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Glued to their television sets, nervous fans willed a Cavalier victory
Elliott Hassay of Youngstown got his wish, finally.
The Cavaliers ended the “Cleveland Curse.”
At halftime of Sunday’s Game 7 of the NBA Finals, with Cleveland down seven points to the Golden State Warriors, Hassay said he “believed in the curse” and wished it would end.
“I want a championship. I pray for a championship. It doesn’t matter which team. Someone has to do it,” said Hassay, who watched history made and the curse broken with several friends at his home.
“I can’t even believe it,” said Heather Eisenbraun moments after the Cavaliers won the 2016 NBA title by a 93-89 score.
She said before the game she would be angry if the Cavs lost but would cry if they won.
Eisenbraun and her aunt, Jenny Kennedy, both of Canfield, watched the game in Eisenbraun’s basement Fan Cave.
“We jumped up and down screaming and hugging. I didn’t cry, but my eyes welled up. I think I’ll cry when they interview LeBron,” she said.
Eisenbraun said she called her dad, Allen Blake, whom she said is the “reason that I am the way I am about Cleveland sports.”
Eisenbraun’s grandmother, Thelma Blake of Warren, a huge Cavs fan, has been waiting her whole life for a sports championship to come to Cleveland.
“I called her and said we finally did it,” Eisenbraun said.
“That was a great game. When it was over, we didn’t know what to do,” Kennedy said.
“I called my son,” Justin, who is a big Cleveland sports fan, but he didn’t answer.
“He called back and I just said I love you,” Kennedy said.
“I was so happy for Le-Bron. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders,” she said.
Before the game, Kennedy said she thought “it is our time. We’re not saying, ‘Next year,’” she said, proving to be prophetic.
But, she admitted she was so nervous she cleaned house and mowed the grass Sunday to take her mind off the impending game.
Kennedy spent several hours before the game with her niece in the Fan Cave watching the pregame shows on television, both getting more nervous as the tipoff neared. Accompanying them was Eisenbraun’s 6-month-old daughter Emerson, dressed in Cavs gear, and the dog, Phoebe, wearing a Cleveland Browns collar.
Kennedy, Eisenbraun and their families are “all in” with all Cleveland sports.
“My baby shower had a Cleveland sports theme, and Emerson was born at 11:47 a.m., which gave me time to get to my room and watch the Browns game,” Eisenbraun said.
The whole family is Cleveland sports crazy, Kennedy said.
“I have even taught my 3-year-old granddaughter to say the names of the Cavalier players,” she said.
Optimistic that the Cavs would do the trick this year, Eisenbraun “pledged to stop biting my nails if they win.”
After the game, she said: “It will be hard, but I guess if the Cavaliers can win a championship, I can quit biting my nails.”
On Sunday, the onus to break the curse was on the Cavaliers, and they came through.
While Kennedy and Eisenbraun did not call Cleveland’s dearth of sports championship a “curse,” Hassay was convinced it was real.
Hassay, 25, was “born and raised” a Cleveland sports fan by his father, Glenn Hassay of Struthers, whom Elliott said would have a hard time watching the game.
Hassay said his family has had Browns season tickets since 1974; had Indians season tickets from 1994 to 2006, and attends 10 Cavs games a year.
“He’s been through too much,” Elliott said of his father.
Now, thanks to the Cavaliers, Elliott’s father, and the rest of Cavalier Nation, can relax.