My Love Letter to NBA Hoops

I love basketball, particularly the NBA. This is my love letter to the game and to the league. I've been reading Bill Simmons' book, The Book of Basketball, and something really stood out to me, it was something I felt I really related to. He wrote about his dad deciding to use his tax refund to purchase Celtics season tickets instead of a motorcycle. After buying the tickets two decades of non stop winning and greatness from Larry Bird followed. Bill says it was like winning the lottery. I thought to myself, much like the Cavs winning the 2003 draft lottery landing themselves LeBron James. But even more so, me growing up in Ohio and having the privilege of watching LeBron during my most impressionable years on my hometown team. Just like that, a crazy sports fan was born.

Lets fast forward 33 years from 1973 when Bill's father blew his tax refund on tickets to 2006. This was LeBron's third year in the league, and in April of 2006 he made his playoff debut. I was there, and this is where I truly fell in love with the NBA. I wasn't there because my dad coughed up several hundred dollars, I was there because a higher up in my dad's company wanted to invest in season tickets. The best way to acquire said tickets was to purchase playoff tickets. I remember that day like it was yesterday. It was a Saturday afternoon. My entire family piled in the car and we made our way up I-71. My brother and I were under the impression we were just going to be a part of fan fest and watch the game at a restaurant. When walking past a ticket gate I heard my dad say, right here. I stopped dead in my tracks, I felt my eyes get real big as I turned around and looked at my dad who had a smile on his face as he nodded. I still get chills thinking about that moment. I started beating my chest just like I saw LeBron do so many times after an and-1 or after making a big play in the fourth quarter. I was only eight at the time, but I could tell the arena felt different. There was an electricity, it was special. There were rally towels, and they passed out the original Witness shirt, much like the giant poster on the Sherwin Williams building said, "We Are All Witnesses." Bill and I's situation is a bit different, but either way we both were very lucky. He had Bird and I had LeBron. The Cavs handled the Wizards that afternoon, and LeBron joined Magic Johnson in having a triple double in their playoff debut, despite air balling his first shot. There are two big points of significance in my fandom, #1 was growing up having an all time great on my hometown team and #2 is having experienced some of the biggest and greatest moments in Cavs history in person. There's a different element when you can remember the sights, sounds, and smells. There's something to be said for an arena being so loud you can feel the pulse of the crowd vibrating in your chest.

Here's a quick top 5 of games that I've been to:

1. Game 6 2016 NBA Finals (Curry threw his mouthpiece & game 7 was forced...I want to say more, but this game deserves it's own article)
2. Game 6 2007 ECF (Cavs beat the Pistons & punched their ticket to their first NBA Finals...Boobie Gibson had 31 & was 5/5 from 3)
3. Opening Night 2014 (LeBron's return, the Cavs lost, but the pregame atmosphere was electric and when they announced LeBron in the intros I started crying...I was 16 years old)
4. 2006 NBA Playoffs Game 1 (LeBron's playoff debut, he had a triple double and let everyone know he was ready for primetime)
5. Game 3 2015 ECF (With no Kyrie or Kevin Love, LeBron went for 37 18 & 13 after starting 0-10. The Cavs won 114-111 in OT and went up 3-0 in the series...Delly stepped up & contributed 17 and got Al Horford ejected...the crowd was chanting "DELLY! DELLY! DELLY!"...The Hawks were defeated, losing by 30 in game 4. The Cavs headed back to The Finals for the first time since 2007)

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Christmas Day 2016 (Richard Jefferson BAPTIZED Klay Thompson and the Cavs beat the Warriors. This was the best Christmas I had since I stopped believing in Santa... )

Game 6 2018 ECF (Kevin Love went down in the first with a concussion, LeBron went for 46 11 & 9 to beat the Celtics 109-99. It would be LeBron's last home win as a Cavalier. The company tickets were being used so I spent way too much on a ticket and went to the game by myself, it's gone down in my own personal history book as, "The Solo Mission." As the clock ran out 20, 562 screaming fans cheered, "CAVS IN 7!"...The Cavs went on to win game 7)

What I am trying to say with all of this is, it would be incredibly hard not to be a superfan when you have an all time great on your team and you've had the privilege of experiencing a lot of greatness and history in person, but at the same time you need a lot of luck for all those pieces to align. Sometimes I can get pretty emotional with my fandom, and often times my superstitions can make things difficult for others. Probably my biggest superstition is sitting on the aisle seat when I go to games. Sorry dad, I know you're 5 inches taller than me and your knees have more wear and tear than mine, but when me sitting in the aisle seat leads to a .900 winning percentage you're going to have to tough it out for a few hours. The other one involves me not listening to my mom, and I'm probably going to hell for it, but whatever. In 2016 I graduated from high school, and my graduation party was June 18, the day before game 7. I shaved after game 3, a game the Cavs won, but then the Cavs lost game 4. I said that's it, no more shaving. I had a long debate with my mom as to why under no circumstance could I shave for the party, she wasn't pleased. When I finally agreed to shave I looked my mother in the eyes and said, "Congratulations, you just cost the city of Cleveland a championship." Gosh I'm the absolute worst, if I was her I would have cut off the cable right before tipoff, but she's way too nice. What I learned from that was, my sorry excuse for a beard didn't lead to good luck, it was being a decent son and listening to my mother. Love you mom. The only time I got emotional in a negative way was actually pretty funny. It's 2016, and the Cavs are up 2-1 on the Raptors in the ECF. The night of game 4 was the same night as the infamous annual senior party. The senior party is where that years senior class all gets together in a secret location, gets drunk, and makes bad decisions. I opted not to go, because I obviously had my priorities in order. From mid April until late June for four straight years (2015-2018) the Cavs were my top priority. I even played sick to get out of a Varisty Baseball game in 2015 so I could watch game 3 of the Bulls series. Derrick Rose hit a buzzer beater to beat the Cavs that night. I would never pull a Ferris Bueller ever again. Okay, let's go back to game 4 in 2016. The Cavs looked bad for a second straight game in Toronto, the series was now 2-2. After fifteen minutes of sitting in silence in front of the TV, alone, without my what I thought to be friends and loyal Cavs fans I got out my phone. I decided I got to ahold of these guys, hold them accountable, and let them know this behavior would not be tolerated. I had to remind them what was at stake. No one picked up their phone, but I wasn't letting them off easy. I was leaving voicemails or at-least I thought I was. Keep in mind I was 18 at the time and most of us have never left a voicemail, let alone set it up, but I didn't care. I was cussing them out, calling them sellouts, as if us being together in my garage to watch a game that wasn't even taking place in the United States would have made a difference. The Cavs obviously went on to win the whole thing, so now it's just a really funny story.

It is currently 2019, and the Cavs are set to begin their second season without LeBron...for the second time. Sure, those four years after The Decision were tough, and these years to come won't be easy. Last year I felt my fandom was going to be tested, but it really wasn't. I still watched around 65-70 of 82 games last year. When I was home over Thanksgiving & Christmas break I was able to make it to 4 games, including LeBron's return...that was weird. I still sat on the aisle and stood up and cheered when the team ran out of the tunnel. The atmosphere isn't the same, and I understand that the best Cavs basketball I will ever see in my lifetime is in the past. I'm kind of okay with that. It made me the fan I am today, a fan that truly roots for the what's on the front of the jersey, not the back. Players will come and go, but the only thing as fans we can count on is rooting for Cleveland. But gosh I will miss having LeBron. Circling back to Simmons' book he wrote this about Larry Bird,

"When you watched Bird long enough, you started to see the angles he was seeing; instead of reacting to what had just happened, you reacted to the play as it was happening."

I felt that a lot in LeBron's second stint in Cleveland. That's special, if you're a Cavs fan I hope you enjoyed it, I know I did.

I Love You Basketball,

Joseph Vore

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