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Angst finally booted for Cleveland fans
By BRIAN DZENIS
BOARDMAN
At last, there’s a championship for Cleveland fans to celebrate.
At the Magic Tree Pub & Eatery in Boardman, the final minute of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 93-89 Game 7 victory against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday provided a snapshot in how to deal with angst.
Be they young or old, angst was there among those watching. The older patrons truly felt all of the 52 years since their city’s last championship.
Dr. Bill Begalla of Youngstown attended the Browns’ 1964 NFL Championship game with his father.
“Nobody at the time realized there wouldn’t be another championship for so long,” Begalla said.
Boardman’s Kyle Sheehan’s formative years were marked by the Indians blowing a ninth-inning lead in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series.
“Ten-year-old me cried for days,” Sheehan said.
As Cavs star LeBron James crashed to the floor after getting fouled on the would-be dunk to put the game away, Sheehan could only stand with his hands clasped behind his head.
Columbiana resident Dutch Crittenden stood at attention near his table in silence. His wife, Patty, seemed to live and die with each possession, letting out a shout of joy or despair all night. She jumped up and down with excitement.
Outside on the patio, Craig Tascione of Austintown let a couple expletives out, his friend recording the moment on Snapchat.
“I just wanted a foul shot. I wanted to go up by four,” Sheehan said, breathing heavily in his seat after the game.
“The ending ... it was the best basketball game I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Crittenden was 8 when the Browns won the NFL Championship Game in 1964. He arrived in Boardman with his superstitions in tow. He wore the same t-shirt throughout the entire finals, never washing it.
He initially didn’t want to go to the Magic Tree because he saw Ohio State lose to Florida in the 2007 national championship there. Instead, he wanted to go to Primanti Brothers instead, but his wife talked him into not going there because it’s a Pittsburgh-based franchise.
“Obviously, it worked,” Crittenden said of his beliefs.
“We’re gonna have to frame that shirt,” his wife said.
Boardman’s Scott Agnew and his wife, Sandi, planned to stay at home until a power outage forced them to go out. After the game, they still tried to make sense of how it feels to be off the schnied.
“I don’t know if it’s pride or redemption or what,” Agnew said. “Our teams — the city of Cleveland — we’ve been the brunt of jokes.
“It’s more than a game to us,” he said.
Agnew joked that he wished his daughters would marry Cleveland fans because they know the true meaning of “for better or worse.”
Sticking it out all those years made the endeavor worthwhile.
“The pride of the people of Cleveland has endured and this puts the exclamation mark on it,” Begalla said.