What's Happening to my Teams?

The Cavs have gone from being the first-half darling of the NBA's Eastern Conference to within one game of missing the playoffs. They have an interim coach, are in a funk, and have the toughest remaining schedule of the three teams in contention for the final two spots (the other two teams are Philadelphia and New Jersey). Many people were excited when new owner Dan Gilbert purchased the team, because he promised to keep LeBron in Cleveland and infuse money into the organization. So far, he's only muddled things up, by firing his reputable head coach, getting ready to fire his GM, and impacting lineup and game management decisions (supposedly). Yeah, I'm real excited about his arrival.

The Tribe is off to their typical slow start. They're under .500, and getting handled by their main competition in the AL Central. If they dig too deep of a hole, it will be tough to climb out against the likes of Minnesota, Chicago, and much-improved Detroit. The good news is that the bats look like they're starting to come out of the doldrums, and with CC Sabathia coming back this weekend, they might start to play more consistently.

I shouldn't be surprised. I've been a Cleveland fan all of my life, and rarely do my teams experience success. I guess I should be used to it. Statistical probability would suggest that at least some point Cleveland should win a Championship of any kind, right?

At least my Crew are off to a 2-1 start. They played a spirited match against defending champion D.C. United last night and held off Freddy Adu and the boys 1-nil. Usually, the Crew play sloppily, and end up with a decent result because of brute force or sheer will. Last night, I think they looked as skillful as I've seen them in the last two seasons. I had to crack a smile when Frankie Hejduk, our resident hothead defender (but I love his pace and his style of play) got all over Adu for flopping at midfield. Evidently, Freddy's learning the fine art of faking fouls (to be fair, the Crew's Kyle Martino has a knack for that, too - every squad has at least one person that "flops").