This is the inaugural post of Cleveland Championship Watch. Every week we will be talking about the week in Cleveland sports and hopefully providing a little bit of entertainment. We will rank the three professional sports teams in order of which stands the best chance to deliver the long-awaited prize of a championship. For kicks, we will also assign a number value out of 100 to scale how close (or far away) they might be.
3. Cleveland Indians (35/100) -- It is that time of year again. In the Eric Wedge era, this time of year generally involves a team getting red hot when the lights are no longer shining on the team. Obviously this season is long gone, and there are enough question marks about next year that I have to rank the Indians dead last this week. Still, it is tough to rank a team last when they have enough talent to win five out of their last six games.
2. Cleveland Browns (45/100) -- Now, you might be wondering, "How on earth can you possibly rank the Cleveland Browns second after a 4-12 season?" I can do it simply because Cleveland is a football town. The team is coming off an awful year, but they haven't played a game yet. And in Cleveland the most promising moment for Browns fans is before the first loss is recorded on the books.
They are coming off a victory in the preseason in the "Great Lakes Classic" over the Detroit Lions. In addition all the talk of a QB controversy has us fooled into believing (again) that we might have two decent quarterbacks rather than none. Talk to me after Week 1 vs. the Vikings and Brett Favre and I might be back to believing the Browns have no quarterbacks on the roster at all. Except maybe for Josh Cribbs. He played QB in college, and he rules, so that has to count for something, right? Right?
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
Cavs, 95 percent chance? Were the Orlando Magic relocated to the western conference?
2 - Craig
Well, the Magic and the Cavs were the two best teams in the east last year. Both teams made a lot of changes. The Cavs didn't take any steps backward.
Hedo and Courtney Lee et al for Vinsanity is far from a lock. Sheed is far from a lock in Boston. Artest is far from a lock in LA. Shaq is far from a lock in Cleveland. Ginobili is far from a healthy lock in San Antonio. I would say the Cavs have as good a chance as anyone despite their Eastern Conference Championship performance this year.
3 - Dexter Fishmore
I think Orlando's likely to be kind of awesome this year. Recall that they beat Cleveland sans Jameer, so they're effectively adding a near-All-Star PG to the team that won the Eastern Conference Finals. Vince is a big upgrade over Hedo in my view - acknowledging that I'm in the minority with that opinion - and Ryan Anderson and Brandon Bass are really nice bench pieces.