In Part II of his epic tale of what it means to be a Cleveland fan, Buff hits on moving from Akron to Virginia to Austin, Red Right 88, Earnest Byner, and the art of coping with a consistent stream of failure from the teams he loves. Buff calls it The Cleveland Experience, and in this excellent read, does a good job of putting the range of emotions we all feel as fans into words. The final installment of this three part piece will post on in the next couple days.

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Steve Buffum is one of the more talented sports writers I've come across in my life.

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Just 72 games left. And boy is it going to be a long 72 games. The Tribe has lost 11 of its last 16 games and 19 of 26. The team limps into the break 14 games behind first-place Detroit and appears to be disintegrating on the field and in the clubhouse. In the Weekend Wrap ... Peeks points out a disturbing sign from yesterday's loss to the Tigers, he longs for Browns preseason football, and touches on the Cavaliers' recent acquisition of swingman Anthony Parker.

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Indians GM Mark Shapiro put to rest any discussion of Tribe skipper Eric Wedge and his coaching staff being dismissed this season. Shapiro advised before Sunday's 5-2 loss to the Oakland A's that Wedge and his staff would remain throughout the season and be evaluated at the end of the season like everyone else. That's terrific news for fans of consistency and really bad news for fans of winning baseball. Peeks hits on three more months of Wedge, the Cavs off-season, and Steve McNair's passing in The Weekend Wrap.

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