs were going to get to the World Series anytime soon, and they haven't disappointed me yet.

1. Florida Marlins, 1997

Credibility: 2. And those two points only because Jim Leyland was managing the Fish.

Style: 0. Even under the most charitable analysis... this was just dumb.

Result: Florida wins the World Series, 4-3, over the Cleveland Indians.

Ten years later, I don't understand what went wrong here. On paper, this had the makings of a brilliant bandwagon leap... onto the Tribe's bandwagon. I had no strong feelings one way or the other about the Marlins. While I didn't follow the Indians, I was well into my love affair with Cleveland. The Tribe had recently been thwarted by the Braves, and I had rooted for Cleveland in that series (obviously). So what was I doing pulling for Florida here? Sure, there was Leyland. And former Bucco John Cangelosi (series totals: a hit and two strikeouts in three pinch-hit appearances). But how was that enough?

Maybe I was feeling stung by the loss of the Browns (this the second of their three autumns in hibernation). I was about to break up with my high school girlfriend -- could that have distracted me? Working too many hours? Too much time invested in Model UN prep? (The OU team did take first place overall that year, for the first and only time, squeaking past Case Western. Screw you, Case Western.)

Explanations all... but no excuses here.

The fog lifted a couple of years later, and I saw what I had done. It hurt. But only a lesser man would have given up on bandwagon jumping. I knew I could bounce back. And I did. That's the man whose words you read today... the man who can proudly say he has been a stalwart Cleveland Cavaliers fan for literally almost all of June.

No one demonstrates NBA fever like old Christine

2007-05-29T23:52:00.001-05:00

The Cavs knotted the Eastern Conference finals, 2-2, with a 91-87 win over the Pistons tonight.

I'm a lifelong Browns fan, but -- probably because I grew up outside Pittsburgh -- I never got into the NBA. I assure you that this will not prevent me from bandwagoning the Cavs in about five minutes... because I'd love to see the city notch a championship in something besides blight. But as usual, the Cleveland jokes write themselves. Golden State we are not. Here's the actual last line of the AP story.

"Celebrity rows included: TV actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Browns coach Romeo Crennel, Michigan State hoops coach Tom Izzo and talk show host Geraldo Rivera."

Really? Mark Linn-Baker wasn't available? How about Frank Gansz Sr.? Jim Traficant couldn't obtain a day pass for this?

Richardson resume enhancer: 'Big in Iowa'

2007-05-28T11:19:00.000-05:00

I had an unusually clear and lengthy dream the other night in which Gov. Bill Richardson (D-New Mexico; video resume online) sought out my advice on his presidential campaign.

Actually, I had a dream about how Bill Richardson asked me for his two minutes of his time, but 30 seconds into our conversation, Hillary Clinton came over to us and asked for two minutes of my time, and I told Bill that the fact that I was going to get up and leave our conversation to talk to Hillary was probably a bad sign for him.

But this is about the 30-second conversation I had with Bill Richardson.

He said, "What can I do to catch up?" And the dream must have come the day after the word broke about the memo written by Clinton campaign aide Mike Henry suggesting that she skip Iowa. I said to Bill -- because, again, a presidential candidate was asking me for advice, and who am I to turn him down -- "You'll have to finish second in Iowa."

He's into double-digits there now, per Zogby (April 3, 29-23-23-2; May 17, 28-26-15-10), and obviously, John Edwards remains well positioned himself.

It seems to me that as long as Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's names are first and second or second and first in every horse race conversation, it might as well be a two-horse race. But the idea that one of the frontrunners might skip a newsmaking early caucus might be the opportunity that the rest of the field hoped for.

What I'm really doing is looking ahead to a hypothetical January 23, 2008. Status quo, there's no sign that these two states won't break either Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton. If Clinton yields in Iowa, the storyline going into the virtually national primary in early February has room for a third name.

The Clinton campaign dismissed the thrust of the memo, of course, and while there are some reasons skipping Iowa might a good idea for her, there are lots of reasons why it would be a bad idea. So this is hypothetical: Who among the second-tier candidates is in the best position at the moment, on the ground in Iowa, to finish second if Hillary withdraws (or first, if Obama followed her out of Keokuk)? And have any of them stepped up or scaled down efforts in Iowa lately? Alphabetically, then:

Joe Biden. Well, he's launched an Iowa-specific website... wait, he launched this just yesterday? That's weird. Is on a six-day Iowa swing presently and has been in Iowa three times in May. Assorted endorsements. Announced Iowa organization March 29, headed by Bill Romjue, who last managed Dina Titus' just-short campaign for Nevada governor.

Chris Dodd. Something called "D-SPAN" is said to be coming to this website soon, but I can tell you now that the website is probably not excited about it and may pretend to be out for the night when D-SPAN tries to get buzzed in. Anyway -- was in Iowa in mid-May. Opened his Iowa headquarters March 20 with a one-year lease -- suggesting to AP that Dodd intended "to mount a credible Iowa caucus campaign" against the better-known candidates. State director is Marc Beltrame, a young lawyer and former senior aide to an Iowa congressman.

John Edwards. Biden's Iowa website address has me typing slash iowa at the end of every candidate's home address just to see if there's anything there. Sure enough, there's a slash iowa on the Edwards website (launched May 10, I guess). Based on the illustration, the northern half of Iowa is sky and the southern half crops. Lists eight (eight!) Iowa offices and notes plans to open more soon. Was in Iowa for three days during the first half of this weekend and had visited Iowa nearly two dozen times between 2004 and mid-May, when 1500 Iowa women "representing all 99 counties and more than 800 precincts" launched "Women for Edwards." Assorted endorsements and "rural county chairs" in every county. State director Jennifer O'Malley was his Iowa field director in 2004.

Richardson. No slash iowa, but -- aha -- it's iowa.richardsonforpresident.com (launched May 23). The webstaff there should add a redundant link. Was first on the air in Iowa (April 20). Was last in Iowa himself last weekend, looks like. Des Moines HQ. Did not name an Iowa state director until May 20; he is Robert Becker, who was in Iowa in 2000 for Bill Bradley. The Iowa page does a good job of making the case for Richardson as the most Iowa-y of the candidates, listing accounts of his ease and comfort among rural voters.

(As yet unknown is which candidate has the support of Ohio-based rock band Big in Iowa. I expect this to be determinant.)

So it looks like Edwards is very there; Richardson is getting there (he's not visiting often, so his team must be doing well for him, or his visits are having more of an impact); Biden has an interest in being there, but trails; and Dodd is nowhere.

Exceptionally useful would be the iowapolitics.com page on the 2008 presidential race, which includes Iowa visit counters for both the Dems and the Republicans. I didn't use this page as a leap-off in my own research for this entry, though, because I didn't want my searches funnelled through just one page.

"Smoke." "Not now, Cleveland."

2007-05-22T15:33:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine who's more of a Cincinnati guy left these consecutive voice-mails over the weekend. I post them here in the interest of fairness. But, speaking for the Rust Belt from whence I came: We built you, America. If it weren't for Cleveland at the good end of I-77, there wouldn't even be a Charlotte at the bad end.

"Just in case you were ever wondering the answer to this question -- If you're standing in a concession line on the south end of Jacobs Field, how many smokestacks can you count within your line of sight while in line at the concession stand? -- the answer, from the best of what I can tell, is...51. You can count 51...smokestacks while standing in line for hot dogs at the south end of Jacobs Field."

"I'm now on the south side of Jacobs Field and it's dark. The number of smokestacks emitting smoke: five. Thank you."

NE PA wonders whether Rutgers football is for real

2007-05-18T09:50:00.000-05:00

Are you there, Larry Johnson Sr.? It's us, northeastern Pennsylvania. Please take in our finest young men and teach them to be Nittany Lions. We would rather they not be Scarlet Knights.

A tidbit in this piece about Johnson's visit to an alumni event in Scranton (we missed the season finale of The Office last night and don't want to get into it) is that in order to recruit WR Derrick Williams, Johnson wrote him a letter every day.

Randy Johnson will be the last 100 CG pitcher ever

2007-05-17T23:53:00.000-05:00

In baseball, the Reds became my second team when I was too far from the Pirates in college. So I noticed the other night when Greg Maddux threw yet another complete game, this time at the expense of los Redlegs. How many CGs is that, you ask? The answer is 109 -- or a complete game roughly every 43 innings.

This struck me as beyond imagination here in 1990s ForbesAmerica. The numbers suggest that Randy Johnson has a chance to reach 100 (he's at 98 now), but after him, we will never see another 100-complete game pitcher again. The candidates:

1. Curt Schilling, 82 complete games. He checks in at one per 39 innings, but he is very old and talks excessively.

2. Mike Mussina, 57 complete games. For real -- after Clemens (118), Maddux, Johnson and Schilling, the next guy is way back at 57. Even if he weren't Mike Mussina, a handicap it'd be tough for anyone to play through, the average here is one complete game per 57 innings -- a substantial drop-off.

3. Tom Glavine, 55; David Wells, 54; John Smoltz, 53; Scott Erickson (retired? alive?) 51; Pedro, 46. No, no, no, no, no.

Down the chart at 42 complete games, we have a live one: Livan Hernandez. Pro: only 32. Con: currently averaging one CG per 53-ish innings. Would have to pitch 5300 innings, then, according to the new math, to reach 100 complete games. Whoops -- only six guys have done that (Cy Young, Pud Galvin, Walter Johnson, Phil Niekro (the non-Joey Galloway pride of Bridgeport, Ohio), Nolan Ryan and Gaylord Perry). Clemens, who has been successfully pitching for more than two thousand years, is only up to 4817.

Several slots below Hernandez, there's Mark Mulder, 25 complete games at age 29, throwing a CG every 52-ish. A stretch.

Finally, we arrive at our last, best hope: Dontrelle Willis -- 15 complete games. At 25 years old, he has time. Only four and a half seasons into his career, he should still have the arm. He's pitching one complete game per 58 innings -- arguably with more time than Livan has to change the pace in a way that would be statistically significant.

Who are we kidding?

Save the stub if you're there when the Big Unit does it. No one you will know will see it again.

West Virginia does not look much like America

2007-05-17T23:35:00.001-05:00

Not in Hardee's restaurants per capita and not in really any other way that can be measured.

Facinating AP story highlighted Thursday afternoon by NPR. AP's Stephen Ohlemacher and co. ranked the 50 states and the District in terms of how closely they resemble the demographics of America at large. Incredibly, Almost Heaven is less like America than almost anything.

The interactive map is worth a look. Focus on your state as you click through the seven measures (age, education, income, industry, migration, race, hometowns (urban vs. rural)). How the AFC North states fared:

10. Ohio
11. (tie) Pennsylvania
36. Maryland

This page has a 'Browns win tracker'

2007-05-17T23:26:00.001-05:00

USA Today says there's hope for the Browns. This seems as good a way as any to start a blog.

Against the Wind

2007-05-17T13:45:00.000-05:00

"Against the Wind" "is about trying to move ahead, keeping your sanity and integrity at the same time."

"[Jane] says to me all the time, 'You allow more people to walk on you than anybody I've ever known.' And I always say it's human nature that people are gonna love you sometimes and they're gonna use you sometimes. Knowing the difference between when people are using you and when people truly care about you, that's what 'Against the Wind' is all about. The people in that song have weathered the storm, and it's made them much better that they've been able to do it and maintain whatever relationship. To get through is a real victory."

-- from "The Fire This Time," Timothy White, May 1, 1980, Rolling Stone, via segerfile.com

Words and music by Bob Seger

It seems like yesterday
But it was long ago
Janey was lovely, she was the queen of my nights
There in the darkness with the radio playlng low
And the secrets that we shared
The mountains that we moved
Caught like a wildfire out of control
Till there was nothing left to burn and nothing left to prove

And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she held me oh so tight
Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then

Against the wind
We were runnin' against the wind
We were young and strong, we were runnin'
against the wind

And the years rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded bv strangers I thought were my friends
I found myself further and further from my home
And I guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was living to run and running to live
Never worried about paying or even how much I owed
Moving eight miles a minute for months at a time
Breaking all of the rules that would bend
I began to find myself searchin'
Searching for shelter again and again
Against the wind
A little something against the wind
I found myself seeking shelter against the wind

Well those drifters days are past me now
I've got so much more to think about
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in, what to leave out

Against the wind
I'm still runnin' against the wind
Well I'm older now and still
Against the wind