CAVS ALL IN -- WHAT A TEAM!!

Cavs vs Golden State Game 6 tonight!

The Cavs have over 742,000 messages on their RealCavsFans website right now.  It’s personal.  The Cav’s mania has lit the fire in northeast Ohio.  What is the most exciting is that our tag line, “All In” represents those of us who live in northeast Ohio, but also our brothers and sisters in Israel, Australia, and from what I hear, across the U.S..  We love you guys! 

Cleveland -- and northeast Ohio -- is vital and alive with a thriving theater and museum district, 98% occupancy rate downtown, and a cost of living that is the envy of most around the country, if not the world.  We are the Midwest.  We take pride in family and we work hard here.  Not to say we are perfect and that there isn’t work to be done.  But we have that gritty, get it done attitude, and we care.  We have community members and leaders, politicians and retired athletes like Reggie Rucker who devote their time and energy to helping make the community a better place.  Isn’t that what life is about after all?  What else are we here for? 

Lebron James went to high school with my step daughter.  My husband watched with fascination as the young man grew.  He knew, long before I did, that this kid was a phenom.  My oldest son is one month older than Lebron and so I feel like I know a lot about men/sons who are his age.  When my son went to college, Lebron joined the Cav’s.  I was positive that Lebron wouldn’t live up to the expectations, that he would lay a big egg.  But I was wrong, he not only lived up to expectations, he exceeded them.  At that time I was skeptical and not a fan.  I didn’t feel that Lebron had any comprehension of the level of adoration he was receiving from his hometown region, and I didn’t think he appreciated it. 

When Lebron went to Miami I can still remember the huge disappointment of the men in my family  (husband and three sons).  Frankly I was shocked and appalled when he came back.   But since then, I have done a 180.  Lebron has grown up.  He has brought leadership to his hometown.  I attended the Akron Chamber of Commerce meeting when Lebron received the H. Peter Burg Leadership Award.  In his words, which by the way he articulately adlibbed, he included a message to the children of the Akron community, some of whom he had invited to attend.  As the children sat and stood around him, Lebron said to them, “I will be your mentor, I will be your father”.  I saw the way his own sons looked at him and how he held their hands.  What I saw was honest, warm and sincere.  I am thrilled to see Lebron James offering that kind of parenting to his children and that level of support to his hometown and to our region.  Lebron James left Cleveland in July 2010 when he was 25 years old.  He came home a man in July 2014. 

Here in Northeast Ohio we are Real Cavs fans because of Lebron James, and all the others on his team who are working with a tenacity that cannot be denied.  We are Cavs fans because we are northeast Ohio, and we support each other here.  This team gives its all and more which we appreciate because so many of us do the same every day in our jobs and our lives.  The Cavs work together and share everything from criticism on one end of the spectrum to outright adulation on the other.  They represent what is good in sports and in teamwork – be it on a basketball court, in a family, or in an office.  The Cavs are winners no matter what the outcome of the upcoming game(s) because they have gotten this far through grit, determination, and sheer will against the odds.  They haven’t whined or complained because key players have been injured, they just put their shoulders to the wheel and say “let’s do this”, and they do. 

Most of all, we are Real Cavs fans because we love what they have brought to our town and our region.  They have ignited enthusiasm and excitement in northeast Ohio.   Everyone is pumped.  Thank you Cleveland Cavaliers!!