A Good Omen

As much as I hate to admit even guarded optimism about a Cleveland sports team, I'll concede that the Sports Gods have smiled on the Cavaliers ever since they improbably clinched the second seed in the East on the last day of the season. Nevertheless, my official position is that Cleveland remains doomed. Yes, the Cavs' good fortune has been accompanied by some spectacular performances, but come on, we're talking about the San Antonio Spurs, a team that's won three out of the last eight NBA championships.

I know, I know -- the Cavs appear to have captured lightening in a bottle this year. But you know, over the years, we've had plenty of teams that seemed to be destiny's darlings, and we've still got nothing to show for it. So, it's going to take a lot more than that to break me out of my glass is half empty funk. Like I said when we started this blog, "if a Cleveland team looks like destiny’s darlings, Brian Sipe will throw an interception, Jim Chones will break his foot or Jose Mesa will decide to throw sliders."

In retrospect, it's funny that I should've mentioned Jose Mesa, because if--unlike me-- you think the glass is half full, and if you're looking for a sign that this just may be the year, you might find that sign in the timing of the Detroit Tigers' decision to release Cleveland's Public Enemy #2 on Sunday.

Think about it. If the Gods wanted to send a message telling us that our years of wandering in the sports wilderness were just about at an end, can you imagine a better way of sending it than by having Jose Mesa's career end the day after the Cavs' became the first Cleveland team since his 1997 Indians to play for a championship? Okay, so some more mean spirited fans might suggest another sign that they'd find more convincing, but the timing of Mesa's release is pretty auspicious.

Personally, I'd prefer to see Tim Duncan sprain his ankle or Tony Parker have his green card revoked, but as omens go, I guess we could do worse than seeing Joe Table get his walking papers just as the Cavs get set to tip off in their first ever NBA Finals.