Thank You

Greetings and salutations C:tBers! I hope this finds you and your loved ones as safe, sane and healthy as possible as this unprecedented year hits its holiday stretch run.

First, my apologies for being in absentia for much of the past year. What began as an extended leave due to work overseas last year at this time, led me to return to a nation in chaos this past spring where the disruption of sports was the very least of anyone’s concerns. Like everyone else, I held out hope for a return to normalcy… a return to the pre-pandemic halcyon days. Yet, as the summer (and now fall) months dragged on, it became increasingly clear that wasn’t meant to be anytime soon.

Of all the sports that attempted some reasonable facsimile of what used to be, the NBA bubble-offs seemed the most sound approach. And it turned out to be. Adam Silver, the owners, the players union and the players went lockstep about keeping things as safe and competitive as possible. And they did. The problem, at least for me, was finding the impetus to be interested.

In the past, sports and the NBA in particular were a refuge for me. It’s one of the primary reasons I started writing for this blog five years ago. It’s easy to write about things one finds passion in and about. Yet, I found the passion was missing… no quarter from real life to be found. Maybe it had something to do with the Cavs not being invited to the bubble. Maybe it had something to do with the social division within the country. Maybe it was just general malaise from this ongoing pandemic. Or, maybe it was just turning 50 this summer.

Whatever it was, I thought it might be here to stay.

And then, a funny thing happened on Thanksgiving Day…

NBATV ran a holiday hardwood classics replay of an indelible game… a certain Game 7 from Father’s Day 2016… you know the one.

I watched it from opening tip to the hoisting of the Larry O’Brien trophy. I reveled in The Block… The Shot… and The Stop. I teared up when the floor turned to chaotic celebration… and again when LBJ screamed “CLEVELAND! THIS IS FOR YOU!” into Doris Burke’s microphone.

I’ve seen the replay of this game many times (always marveling that the Cavs somehow held the Warriors scoreless for nearly the last full five minutes), but this time impacted me almost as much as when I witnessed it in real time. You see, this viewing brought back some joy… some hope… some passion.

The timing of things isn’t always ideal though. As it turns out, even on the doorstep of a new NBA season, work will once again take me overseas for the next few months. So, while my passion for writing about this sport and this team has begun to return, my opportunity to do so might have to wait a bit.

I hope to be able to contribute here and there, and stay more connected with this amazing group of people involved with this blog than I have been this past year. I hope it’s a season of surprising growth and promise for these (mostly) young Cavaliers. But, mostly, I hope that you all stay healthy and safe, and find a solace of sorts in sports.

Even though Thanksgiving was yesterday… I want to say thank you…

Thanks to the readers and the commenters of this blog. We wouldn’t be here without you.

Thanks to the tremendous contributors to this blog for keeping things going in good times and tough ones.

Thanks in particular to Nate who keeps us all together.

Thanks to the Cavaliers for a championship for the ages.

Thanks to NBATV for inadvertently restoring my passion for writing about the sport.

Thanks for reading this.

Be safe… be well… be thankful… and, GO CAVS!