The Mighty Lebron...  

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Cleveland Cavs that day;
The series stood three to two, with but one more game to play,
And then when Andy fouled out first, and Z did the same,
A pall-like silence fell upon the Cav- fanatics of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, "If only Mo could hit some threes -
We'd put up even money now, our Cavs could bring Orlando to their knees."

But Hedo was on fire, as was Alston for goodness sake,
As if they were performing voodoo, they made scoring look like a piece of cake;
The refs were calling nothing there was so little time;
For there seemed but little chance of any Cav player getting to the line.

But West drove the lane, to the wonderment of all,
And then Wallace slam dunked the ball;
And when the period had ended, and the fans saw what had occurred,
There were the Cavs only trailing by a few at the end of the third.

Then from 20,562 throats came a yell as now the fanatics were all awake;
It rumbled down to Lake Erie, it rattled in the Jake;
It pounded throughout the Q and ripped to the Rock Hall,
For Lebron, the L Train, was charging with the ball.

There was ease in the King's manner as he set the pace;
There was pride in LBJ's bearing and a smile lit his face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he kindly nodded to all,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas the MVP with the ball.

20,562 eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with star dust and threw it in the air.
The thousands applauded because our superman was finally there.
The Magic readied their defense as he held the ball upon his hip,
Defiance flashed in James' eye, a sneer curled Lebron's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere Lebron shot into the air,
And Howard stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Hedo hit him so hard, he smacked him on the head -
"He fouled me," said LBJ. "No foul!" the ref said.

From the crowd, people dressed in Wine and Gold, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on the Lake Erie shore;
"Kill him! Kill the ref!" shouted some one from the stands;
And it's likely they'd have killed him had not Lebron raised his hands.

With a smile of Christian charity great Lebron's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
The Cavs again on offense, and once more our hero shot and boy he let it flew;
But the zebras didn't see his feet, and the refs said "It's only a two!"

"Fraud!" cried the maddened fanatics, and echo answered "Fraud!"
But one scornful look from LBJ and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that LBJ wouldn't let our Cavs lose again.

The sneer has fled from LBJ's lip, the teeth are clenched in vain;
He bounced the ball with violence as this time he drove the lane.
And now as he shoots the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Lebron's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout;
But there is no joy in Loudville - in the NBA finals, the Cavaliers are out.

To the Entire Cavaliers Organization... thank you for an exciting year.  I'm looking forward to next year and finally getting that RING!!!

The term athlete is defined as, "a person who competes in general sport competition", so therefore I guess I can call myself an athlete.  You see Cavfanatics, due to my competitive spirit; I agreed to participate in a charity event this past weekend.  Why not?  The Cavs weren't on and my teams had flopped in the Final Four.  Actually I agreed because it was for a cause that I hold near and dear to my heart, Children.  This past Saturday I played in a Charity "Flag Football" Game to benefit terminally ill children.  Now let me set the stage for you... this game was played in Youngstown, Ohio at the Chevrolet Centre on an actual arena football field.  This was no pick up game in the local field or at some high school.  We were "Prime Time" baby!  I even wore the #2 jersey to honor one of my favorites, Dieon Sanders (he wore #2 at FSU for those of you that didn't know).

Now some of you are probably wondering where this is going... well let me break it down.  I writing this to thank our Cleveland Cavalier team, the Cavalier Girls, the Scream Team, and of course Moon Dog for performing for us 81 nights this year not to mention the upcoming playoffs.  You see, these guys practice hard and play harder.  Each one of them dedicates themselves to playing, dancing, cheering, and running around in a costume at 110 degrees to make sure we get the best performance each and every game day!  Their performance isn't just on game day... it's the days, weeks, months, and years of practice they have put in to being the best at what they do.

You see Cavs fans, I realize that I am the probably one of the biggest critics that the Cavs have.  I constantly yell at my TV, text Rob and Jeff, and drive my wife nuts by going crazy when the Cavs make a mistake, don't rebound the way I'd like them to, or dog it on a play.  Well I guess I owe the Wine and Gold an apology.  You may ask, why?  Well it all comes back to this past weekend.  I was matched up one on one with a former NFL player, and when I say former, he just played 2 years ago for the Colts - Deryk Toles, so he's definitely not lost a step.  I ran up and down the field playing defense.  I was playing my favorite position to watch on Sundays, defensive end.  I was hoping to be as effective as James Harrison was in Super Bowl XLIII (had to get a Steelers reference in here somewhere).  Well let me tell you, I did not let Mr. Toles score at all.  So I must say; I was pleased with that, however, I was only able to hurry the quarterback a few times, and didn't record any sacks; nor did I intercept a pass and return it the distance for a touchdown.  Not that I could have run 50 yards (arena fields are 50 yards) without needing to stop for a breather at midfield.  Now I don't have any pictures of swollen and bruised ankles to post, but I will tell you that I have muscles hurting in places I didn't know I had muscles.  Although by definition I may be an athlete, I am definitely not in athletic shape and probably haven't been since high school.  Too many nights sitting around eating chicken wings and sipping down cold ones watching the Bron take it "Right Down Euclid!" has attributed to that.  I'm sure that as much as I tried to give 100% on every play, it looked as if I dogged it on a few as well.  None the less, we did win the game!!!

I thank everyone who came out and supported me in this adventure (as my mother-in-law would call it), and I am proud to have played with some football greats in the Youngstown Community, all for such a great cause.  I also want to thank the Cavalier organization for a great season!  You definitely stepped the game up this year and have made me realize you are all "First Class Athletes!"  You definitely exemplify the phrase, ALL for One, and One for ALL!  Best of luck in the post season, bring it home fellas!  I'll try to keep my screaming to a minimum.