Written by Mike Perry

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Every year at this time we get a virtual cornucopia of “Year in Review” columns and pieces, where the previous calendar year is rehashed, interpreted and dissected. Well, this writer would rather wipe 2010 from his memory…erase it, nuke it, make like it never happened.

In Cleveland, 2010 was a year that would best be forgotten.

Think about it, can you come up with one positive sports memory from 2010? Has there been one signature moment you can look at and say, “I can tell my grandchildren I was there when that happened?” Though I have been thinking about this for a few days, there is nothing to remember.

The Browns? Underachieving team with a ‘dead man walking’ head coach and far too few wins. Yes, this is the year Colt McCoy took the helm as the starting quarterback, but injuries have already cost him time behind center and he actually looked more like a shaky rookie than a poised, confident starting quarterback against the Ravens last week. And Peyton Hillis has been fun to watch, but until he learns to hold on to the football we will always have to watch him with baited breath.

The Indians? My Indians fandom goes back to the 1970’s. I grew up rooting for players like Boog Powell, Wayne Cage, Charlie Spikes, Tom Veryzer and Tom Buskey. Today, when thinking about the Cleveland Indians, I wonder if they are in any better shape now than they were in the Golden Age of Baseball Futility* that was the 1970’s. Only time will tell if things are better this season, but last year was as frustrating a season for this Indians fan as he can remember.

 

The Cavs situation and LeBron James has been broken down and discussed at length, but I wanted to weigh in to get it off my chest before the year came to a close. First of all and in no uncertain terms I wanted to state the obvious…LeBron is a dick. He quit on his team last season when it looked like they could get back into the Celtics series because, simply put, he had decided to leave a long time ago. He should be ashamed of himself, something he is not capable of, and here’s hoping he never wins a championship.

Even two years ago, during the playoffs especially, James looked a bit distracted. In the locker room he would frequently have a far-off look on his face as he answered the same mundane questions over and over. Thinking back to the look in his eye, the way he carried himself and his infatuation with being “one of the guys” at All-Star weekend or when the Cavs played Miami…the signs were all there that James did not want to stick around in Cleveland. If he was a woman, James would be what’s called a “starf#*ker.” He has always been intrigued with fame and loved to discuss his high-profile friendship with Dwyane Wade. Again, if James was a woman he would work as hard as he could to be Wade’s concubine. It was/is actually pretty pathetic to see, but what should we expect from this man-child?

That being said, it is downright mystifying that Dan Gilbert did not have a Plan B in place should James leave. How can the owner of a professional sports franchise not have contingency plans in place? James gave Gilbert a royal screwing, waiting until the last possible minute to announce his intentions, but the line with James should have been drawn weeks before. Gilbert should have told him the Cavs offer had an expiration date. Sure, this is easy for me to say but the “kid-glove” handling of LeBron and his posse of leeches was what got Gilbert and the Cavs in trouble in the first place.

Now the Cavs are drifting around without an identifiable road map for the future in place. If you look at their roster, how many players do you really think will play a role in the long-term future of the franchise? I only see a few: Manny Harris (who, I think, is going to be a solid NBA player out of the Shane Battier/Caron Butler mold), Anderson Varejao, J.J. Hickson and, possibly, Daniel Gibson. The rest of the roster should be shipped out for picks, preferably not for next year’s draft but for 2012 and later.

Now let’s look at the reason I write for this website…the Mid-American Conference. There are actually reasons to be excited for MAC fans everywhere. Football fans at Kent, Northern Illinois, Temple, Miami and Ball State have new coaches in place, and with new coaching staffs a certain degree of optimism should follow as well. Plus, a ton of the top football talent in the conference will be back next season…guys like Zac Dysert, Bernard Pierce, Spencer Keith, etc. The 2011 MAC football season should be one for the ages.

This MAC basketball season is shaping up to be exciting and unpredictable as well. With most of the non-conference schedule in the books there has not been one certain team that has separated itself from the pack. As per usual, the talent distribution in the conference is fairly even…which makes for an interesting season. And for my money the MAC Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena provides the best bang for your entertainment dollar in the area. Most of the games are very intense and decided late. If you are a basketball junkie or just a sports fan without much else to do that weekend you owe it to yourself to check it out.

As for myself, here is hoping the new year will bring out the best in me. It is a great honor to work for STO and The Cleveland Fan, and my only hope is that I can do my best possible job to bring you as much information and provide the most interesting and entertaining stories possible. That is my quest, and if you would like to offer me any kind of feedback (including suggestions and tips regarding MAC athletics) feel free to email me at macsportstalk@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you, the people who value and respect the Mid-American Conference as much as I do.

 

Happy New Year!