I grew up in Cleveland and went to college at Kent State in Northeast Ohio. I still have family who live there and I’m a steadfast defender of the City and loyal Cleveland sports team fan (along with the Arizona teams where I’ve lived for the last 16 years). You can imagine what I’m going through as the Cavaliers won the NBA championship in dramatic fashion. It’s the first championship of any major sport for the City in 52 years—my entire lifetime plus! Reading the social media from childhood friends of their excitement brought smiles to my face, but those smiles turned to awe as I watched more than 1 million Cavs fans take over downtown for a celebratory parade and rally.
Back in May of 2014 I wrote a blog titled: Confessions of a Cleveland sports fan and how it relates to your business. In it I talked about the importance of not reinforcing a negative impression despite the comfort it might represent.
Here’s the thing…. once the excitement fades, what is a Cleveland supporter supposed to do now?!?! How do we write the next chapter of our story? Uncomfortable? Yes. But man, I’m so glad we have no choice but to start re-writing our Cleveland sports narrative.