Over the past several seasons Cleveland sports have been a central figure in the sporting world. Instead of talking about Tom Brady, the New England Patriots, the New York Yankees, and the infamous Derek Jeter, the Cavaliers and Indians have been the talk of the town. In case you missed it last summer, LeBron fulfilled his promise and brought a championship to Cleveland for the first time since 1964. It just so happens that I went to school very close to Cleveland when LeBron decided to make his triumphant return.
Oberlin College is a tiny college that is located about 30 miles outside of center city Cleveland. It has about 3,000 students and more than half are located in the conservatory, which is considered one of the best in the nation. On top of that, it is extremely liberal but the professors are amazing. Oberlin was my home for two years and I learned a lot about Cleveland sports, wind that never seems to end, unbearable cold weather, and how much LeBron means to the city.
During my time at Oberlin I had the opportunity to play lacrosse against some of the best liberal arts schools in the nation and I got to be coached by a diehard Cavs fan; Bill Scbmoltz was my strength, conditioning, and defensive coach and he was so into the Cavs that my team had to volunteer at the Q.
The Q is Quicken Loans Arena, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the River Monsters, who play hockey. It is a very nice looking arena, especially from the concession stands and the serving tables. In spite of that, my coach advised my team to volunteer at the stadium in order to raise money for the season. If we didn’t raise money our team could not make travel plans for spring break or travel in general. So when we went to stadium to volunteer our group was split into two groups. One group would go upstairs and serve the cheap seats and the other would go court side and serve celebrities if they were lucky. Some of us even had the chance to volunteer for LeBron’s homecoming game and stay for the festivities after our shifts ended. It just so happens that our shifts ran past the allotted time and we couldn’t go court side to stand behind the benches or the “box” seats. Anyway, our luck would change the following game when we got to the stadium early enough for warm-ups. A number of us walked past LeBron and Anderson Varajeo on our way up to the concession stands, which are both very large and robust human beings. In spite of the joyous moment around the players we had to make our way upstairs away from the show to work and hand out food to fans in the cheap seats.
While seeing LeBron and the rest of the Cavaliers up close was a great moment in and of itself they did not end up making the championship in 2014. My lacrosse team didn’t do much better, ending up with a 7-5 record and missing the playoffs by a long shot. A few months after the uneventful season I transferred to Ithaca College and Cleveland sports began to rock. The Cavs won a championship last summer and the Indians nearly pulled off a World Series stunner a few days ago. I guess its just my luck……
