Cleveland Rocks!

 

Hell, yeah, Contrarian!

Cleveland rocks. I've been going there every few years since 1998, on book tours.  

(In '98, I was even there in the midst of the Indians-Red Sox ALDS, and was really hoping to go see the deciding game in that cool park they have. Alas, the Sox lost in Fenway the day before. Oh, I was crushed.)

But suffice to say, it always struck me as a terrific city, well-kept—full of readers!  

Some nice buildings, such as the Terminal Tower, shown here. Beneath it is a great train station, one that was abandoned for decades with the decline in inter-city train travel, but which I understand has been restored as a commuter station.

(Amtrak, strapped for funds as always, had already built another crude "Amshack" out in the suburbs.)

Part of their trouble seems to do with names, as "Terminal Tower" and "Terminal Station" might indicate.

And while the "Guardians of Traffic" come from a cool, WPA bridge, I think they could do better, too. As someone said, why not bring back "Spiders"? Why doesn't ANY North American sports team have "Spiders" as a nickname? 

(Might have to do with the fact that the Cleveland Spiders went an all-time worst, 20-134, in 1899. But it wasn't their fault. Owners could have more than one team in the NL then, and theirs simply transferred all their best players to St. Louis.)

I would also have liked to see them go back to the "Cleveland Napoleons," which they were called for their great, early star, Napoleon Lajoie. But I think that was ruled out by the memory of the original Napoleon who, you know, did all that dictator and killing stuff. (Also, headline writers would surely have taken to calling them the "Naps.")

But...why not, "Rockers"? They have the rock-'n'-roll hall, they have the song.  Cleveland Rockers it should be! 

I wish you success with them, whatever they're called, Contrarian. It's hard switching teams, I know.

I got so fed up with Old George after he dealt away Craig Nettles before the 1984 season, that I tried to become a Mets fan. Yes, I did. I had never hated the Mets, as I did the Red Sox, and as it happened they were just turning into that terrific, 1980s team they had.

But...didn't stick. Couldn't do it. When George was banned permanently, absolutely, forever and a day from baseball in 1990, I was happily back in the fold, even though the Yanks were in last place, just as I found them in 1966, and...

Well, sometimes permanently and forever means less than you might think. Interesting to speculate on what might have happened had George really been kicked out of the sport then.

Maybe things would have been very different, if Hank and Hal or Steve Swindal had taken over that much earlier. Maybe the family would've sold the team to the Dolans, as George himself very nearly did in 1998.

Remember the truest thing ever said about New York sports: It can always get worse.

But whatever happens, the Yankees are my team and I'm stuck with them. Not so bad, I know. But I can certainly understand being good and fed up. The Guardians are a fine team representing a fine city. I'd love to see them steal a championship this year.

And if you find it doesn't stick, Contrarian...feel free to come on back here.