Believeland.....

In 1952 Norman Vincent Peale wrote a self-help book called The Power of Positive Thinking. It was a best seller and a sensation of those times. The book encourages it's readers to keep a positive and

I like this guy already!

optimistic attitude. If you kept your mind clear with optimism and positivity, good things would happen. In today's era, people like Brian Tracy have made a good living as an author and motivational speaker with the same type of message.

Maybe people in Cleveland have picked up a copy of this book. Optimism is rampant. But it didn't used to be that way. There was a time when the sports fans of this town expected the worst. They were waiting for the other shoe to drop. They had been disappointed and frustrated so many times, we felt this was the norm. Amazing things would happen to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. A fumble, a buzzer beater, an unusual injury. I'm not making this stuff up! The worst part of it was that this pessimistic and cynical attitude permeated into your everyday life. Imagine a whole city filled with a bunch of old bittermen!

Then something happened the evening of June 19th that was so unusual, so ground breaking, that everything changed, - instantly! The Cavaliers became NBA Champions. The Cavaliers had been down in the NBA Finals 3 games to 1. A team had never come back from that deficit, Never as in never ever. The game was on the road and before the game I wasn't pessimistic, but I sure wasn't optimistic either. I was afraid of the disappointment again. But the Cavs made right plays at the right times and won the 7th game.

Euphoria on Euclid.

As soon as the final seconds ticked off it was pandemonium. I was in a packed club in the Flats and the euphoria spilled out on to the streets. Thousands of total strangers were hugging and high fiving. There was dancing in the streets. A young friend I have says this was the greatest night of her life. She's pretty young so I'm sure she will soon have plenty more to replace it. But I understand the feelling. It was a once in a lifetime experience. Nothing artificial. Something you couldn't duplicate or buy.

But this wonderful feeling of victory and success seems to have spread. Our Cleveland Indians are now American League Champions and headed for the World Series. On paper, the Indians aren't the most impressive team in baseball. They were underdogs in the AL Division Series. They were underdogs in the AL Championship Series. But they won them both. They won because they play as a team better than any other team in baseball. They also have a great leader in manager Terry Francona and they believe what he says. In addition, the Indians  are riding the wave of good will from the fans. We all now live in Believeland.

The Championship banner.

Next Tuesday night will be one of the most unusual nights in American sports history. At 7:30 the Cavaliers will have their season opener against the New York Knicks at Quicken Loans Arena. Before the game there will be ceremonies to award the team their championship rings and raise the championship banner to the rafters. It will hang in the Q forever. I learned earlier this week that the Cavaliers organization decided to have the names of last seasons ticket holders imbedded with the championship banner. So my name will be up there too! Even though I may never see it, I'll know it's there. (And so will my friends and family.)

Then at 8:00 about 500 feet away from the basketball game, the Cleveland Indians will host the National League Champion Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of the 2016 World Series. The Cubs will be making their first World Series appearance since 1945. They haven't been champions since 1908. So it will be an emotional night. Emotions will spread over the 345 miles from Cleveland to Chicago. It will be a series for today's fans, but also for past, and lost generations.

The Indians will be the underdogs in the World Series against the Cubs. In the past, my head would be looking at statistics and rosters and shaking my head about our chances. But here's the thing: I'm not going to wait for disaster. I'm not going to predict doom and gloom. I'll say I like our chances. What the hell. I live in Believeland too!

Believe it!