Cursed Out

Baseball settles into its full-swing yet again, as does the debate over the “Indians” name and Chief Wahoo.

In this week’s Scene, Peter Pattakos touches on the conflict with his story, “The Curse of Chief Wahoo.”

This idea of a curse caught my eye…my eyebrow raised and face scrunched in confusion eye.

Team curses, even those tongue-in-cheek, are a load of crap.  Another tired sports cliché used by media to create an interesting story and by sports fans to delude themselves into thinking there is something to blame besides the team.

Cubs fans, there is no Billy Goat curse.  There is the fact that your team has been useless for over a century.  Stop whining.

Same goes for the pre-2004 Red Sox.  No Bambino curse, just baseball that wasn’t good enough.

So here Pattakos suggests that the pains of lost championships, near misses, and heartbreaking departures could stem from an offensive logo.

Have we become so distraught and depressed that we have to discuss a bogus reason for our championship drought?  That may be sadder than our on-going QB carousel.

Apples to Oranges

Too often we try to compare Cleveland to New York, or wish that it was more like Chicago.

Not Cleveland

But it will never be New York or Chicago.  Cleveland will never be L.A., San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, New Orleans, Boston, or any other city.  And it shouldn’t be.  Cleveland is fine as Cleveland.

The “grass is greener” effect comes in, especially when the city is down, and we look envious at these cities.  Chicago especially.

Also not Cleveland

It doesn’t help that Chicago is, like us, a Fresh Coast city, and one that has recovered from an industrial past.  Thanks to that it becomes a “model city” of what the other Rust Belt cities can become.

Which is great.  I like Chicago.  There are a number of things we can learn from Chicago to make the city better.  Their wonderful rail system for one.  And we’ve already tried the government corruption.

But in taking inspiration from other cities we can’t try to exactly copy that city.  We need to see whether the idea can work here and then tweak it so that it works with what Cleveland already has.

Cleveland

Instead of trying to make Cleveland over into another city, that same effort will be better served building on what makes us unique.  If I want to live in New York, I’ll move to New York.  Not try to remake Cleveland into New York.

Around Town: Zivoder Garden

Tribe Time

Thanks to a contest the Cleveland Indians ran on their Twitter account, I was able to have an Opening Day experience that may not be matched for some time.

I spent the game in the Indians Social Suite, watching from a beautiful vantage point along the third base line, or in the comfort of the suite.  Hey, it was cold in the shade with the wind whipping off the lake.

Whatever it is about Opening Day…the tradition, the history, the pomp, the Americana…I don’t know, but it just floods me with excitement.  Maybe my favorite day of the year behind Christmas.

And yesterday didn’t disappoint.  Not until the 16^th inning at least.

The pre-game ceremonies were, I hate to say awesome since that word is overused, but they were, in the truest sense of the word.  The giant American flag in the outfield, a recovering soldier being brought out on a giant Budweiser wagon, Clydesdales and all, to throw out the first pitch, both had me awestruck.

Lance Corporal Bryan Carpenter after throwing the first pitch

Then the moment of the afternoon that will stick with me longest.  Watching a Marine, currently in Afghanistan, sing the National Anthem via satellite while two giant military helicopters flew over the stadium.  I had chills and teared up a little bit.  Thinking back to it, I get chills and tear up again.  Simply amazing.

Oh, there was a game too.  Justin Masterson started off the season for the Tribe with a one-two-three inning.

The season begins

We watched outside for a couple innings, then came in to warm up.  Not five minutes after, the door opens and in comes Carlos Baerga.  And then I turned into a giddy ten-year-old kid.  He hung out and took pictures with us.  Soon after that, in comes Mark Shapiro.  From then on, every time the door opened, we all looked over in anticipation.

Masterson had a brilliant game.  Eight innings, ten strikeouts, one mistake.  It’s a shame the game fell apart because of that.  He deserved the win.

As much as the melt down in the bottom of the 9^th sucked, I’m more worried about our hitting problems.  We could have/should have won the game in the bottom of the 9^th and 12^th.  Man on third with one out, we need to find a way to score that man.  Not just in win situations, but in any situation.

But the season is young.  One game is only one game.  All I want this year is improvement.

A big thanks to the Indians for hosting me and also to Rick and Scott from Waiting For Next Year, Alana from The Dawg’s Dish, Paul @PSRados, Mark @szczepanik, Lori from Crain’s Cleveland, and Amie from MLB Fan Cave.

The Best of Fish Fryday 2012

In honor of Good Friday and the last chance for fish fries this year, here is TiMC’s Best of Fish Fryday for 2012:

Best Fish: Springvale Country Club
Honorable Mention: St. John Neumann

Best Dessert: St. Adalbert
Honorable Mention: Donnauschwaben

Best Coleslaw: Donnauschwaben
Honorable Mention: St. John Neumann

Best Value: St. Adalbert

Best Pierogis: St. John Neumann
Honorable Mention: American Legion Clifton

Best Fries: American Legion Avon Lake
Honorable Mention: Donnauschwaben

Best Selection: St. Adalbert
Honorable Mention: St. John Neumann

Best Non-Pierogi or Fries Side Dish: Springvale Country Club (macaroni and cheese)

Opening Day

The buntings are hung.  The grass is perfectly manicured.  Hope springs ever eternal yet again.

It’s Opening Day.

What is it about baseball?  Even though it has been overtaken by football as the “national sport”, baseball is still buried deep in the conscience of this country, and this city.  Opening Day is a city-wide holiday, no matter how much the businesses frown upon it.

Today the Jake will be packed, 45,000 Indians fans strong, as the Tribe kick off their season against the Toronto Blue Jays.  After last season, who knows what to expect this year.

But for today, the rest of the season doesn’t matter.  Today is a celebration of the team, the city, and the players.

Looking forward to warm summer nights under the lights at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.

Go Tribe!

What Do You See?

Cleveland has an image problem.

There are the national jokes of course.  And the lame, poorly researched, “worst of” lists.

People from other places that have never been to Cleveland make comments about how we set our river on fire and the sports teams. Comments that are outdated or based on what they find in aforementioned articles.  You want to remain ignorant and closed-minded and not give my city a chance?  Fine with me.  Your loss.

But when outsiders come here, they often find that Cleveland surprises them with what it offers.

Look at traveler-extraordinaire Anthony Bourdain.  An epitome of snarky New Yorker, he brought his No Reservations show here and loved the city.  He’s even mentioned that that show is one of his favorites.  Fellow Travel Channel star Adam Richman shared the love in his book, America the Edible.

So many visitors see the city, and enjoy the city.  Why do so many Clevelanders not see it?

The worst image problem Cleveland has is self-inflicted.  That is, the natives who drown in self-loathing.

Local news stations linger on the negativity that flows from national sources, and rehash it, and rehash it, and rehash it again, ad nauseum.

The down-trodden set buy into these two-bit pieces of journalistic hackery and fall into self-pessimism mode.  Have a peak at the cleveland.com comments section and you see the overwhelming and unnecessary negativity at work.  Better yet, don’t…save yourself the time and irritation.

(A side note, television news is all about ratings.  They talk about what they think will get people talking and watching.  Please don’t feed the monster.)

Why do we spend so much time talking about the negatives when there are events or institutions that deserve that time?  Did you know Cleveland has the third largest fashion week in the United States behind only New York and L.A.?  Probably not, because it doesn’t get the publicity.  We also have the second largest theater district outside of Lincoln Center.

Just a sampling of what gets overlooked by locals and outsiders alike.

If we step away from the self-pity and look for the bright spots, and make those bright spots known, one day we might be able to see Cleveland for what it is and can be.

Running Shoes Out of the Box

The running community of Brecksville was buzzing yesterday with the opening of the new Vertical Runner store on Brecksville Road.  The new store accompanies VR’s Hudson location in providing local runners good running gear and even better service.

The store opened at 10 a.m.  By the time I got there at 10:45, the place was full.  An army of VR staff bounced around the store, boxes upon boxes of shoes in hand for customers to try.  In the middle of the action, store co-founder Vince Rucci talked with runners about the store, beaming like a proud parent.