Projecting Cleveland titles
What if?
It’s a game, in the form of a question, that’s played a lot in sports, and especially during this coronavirus pandemic when all sports are shut down.
It’s also a way of projecting Cleveland titles.
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With that, then, and, much more importantly, in light of ESPN’s “The Last Dance” series about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, here’s an appropriate and well-timed “What if” that has ties to all three of Cleveland’s pro sports teams.
That is, what if Jordan had not hit “The Shot” at the Coliseum and instead the Cavaliers had won Game 5 and with it their first-round NBA Eastern Conference playoff series against the Bulls. The Cavs had a really good team that year, one that had a great offensive game and a balanced scoring attack, keeping opponents from being able to focus on just one player to shut down the entire team. They had beaten Chicago in each of the six regular-season meetings. As such, it’s not a stretch at all to project that if the Cavs had won that series, they might – might! – have gone on to capture the NBA championship.
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Let’s assume the Cavs that season did win what would have been their first NBA title.
The Browns of that era were, of course, also very good, one of the top teams in the NFL, as evidenced by the fact that from 1985-89, they made the playoffs five straight times, won four Central Division crowns and advanced to the AFC Championship Game on three occasions, including in 1989, a little over eight months after the Bulls eliminated the Cavs.
So, it’s also not out of the question that, in addition to the Cavs winning it all in 1989, the Browns might also have gone all the way in 1989 and/or in 1986 and ’87, the other years they got to the conference title game.
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Now let’s get to the Indians. They were decent at the start of the 1980s, but by the end of the decade, they were terrible. Then, of course, they got very good – to the level of being one of the best teams in baseball – in the mid-1990s, making it to the World Series in two of three seasons from 1995-97. In 1997, in fact, they came within inches of capturing the World Series. That was to the Indians what “The Shot” was to the Cavs and “The Drive” and The Fumble” were to the Browns.
But let’s say the 1997 Indians would have won the World Series. At that moment, then, with the other two projections about the Browns and the Cavs, Cleveland would have won three championships in a decade’s time, or less.
Wow!
How cool would that have been not just for the three teams individually, but for the Northeast Ohio sports community collectively?
How would that have changed Cleveland sports history, not just in that era but going forward?
Would it have kept the original Browns franchise from moving to Baltimore following the 1995 season?
We’ll never, ever know because it didn’t happen – none of it did.
But it’s still nice – and interesting – to think about, especially during a pandemic.
Projecting Cleveland Titles was written by Steve King
Cleveland Browns:
- “Browns GM: We’ve been clear we see Odell Beckham Jr. as a ‘long-term member of the organization’” (CBS)
- Missing Cleveland Stadium (Browns Daily Dose)
- “Berry expects ‘fantastic’ year from Baker Mayfield under new coach” (BrownsZone)
- The beginning of the Dawg Pound (Browns Daily Dose)
- “Round 6 steal? Urban Meyer calls Browns’ Donovan Peoples-Jones ‘a top-10 draft pick’” (CantonRep)
- “Grant Delpit brings natural free safety ability to make plays for Browns — and yes, he needs to tackle better: Film review” (cleveland.com)
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