great year for ohio sports teams

[HatManTC]

this year has to be one of the better years for the cleveland based teams and for the buckeyes. its no where close to being as good as the Boston areas year, but its pretty dern respectable. the browns had a winning record, and were just a game shy of the playofs. the Indians tied for the best regular season record,won a playoff series vs the evil empire, came one from going to the series. the cavs won the eastern conference and went to their 1st NBA finals ever. the buckeyes beat michigan and made their second championship game in 2 years, especially impressive since this year was a "rebuilding" year. so all in all I say as a fan this was a good year. the only way it could have been better would have been if atleast one of them would have come away with a title

[Erik121]

No offense, but I think you are totally wrong. A great year = championships. I feel that as fan you need to live up to the high standard of champion or bust. Sure teams can have good years, but the championship years are the ones remembered. And I know it is hard for you because I remember how it felt when the Bears lost in the Super Bowl last year.

If you break it down:

Cavs - lost in finals

Indians - lost in ALCS (With a 3 games to 1 lead)

Browns - bad

Buckeyes - lost in BCS title game in 2007 and 2008

I would hardly call that great, as that so close to the title feeling sucks.

[HatManTC]

here's where your wrong. each one of those teams except maybe the Cavs where expected to finish last or close to bottom of their respective divisions

buckeyes: 3 losses in years(2 of them to national champs) beat michigan causing Lloyd Carrs retirement. loss a heisman winner, and two WRs that both were darfted in the 1st round. this was suppose to be a rebuilding year. so to even make it to a BCS game is an accomplishment. the 2 title game losses are crushing but I'm optimistic for the next few years

Indians: suppose to finish 3rd behind the Tigers and Chisox

Browns: a bad fg/to rule or bad push out call kept them from being 12_4 and going to the playoffs

I think as sports fans we can be a be a bit spoiled by championships(of course a cleveland fan would say that huh). this year was a great year and shows promise for all those teams in the near future.

[infrared41]

No offense, but I think you are totally wrong. A great year = championships. I feel that as fan you need to live up to the high standard of champion or bust. Sure teams can have good years, but the championship years are the ones remembered. And I know it is hard for you because I remember how it felt when the Bears lost in the Super Bowl last year.

If you break it down:

Cavs - lost in finals

Indians - lost in ALCS (With a 3 games to 1 lead)

Browns - bad

Buckeyes - lost in BCS title game in 2007 and 2008

I would hardly call that great, as that so close to the title feeling sucks.

I didn't know there are "standards" that fans need to live up to. I thought all it came down to was whether or not you have fun following your teams. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

No offense, but you are the one who is totally wrong. Ask Miami or Cincy fans if they would trade seasons with the Browns. Ask Royals fans or D-Rays fans if they would trade seasons with the Indians. Ask Knicks fans if they would take a losing trip to the finals over what they have now. Ask Notre Dame fans if they would trade their 2007 season for Ohio State's 2007 season. You're a Chicago fan. If all that matters to you are championships then you have wasted a rather large portion of your time on nothing.

And if you "know how we feel" then you already now that after the BCS title game I went back to my regularly scheduled life no worse for the wear. I hate to break it to you chief but most people just don't take this stuff all that seriously.

[buckeyes1]

I totally agree with you HatMan. It has been a great year for Cleveland based sports and the Buckeyes. The bad thing is that for the Indians this season, Browns next season, and Cavs this season the bar has been raised and the expectations are a little higher which can lead to disappointment in Ctown. Hopefully the Indians do well again and can make it to the Series this time and the Cavs can finish off strong.

[Island_Style]

It was a good year, not a "great year". Nothing to be ashamed of, that's for sure.

[Burning River]

I also feel that it has been a very good year. Fine, call it a technicality on the use of the word "great". I say this was close to great. Winning the Championship would be un-freakin-believable and wonderful. If the scenario happened year after year... yeah i would expect Championships. Hatman is right on... the year was fulfilling because it was unexpected. Now.. as each thing transpired I was bummed and not happy. All in all though, things are headed in the right direction. The loser mentality is "Wahh... we lost in the play-offs!" There are a bunch of teams in the leagues not even sniffing the Play-Offs. Trust me... I'll never be completely satisfied until somoeone wins a championship. So, I'm not just "taking it". I can say that I am satisfied with where things are going for the tams I root for. Besides, I'M the fan here... don't tell me what I should feel.

*Ohio State losing a CHAMPIONSHIP game isn't a terrible thing...it sucks for a bit. So, they lost 2 CHAMPIONSHIPS in a row. They did win 1 a few years ago. At this rate.. they'll win and lose a few more.

*The Cavaliers were supposed to lose to the "Mighty" Pistons again. They finally beat them and for the first time ever are Eastern Conference Champions. So, they lost the CHAMPIONSHIP to San Antonio. So have other teams. Hey we're one of Boston's 3 losses at this point!

*Browns are finally getting it right. They ended up with a record no one was expecting. They have some Pro-Bowl players now. Trust us.. that's GOOD thing. It's been a long-a$$ time!

*The Tribe got back in the Play-offs. Again, nothing wrong with that. So, they lost to Beckett and the Red Sox? People will say they "blew it". I think Boston freakin' went out and ripped it. They were better and won 4 times, yet still lost 3. They weren't "that" much better, 1 game better.

[Ben5]

Don't forget Greg Oden and the hard court Bucks. And didn't the Buckeye soccer team make it to the finals?

[infrared41]

Don't forget Greg Oden and the hard court Bucks. And didn't the Buckeye soccer team make it to the finals?

The Buckeyes have a soccer team?

[HatManTC]

Don't forget Greg Oden and the hard court Bucks. And didn't the Buckeye soccer team make it to the finals?

they did. they lost to NC State. yet another championship that got away lol

yeah being a buckeye fan the BBall team is far from my mind.

[infrared41]

I'll gladly take the sports year we've had here in Ohio.

Now that I've had a couple days to "cool off" I think the bashing the Buckeyes are taking is a little unfair this time around. (Last year we deserved it.) Going into this season Ohio State was picked for third in the Big 10. I had them losing 3 games and I was hoping for a trip to the Outback Bowl. Yeah they lost ugly again but this time it had as much to do with a young team losing it's composure as it did with being overmatched. There was no question LSU was the better team but I am going to cut The Bucks some slack since they weren't even supposed to win the Big 10, let alone play for another title. From that perspective they had a great year. It far exceeded expectations. I'll take losing the title game two years in a row over never getting there every time. You have to make the championship game to lose it. And we still won the Big 10 and beat Michigan for the 4th straight time. After that it's all just playing on house money anyway. I was content with going to The Rose Bowl. It's not The Bucks fault that everyone in front of them lost and they were thrust into a game they had no business playing in. Blame the system not the team.

Before the season I would have said the only way the Browns were winning 10 games was if you gave them 2 seasons to do it. They didn't make the playoffs but they did manage to make it fun to be a Browns fan again. Win or lose, they were fun to watch. It was a long time coming.

The Indians? I figured them to win between 75 and 85 games last year. After the Tribe got in the hunt I thought for sure that, once they were healthy, Detroit would run them down. Instead the Indians put the hammer down and buried The Tigers. Yeah they hacked it up against Boston but did anyone really think they could beat The Red Sox in the first place? I was just happy for the shot.

Even the Cavs were supposed to be "a year away" last season. I don't really follow the NBA but I was still glad to see the Cavs make the finals.

In short, The Buckeyes, Browns, and Indians went well beyond what was expected of them. No we didn't win anything but for a season where they were predicted to finish third, last, and third, it didn't turn out too bad at all.

I bet there are a lot of "sports towns" that would trade their year for ours in a heartbeat.

[Proc]

I've got to give Cleveland/Ohio teams some props (and this is from a Michigan grad and die-hard Detroit sports fan).

The Indians won the Central and I can honestly tell you that Motown was rooting for them to beat the Red Sox.

LeBron led the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals.

The Browns had a great season and far exceeded expectations (w/UM grad Braylon Edwards having a great year ) and just missed the playoffs.

Ohio State made it to the National Championship game. Plain and simple, how many Division 1 teams can make that claim? Only LSU. So people, quit piling on the Buckeys (man, that is tough to say that...LOL). When I was younger, I had this in-bred dislike of OSU. And later on, as a Michigan graduate, this dislike grew. But then something happened....my cousin took a job as professor at OSU. He contracted a blood disease and passed away, but no before the OSU community rallied around him and his family. At that point, it opened my eyes and showed that its not about hatred in sports rivalries but about people helping out others. I have huge respect now for THE Ohio State University.

Now only if the Reds and Bengals can get Cincy back on the map...otherwise, I'd say Cleveland rocks!

[infrared41]

When I was younger, I had this in-bred dislike of OSU. And later on, as a Michigan graduate, this dislike grew. But then something happened....my cousin took a job as professor at OSU. He contracted a blood disease and passed away, but no before the OSU community rallied around him and his family. At that point, it opened my eyes and showed that its not about hatred in sports rivalries but about people helping out others. I have huge respect now for THE Ohio State University.

Funny how life works that way. My Dad had lung cancer back in 1985. Two surgeons from The University of Michigan managed to take a "6 months to live" diagnosis and turn it into a cure. My Dad's surgery was done in Ann Arbor at The UM Medical center by a couple of Wolverines and they saved his life. I can't hate Michigan after what they did for my Dad. I have fun with the rivalry but you'll never hear me say that I have anything but the utmost respect for The University of Michigan. Personally, I think this kind of stuff is what makes it the great rivalry that it is.

[Seadragon76]

Don't forget Greg Oden and the hard court Bucks. And didn't the Buckeye soccer team make it to the finals?

they did. they lost to NC State. yet another championship that got away lol

yeah being a buckeye fan the BBall team is far from my mind.

No, the Buckeyes soccer team lost to Wake Forest, not NC State.

Either way, the state of Ohio and it's fans should be glad for the kind of year the state's sport teams had. Heck, as a Seattle fan, I'm kinda jealous of Ohio now.

[Sport]

Since we're counting, don't forget that the Destroyers also lost in the Arenabowl.

This is an interesting topic considering that i wrote a paper my senior year of high school on the economic, cultural, and political reasons why Ohio's professional sports franchises were struggling. This was in the fall of 2005 at a time when out of the Bengals, Browns, Reds, Indians, Blue Jackets and Cavs only the Bengals were in the playoffs. Now it seems that Cleveland is out of the water and running while the Blue Jackets have definitely improved. Cincinnati is stuck in a rut but that's another thread.

As the son of two Ohio State graduates I'm also a big fan of the Buckeyes. They are the only sports team that I am a fan of that has ever brought me any sort of consistent success and I love them for that. The last two years have been hard to watch the team lose in the NCG, especially since they are now getting Buffalo Bills comparisons, but you bring up a good point that despite never reaching the ultimate goal, ohio has still had an above average year when it comes to sports.

[Breakwood]

Don't forget Greg Oden and the hard court Bucks. And didn't the Buckeye soccer team make it to the finals?

they did. they lost to NC State. yet another championship that got away lol

yeah being a buckeye fan the BBall team is far from my mind.

Actually they lost to Wake Forest

[Jigga]

Cleveland sports in 2007-08 proves that it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Losing a championship game or series sucks, but it still means you got there.

[HatManTC]

my bad, I do believe the game was played at NC State though

[Burning River]

I really don't get this OSU = Buffalo Bills "thing". They DID win the Football Championship just a few years ago in 2002. In recent Bowls they beat Kansas State (2003), Oklahoma State (2004) and Notre Dame (2005). Now they lost two Championship games in a row (2006, 2007). They also beat Michigan quite regularly. This is all bad... why?

I don't know, it seems that the media is really getting off on this stuff. "Tressel can't coach anymore", "they can't beat the SEC". I mean 0-9 in the HISTORY of OSU. They make it sound like they are 0-9 in a span of 2 seasons.

It's odd. Funny thing is that they are AHEAD of schedule. Boy, will peolpe be pi$$ed when they show up in the Championship AGAIN over the next few years. Agreed though... they do need to win it the next time. Then the Atlanta Braves references WILL becorrect!

[infrared41]

I really don't get this OSU = Buffalo Bills "thing". They DID win the Football Championship just a few years ago in 2002. In recent Bowls they beat Kansas State (2003), Oklahoma State (2004) and Notre Dame (2005). Now they lost two Championship games in a row (2006, 2007). They also beat Michigan quite regularly. This is all bad... why?

I don't know, it seems that the media is really getting off on this stuff. "Tressel can't coach anymore", "they can't beat the SEC". I mean 0-9 in the HISTORY of OSU. They make it sound like they are 0-9 in a span of 2 seasons.

Oklahoma did the same thing but that's OK for some reason. Bob Stoops can't beat anyone in a BCS bowl but he's still a -ing genius. Oklahoma has lost to the WAC and Big East in back to back BCS Bowls and that's no big deal. We lose the championship game to a couple of really good SEC teams and we're the joke?

That 0-9 vs. The SEC is for Bowl games and it dates back to at least 1978. How the Buckeyes of 1978 apply today is anyone's guess. It's like wondering how The 2007 Royals can suck so bad because they won the World Series in 1985.