The Year That Could Have Been

I have mixed feelings about the past year of professional sports here in Cleveland. While all three of the teams here were successful, all of them left us Clevelanders with a feeling of bitterness and disappointment.

Over the summer, we all became witnesses to the true greatness of The King as he led the Wine and Gold to the NBA Finals after an amazing performance against the Detroit Pistons. But honestly, I didn't give them a chance in hell in taking the San Antonio Spurs in a seven game series. The result? They were swept in four games.

Shortly thereafter, the Indians made it to the playoffs after dominating the Tigers down the stretch to win the AL Central Division crown. They drew the New York Yankees in the first round and proved that team chemistry and youth exuberance is more important than a massive payroll. They drove Roger Clemens into retirement and went on to play the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship and the right to play the red-hot Rockies in the World Series.

Out of the three disappointments this season, this one is still the hardest to talk about. Up 3-1 in the series and with C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona available on full rest, the Indians were World Series bound. Everyone of us in Cleveland could taste it.

In game five, Josh Beckett and C.C. Sabathia toed the rubber for the Red Sox and Indians, with Sabathia having the opportunity to redeem himself after a horrible performance in his game one against the Sox. The result? Sabathia gave up 10 hits over six innings, while Beckett went eight innings and fanned 11 Indians. As much as I denied it at the time, I knew it was over after game five. In the final three games, the Red Sox out-scored the Indians 30-5 and would go on to demolish the Rockies in the World Series. That should have been us.

The Browns came into this season with high hopes after they drafted Joe Thomas and Brady Quinn in the NFL Draft and signed Jamal Lewis and Eric Steinbach in the off-season.

Things didn't start off so hot, as the Steelers steam-rolled the Browns in Cleveland, forcing Phil Savage to trade Charlie Frye to Seattle and giving Derek Anderson the keys to the offense.

A week later, with no one giving them a chance in hell to do anything, Anderson threw five touchdown passes, leading the Browns to a 51-45 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, which was probably the beginning of the end for the Bengals this season. The team went on to win six more games at home, finishing the season with a 10 wins and with the playoffs in sight.

Last night we all became Jim Sorgi fans and hoped that Tony Dungy played his starters enough to give the Colts back-ups a chance.

Indy's B-Team managed to keep it close all game, but in the end, it was the Titans and not the Browns who captured the final wild card spot in the AFC.

In the Browns' case, it's hard to be disappointed. I don't think anyone saw this team winning 10 games, especially after how this season started. But they did, and they had one of the best offenses in the NFL and in the final four or five games, the defense started to show signs of life.

All in all, the future of professional sports in Cleveland is definitely looking up.

The Cavs aren't off to a great start to this season, but if they manage to make a move (AKA, get rid of Larry Hughes) they can probably be right back in the NBA Finals again. Something tells me LeBron James is going to flip the on switch come playoff time.

The Indians have all the right pieces in place to be successful for the next four or five years, but with teams like the Tigers, Yankees, and Red Sox only getting better with free agency, the road to the World Series is going to be difficult for the Indians.

If the Browns can manage to sign or draft a stud on defense and keep the same personnel on offense, this team could very well compete with the top tier teams in the AFC and could be a very big threat in the playoffs.

At the end of the day, it's hard to be disappointed after this past year. However, I am, and like we've said a million times here in Cleveland, there's always next year.