“Fezzig, you did something right.”
“Don’t worry; I won’t let it go to my head.”
--The
Princess Bride (1987)
You may have heard that the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA
championship the other night.
I’ll start off by saying I’m not a basketball fan, except
for sometimes enjoying the purity of a good high school game, where I care
about the kids playing, or the occasional bracket-busting NCAA Cinderella
story. I greeted the return of King
James to Cleveland with a yawn. I’m sure
that all makes me un-American at some level but there you go.
I’m a fan, though, of the City of Cleveland and the
surrounding area that has been my home, on and off, throughout my life.
A lot (a LOTTTTT) has been written about the sports championship
drought in this city, the “ya gotta be tough to live here” mentality of the
residents, and the hardscrabble, “you’ll get nothing and like it” history of economic
disappointment in this region. One more voice isn’t going to make much of a
difference there.
Instead, I want to write about the power of a winning attitude and what it can do for a person, a family, a town.
This town isn’t used to winning. We expect to lose. Even
when everything points to success, we anticipate failure, and way more often
than not, we get it. Sports, business…hell, even our weather is crummy. We live on the coast of the largest single
body of fresh water on Earth, and we can’t develop a waterfront entertainment
area. We are the second-poorest big city in the nation. Our malls are closing
down, our population is moving out of the area.
The city, is literally, three times as big as it should be for the
number of people living here.
And yet, there is a fierce pride in the people who live
here. A sense that we are truly a community. A willingness to give one another
a hand up. A sense of perseverance, of shared purpose. We don't give up easily, and we're proud of that. That pride has had a
chance to show itself off a bit this year.
We are hosting a national political convention next month. Our downtown is
growing and the population is moving back to the city. Our restaurant scene has
been named one of the ten best in the nation. Our art museum (a true hidden
gem) is celebrating its 100th anniversary this summer. Our biotech investment environment has grown
faster this year than just about any other in the country.
And today, we are celebrating a sports championship win. A hard-won victory that was borne out of that sense of perseverance and pride. It may not seem like a big deal to those of
you who live in New York, or San Francisco, or Denver or Chicago. You’re used to winning. You expect it. You’re cynical about it at
this point. But to a region that has
become so accustomed to losing, this feels magical. It feels like the type of
event that can take a region beyond the tipping point, to help it get juuust
over that peak and make the next win come more easily.
It’s the type of event that lets the people who live here say
“We are winners. Look at us.” And that feeling, that momentum, is
contagious. I know it’s just a game, but this win is important for this city in
a way that most people can’t possibly appreciate.
LeBron James appreciated it.
I gained a new respect for the man the other night, after watching him,
I swear, break his wrist with 10 seconds left in the game, still take a couple
of foul shots, and then break down, sobbing, on the floor of that arena when
the buzzer went off and he and the rest of the nation realized the Cavs had won
that game. Doris Burke, the ESPN analyst
(off-topic: does that woman ever smile?) asked him if this win was more
important than his previous two championship wins.
He answered “Of course it is. This...this is about my home. These people deserve
this.”
He’s right. They
do. And I’m looking forward to see what
the combination of perseverance and a winning attitude will do for us here.
They're calling it BelieveLand today.
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