{"id":23750,"date":"2016-10-21T08:03:32","date_gmt":"2016-10-21T15:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/indians-fairytale-year-gets-better-in-series\/"},"modified":"2016-10-21T08:03:32","modified_gmt":"2016-10-21T15:03:32","slug":"indians-fairytale-year-gets-better-in-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/indians-fairytale-year-gets-better-in-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Indians’ fairytale year gets better in Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND<\/strong> \u2014 The grueling four-month championship drought could soon be over.<\/p>\n

Cleveland, yes, Cleveland, a city kicked around for years and where sports heartbreak was engrained in the collective DNA of generations of fans and misery was a fumble or John Elway touchdown pass away, is on deck for another title celebration.<\/p>\n

This year, everyone else is playing for second place. It\u2019s Cleveland\u2019s turn in the spotlight.<\/p>\n

The empty cups and bottles had barely been cleaned up from the summer-long party after LeBron James and the Cavaliers stormed back to win the win the NBA Finals, when along come these improbable Indians, a team that has defied the odds all season and advanced to the World Series for the first time since 1997.<\/p>\n

And in a perfect sports storm almost unimaginable to the most optimistic fan, the Cavs will receive their diamond-studded rings Tuesday night at Quicken Loans Arena and become the first Cleveland team since 1964 to hoist a world championship banner as the Indians throw out the first pitch in Game 1 next door at Progressive Field.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there any better way?\u201d asked James, the star whose return home in 2014 triggered a wave of hope across Northeast Ohio. \u201cI don\u2019t know, having an ice cream truck outside both arenas at the same time as well. It\u2019s great. We get to host the World Series and we get our rings on the same night \u2014 at the same time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had a retractable roof it would be probably the loudest (sound) we ever heard, so it\u2019s pretty special,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For years, Cleveland was little more than a punchline to outsiders \u2014 a city dubbed The Mistake On The Lake.<\/p>\n

These days, the joke\u2019s on everyone else. Cleveland is undergoing a 21st century renaissance that intensified when the Cavs stopped the city\u2019s dry spell without a major pro sports championship at 52 years.<\/p>\n

Now the city\u2019s abuzz about the Indians, who haven\u2019t won the World Series since 1948.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the final World Series tickets sold out in 15 minutes and fans endured long lines to buy merchandise commemorating the AL pennant.<\/p>\n

Claudia Beal was one of them, and as she waited patiently at a sporting goods store in suburban Westlake, the mother of three boys was savoring every second.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I moved here, people thought I was crazy. They were like, \u2018Oh, Cleveland,\u2019\u201d she said, rolling her eyes. \u201cAnd now they see what it\u2019s like and we\u2019re getting our turn. I think everyone now realizes what a great city it is. It has this bad rap. I didn\u2019t know I was going to move here, and once I got here, I was like, this is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as Cleveland\u2019s image changes, so does its people.<\/p>\n

By winning it all, the Cavs inspired confidence in fans who grew to expect the worst in big moments. They\u2019d been tortured by Elway beating the Browns in AFC championship games, Michael Jordan knocking down a game-winning shot to sink the Cavs and the Indians losing Game 7 to Florida in \u201897.<\/p>\n

But James and his teammates, who have rallied behind the Indians at playoff games this October, gave fans the belief anything is possible. They also took some of the pressure off the city\u2019s other teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s part of my whole mindset is to inspire as many people as I possibly can \u2014 from kids growing up in my inner city to professional athletes in our city,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n

Cavs coach Tyronn Lue has entrenched himself into Cleveland since arriving two years ago. Even now, months after his team\u2019s historic comeback, he\u2019s stopped by fans basking in a title that was always out of reach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why, but they do come up to me and thank me,\u201d Lue said, smiling. \u201cWe\u2019re champs and they carry themselves like that and rightfully so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anne Balk feels grateful. Like so many Cleveland fans, she\u2019s enjoying this 2016 joyride. Her journey, though, has deeper meaning.<\/p>\n

As the Cavs marched toward a championship, she gave birth and spent many nights in front of the TV watching playoff games along with her baby boy, Bodhi.<\/p>\n

In a few years, Balk, who shopped for souvenirs while wearing a black hoodie that said, \u201cOhio Against The World,\u201d will tell her son the amazing story of his first seasons as a Cleveland fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know,\u201d she said. \u201cThis has been quite year for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND \u2014 The grueling four-month championship drought could soon be over. Cleveland, yes, Cleveland, a city kicked around for years and where sports<\/a> heartbreak was engrained in the collective DNA of generations of fans and misery was a fumble or John Elway touchdown pass away, is on deck for another title celebration. This year, everyone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-23750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23750"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=23750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}