Mike Pettine on being a road team, Barkevious Mingo and more
October 2, 2014Why Does Everyone Hate Dion Waiters?
October 2, 2014The 2014-15 Cleveland Cavaliers face lofty expectations. The pressure is on LeBron James to prove that he can lead his hometown club to a championship. The pressure is on Kyrie Irving to show that heâs in the cream of the NBAâs point guard crop. The pressure is on Kevin Love to change the axiom that heâs not a winner. The pressure is on Dion Waiters to be as good on the court as he is on Twitter. The pressure is on David Blatt to assemble all of these parts like theyâre pieces on a $70 million Mouse Trap board. Anything other than an NBAÂ Finals appearance would be a disaster. The pressure is on everyone.
Luckily, we fans feel no such pressure. We donât have a do a damn thing this year. We could all dive into a kiddie pool of HĂ€agen-Dazs and stay there for eight months and the Cavs might still win the championship. We just get to sit back and reap the benefits. Phew, thatâs a relief, right?
Wrong.
The pressure is on us, too. A good team deserves a good crowd, and that is what we must beâespecially those inside The Q. We need to know our stuff, because thereâs nothing worse than some dumb guy whose team gets good and he gets to be all happy but he doesnât even know the five-man unit with the best plus/minus rating.
Too much? Too much.
We need to turn Quicken Loans Arena into Seattleâs CenturyLink Field, but with less mustaches and more pierogi.
More important than our smarts, it is our voices that will define us as fans for the LeBron Era Redux. We need to turn Quicken Loans Arena into Seattleâs CenturyLink Field, but with less mustaches and more pierogi.
As professional sports arenas have evolved, less has been asked of fans. We donât act; we react. The scoreboard tells us when to sit and stand and shout and kiss. The Diff actually exists. Our impetuses for cheering are the music and sound effects, and then the game situation. This isnât necessarily a bad thing, if youâre comfortable with machines telling you what to do. (No really, thatâs fine. Just go watch The Terminator and The Matrix and get back to me.)
We need to take back the game. We need to be up and loud before the PA beckons. We need to think like weâre rookies in training campâif youâre on time, youâre late. We need to start cheering for the pass that leads to a layup before itâs delivered. We need to recognize the hustle of tipped passes, taken charges, and dives into the crowd. Alley-oops and fadeaways are artwork, but grungy defense and masonic screens are the foundation upon which it stands.
We need to let these guys know that we appreciate them laying out for us, because even though pro athletes are basically Hessians, their success is our success. If they win, we win. Their victories become our memories. We want them to lower shoulders in the paint and get floor burns going after loose balls, because it strengthens the narrative that they reflect us, the hardworking Midwesterners. So we damn well better get loud when they go hard, if only in the hopes that a Pavlovian response will take hold and theyâll do it even more.
We need to carry ourselves like weâre the best fans in the NBA. Cleveland will always be a football town first, but thereâs no reason we canât be a basketball town, too. We need to prove that we deserve this team. The rest of the NBA is going to hate us, so we might as well force them to respect us. We need to be as loud as Golden State, as smart as Boston, as fanatical as Portland. We need to understand how this team works, so that we can recognize when theyâre getting hot and more importantly, when they need a boost. We need to save the biggest ovations not for the announcement of the starters, but for when theyâve gone cold for two minutes.
Many say the live experience of sport doesnât hold the cache it once did. You can be more comfortable at home or get a better view at a bar. You donât need to fork over $10 for a beer or $5 for a hot dog. You donât have to worry about parking or getting frisked. You can just relax and enjoy the ballgame.
But listen to how freaking soft that is. Itâs not like itâs cold inside a basketball arena. This is the city with the Muni Lot, right? This is the town that (allegedly) has the best American sports fans, right? Then letâs prove it. If we have tickets, we need to get to there early, or weâre no better than the fanning up Heat supporters. We canât act like Elvis just walked in with Tupac just because theyâre tossing free t-shirts. I understand that weâre not all going to toss our phones into Lake Erie and become psychotic basketball monks who get high on the sound of sneakers squeakingâŠbut maybe some of us should.
Crowds are what make live experiences special. Games, concerts, speeches, bat mitzvahs, you name it, are made more momentous because of those in attendance. Thereâs no feeling like it. Itâs adrenaline and itâs community and itâs something that youâre a part of. Itâs high-fiving strangers and forming friendships with people you would never meet otherwise. Itâs honking your horn after a big win and solemn reflection after a tough loss. Itâs therapeutic, the rare place where itâs completely okay and even encouraged to shout at the top of your lungs, possibly while under the influence.
So heed this call to arms, Cavs fans. Donât think for a second that this team is just going to win it all without some help. We are the chargers into which they plug. Ours are the hands that lift them up. We are the voices that intimidate opponents. Sure, thereâs the idea that athletes are so locked in that they donât even hear whatâs going on off the court. But there are only 10 players on a 4,700 square foot basketball court. There will be 20,562 fans in the 750,000 square foot Quicken Loans Arena for every single game.
If they can tune us out, we shouldnât even bother showing up. We are not without responsibility this year. A good team deserves a good crowd. A great crowd makes a good team better. If these are going to be the best Cavs yet, then we need to be the best fans yet. Letâs prove that we can live up to the expectations.
33 Comments
Hey, as far as I know there’s no proof that The Diff still exists, so there’s still hope. Although it’s probably hiding under that plastic and in a server rack somewhere in the arena.
Based on yesterday I don’t think the home crowds will be any kind of an issue. For that matter the Cavaliers still drew the last four years despite horrible teams. That surprised me more then anything.
Love 99% of this article, but what do you have against ‘staches??
http://ohmygodcelebs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/I-Mustache-You-a-Question.jpg
it’s installed in Dan Gilbert’s office for when he counts his mad stacks!
Flavor savers?
Um, the customers do not owe the court jesters anything. As in, at all. Even if we scream and leak like 12 year old girls at a Bieber concert it won’t be because we have a fan duty to the 117th richest dude in America, to the most powerful guy in sports or to the Love Outlet Mall. An amazing number of fans filled the Q the past 4 years to watch the league’s worst dreck, many nights featuring virtually no effort by the players. If anything, the team owes them.
This year should be great. But not because of my screaming and leaking. If you believe failing to make the Finals the first year all these disparate elements come together (I wouldn’t go that far) would “be a disaster,” fine, but it will be 100% on the players and coaches. Not on me. Not on you. No fan, particularly in this town after all this misery, should feel responsible for anything. Here we are now, entertain us.
I’m not going to leak until the Cavs win it all.
If you have to beg people to be good fans, then you have already lost the chance of having good fans. Good thing for you is that the Cavs fans have been there even in the bad times and were pretty dang good in the good times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7X2_V60YK8
Yea that’s next door! (runs and hides)
I’m not going to leak until the Cavs win it all.
http://www.colbymarshall.com/upload/images/content/tmi-logo-new.png
đ
http://i.imgur.com/H6wmkJb.gif
Real Fans panic.
Sounds like a Cleveland Indians commercial!
Here’s a theory that makes as much sense as the desperate “love them so much they’ll win a ring!” thingy: we’re too good, we love so much we cause choking. Stop pouring out your desperate neediness upon the players and maybe Mo Williams doesn’t die a little in the moment, Astrubal doesn’t first-pitch DP facing a dude with control issues, Joe Haden doesn’t again fall for a simple double move in the last minutes. Don’t whine and plead. Shut up and glare, arms folded. Demand excellence. Maybe threaten the players if need be [No idea where I’m going with this but even I don’t like it, better stop now]
Manny doesn’t get picked off first base…
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81XriBAZpgL._SL1500_.jpg
Byner pancakes Jeremiah Castile, hangs on and performs awkward end zone jig.
Webster blocks Castille…
Yes. This.
I immediately revoke my mustache statement in honor of Sir Sean.
Are you asking us to “fan – up”. Maybe we did turn into the Miami Heat.
you know, that’s precisely what he’s saying.
Yesterday did happen at the Q right I’m not dreaming it?
The Diff is an easy target (LOL we’re too lazy to do math anymore!), but it’s really nice when you’re at the game. Helps you think through all the game scenarios while someone is kicking over your drink and the Scream Team is throwing cheap t-shirts into the crowd.
Oh god please no never that. I mean yes exactly that, but not like that. Crap what have I done.
Did Cavs fans have a reputation for basketball ignorance during Lebron’s first run? I don’t seem to remember that. I was at a couple playoff games–including the game where Lebron posterized Garnett in circa-2008–and the fans brought it all 48 minutes. Nationally, Cleveland does have a reputation for having smart and (of course) loyal football fans so you’d think some of that would carry over to basketball.
That said, the “in game experience” at the Q has bothered me for some time. I get that casual fans have to be kept entertained but for God’s sake, the attention deficit sensory overload during any break in the game wears on me after awhile. And while I’m at it, I simply loathe the guy who gets paid to scream “yoooour Cleveland Cavalieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeers!” Rant over. And get off my lawn, dammit.
It sounds like you don’t want to be embarrassed by Cavs crowds.
Is it really important to be as cool as Blazer and Dubs fans?
It doesn’t make us deserve this any less.
We deserve this.
We are due.
If we Try Hard and Bring Our Fan Lunchpail every game then our basketball performers will be our best friends
Cleveland teams (and most definitely the Buckeyes) do seem incredibly responsive to fan energy, but in the negative. Something goes wrong on the field/court, the crowd tenses waiting for the collapse to begin, and the team obliges more often than not. It’s almost unbelievable how often that scenario plays out.
Deserve? Due? No such thing.
Damn straight, I don’t gotta do nothing but stay black and die.
http://www.shadowlocked.com/images/stories/LISTS/2011/006_June/18/100_things_I_love_about_film/18_freeman.jpg
I’m not worried about Cavs fans–we will be just fine. There will be less savvy band wagoners: so be it. Because no matter our respective Cavs/basketball IQs, some things are just easy to understand
http://youtu.be/9MSQ_G5MZFo