Is Cleveland on the rebound?

Ever since the Draft Lottery, I've been thinking bout Cleveland. The Grey cloud over the city of Cleveland's sports teams has been well documented. From "The Drive" to "The Fumble","The Shot" and "The Decision" to whatever they call Jose Mesa's implosion in the '97 World Series, Cleveland is famous for infamous moments.(Including this interesting piece of basketball history). But could 2011 signal "The Return" to prominence(or even relevance) for Cleveland sports.

Look, I'm not suggesting that Cleveland will become the New Boston, w/ a Championship Contender in all  4, i mean, 3 major sports and hockey lol! But the seeds have planted for a re-invigoration of a city that desperately needs it. Going into Memorial Day Weekend, Cleveland has a few things to look forward to:

* The first-place Indians, who boast a 31-18 record, including 19-6 at home with a plus 52 run differential entering the day, all league-bests. Anchored by a young core, led by Switch-hitting Catcher Carlos Santana and Closer Chris Perez along with veterans Grady Sizemore and Shin Soo Choo, the Wahoos future looks as bright as its present.

* Cleveland Cavs: We all "witnessed" the Cavaliers atrocious season, highlighted by a league-record 26 str8 losses and uncanny ability to lose games everywhichway. But because the clippers are cursed due to a stroke of luck, the cavs hopes look a lot brighter today. Follow for one second please....

        - The Cavs, flush with $$$ after the unexpected defection of Lebron(yes, he must be mentioned in a post concerning the 2011 cavs) traded PG Mo Williams(2 yrs left on reasonable deal) and Jamario Moon(expiring contract after 2011) for PG Baron Davis' bloated physique contract(3 yrs/almost 35 mil left) and the Clips 2011 unprotected 1st rounder. Ordinarily the Clips 1st rounder is the equivalent of 1850's gold and would properly be protected. But since it only projected to about a 3% chance to be the 1st pick in draft and offered financial flexibility in ridding themselves of Davis' albatross deal, the Clips did not ask for protection in the deal. As we all know, it ended up being the #1 pick, further cementing the Los Angeles Clippers as the unluckiest/most cursed/losingest franchise in sports(a crown my New York Mets are eyeing greedily).

So that leaves the Cavaliers with the Clips pick(1st) and their own(4th), in a supposed "weak draft"(Let them play, then we'll decide if theyre good or not, OK?). And as i write this, i get wind that they are attempting to acquire the #2 pick in the draft too. Even Better for them! We all know that they previously had one ROYALLY elite talent, and now they have none. The top two picks in the 2011 draft is a great start in the right direction. In a league where stars win; (see: every nba champion since i've been alive), all signs point to Kyrie Irving at 1, joining the growing ranks of lightning-quick pgs who seem to thrive in the new no-touch era we live in. Just Sayin..........

Even the Cleveland Browns have reason for optimism, no seriously. The Holmgren regime begins year 2 with a new Head Coach(Pat Shurmur) and believes it has its franchise qb in Colt Mccoy. With the ransom netted in the Julio Jones/draft day deal with the Atlanta Falcons, the Browns are slowly acquiring the pieces of a nucleus they hope will send them to where Coach(now GM) Holmgren's teams(GB,SEA) have gone before, the Super Bowl.. Offensive Lineman Joe Thomas and Alex Mack are Pro Bowlers who are young, yet already considered among the top of their positions already. If there is an NFL season, could the Browns be in the running for the first professional championship for the city of Cleveland since the Browns did it in 1964, when my mother was 6 months old.......I told you they been hurting.

Also known as the Mistake by the Lake,  in 2004, ESPN named Cleveland the most tortured sports city. But i can remeber a time when it wasn't all that bad for the city, well in my opinion....... Growing up, I remember the Cleveland Cavs and Browns as talented teams who often faced misfortune at the hands of two of the greatest ever, John Elway and Michael Jordan. I know Earnest Byner shoulda have kept marching into the end zone and should have scored from the 2 yd line in '87, but it was Elway who first exorcised the ghosts when he drove the Broncos 98 yards in '86. And Poor Craig Ehlo had no chance to block this shot in the '89 playoffs. Also the '95-'97 Indians had a superior collection of talent including Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Roberto Alomar Jr. and Omar Vizquel. Could we be seeing a renaissance in this former Midwestern power?