Sports pick us up when our team wins, and crush our spirit when our team loses. Sports are where celebration and heartbreak meet and no city has dealt with more heartbreak than the city of Cleveland. From Ernest Byner's fumble on the 3 yard line in the 1987 AFC Championship game to Lebron's decision to take his talents to south beach. The city of Cleveland hasn't won a championship since the 1964 Cleveland Browns, the longest drought in professional sports, unless you include the Cleveland Indians from the 1989 film Major League.
With the Baltimore Ravens deciding to only pay Joe Flacco and the Pittsburgh Steelers aging 5 years in the offseason, 2013 was supposed to be a big year for the Browns. Another year with Brandon Weeden as the signal caller and Trent Richardson running over everyone, the Browns were thinking playoffs for the first time since 2007 when Derek Anderson lead the team to a 10-6 record, and that was before he got serious. During week two, Brandon Weeden left the game with an injured thumb and then the team decided to trade star running back Trent Richardson, which infuriated the fan base once again. Then they turned to home-grown Brian Hoyer who lead the team to back to back wins, before succumbing to an ACL tear in his third start. Despite all of these things, there is still hope for you Cleveland. And for the silver lining, we turn to the same thing we all turned to when we were kids, Walt Disney Movies.
The Mighty Ducks trilogy is easily the best trilogy ever distributed by Disney. If you don't know what the Mighty Ducks are stop reading this blog and go watch the movies. Actually, keep reading while watching the movie, because we need readers. The head coach of the Ducks is Gordon Bombay, a former rising NHL prospect who loses his touch, but not his love of alcohol. He started coaching (court ordered) a local pee wee team and lead them to the District Championship, before he grew the courage to give one more shot at the NHL. He was playing well and it was only a matter of time before he would be scoring goals in the NHL, until his career was cut short by a knee injury.He came back home to Minnesota and lead the Ducks as team USA to the Junior Goodwill Games Championship.
Brian Hoyer's career is starting to look a lot like Gordon Bombay's, he finally got the chance to prove himself in front of the hometown fans before he suffered a season ending knee injury. So for Cleveland fans everywhere, let's hope the similarities don't stop there. If tearing his ACL ends Brian Hoyer's career like it did for Bombay, hopefully he will start coaching a Pee Wee Football team and ultimately give the City of Cleveland the Championship they have long been waiting for.
You've done it again, J-Smoove: great, topical writing! This is exactly what I needed to read. My own career ambitions may have been sidelined, but perhaps someday I'll manage lazy teenagers at the local supermarket. Thanks for the inspiration!
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