I don't know what the deal is with painful Cleveland teams lately and defending champions. We have enough cliched "The ____" events in sports history that we certainly don't need a new one, but lately it seems like collectively they can be called "The Tease".
A decent taste is left in Cavs' fans mouths as the All-Star Break hits, as opposed to the crapburger we've been served all year long.
Coming against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, it was obviously even more surprising. But that just continues an instantly confounding trend that has surfaced over the past couple years. As you remember, the Browns, reeling into 2008 week six, looking lost at 2-3, shocked the undefeated (and reigning Super Bowl Champion) New York Giants 35-14, and ended their 11-game winning streak that had carried over through their SB win over the Patriots.
And of course, this past fall, led by extremely green quarterback Colt McCoy, the Browns went to The Big Easy as 13-point underdogs and beat the Saints 30-17.All three times, the Cleveland teams looked hapless, hopeless, and just sad. Fans were restless, distraught, or just plan defeated. And all three times, CLE teams came out of seemingly nowhere for a huge win. Of course, in the case of the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers, this doesn't mean that much, but we can all just take one day to smile about our Cavaliers. An let's just all enjoy the posterizing of Pau Gasol.
