Today (20181008) the 2018 baseball season has come to a close for the Cleveland Indians. They lost the five-game series in the first three games against the Houston Astros. Not a particularly great way to end the year. And I’ll admit, I’m not disappointed. I’m bummed, but not disappointed.
It wasn’t much past the All Star Game that when asked how I thought the Indians would do this year I would respond with, “They will clinch the Central Division, but that’s about it. It would be awesome if they would win the American League Division series, and incredible if they could win the pennant, but I doubt they would win the World Series this year.” My reasoning was that they were playing at the top of the division - but the division sucked! Most of the other teams were in rebuilding years, and the Indians had a pretty solid line up. But compared to the rest of the American League, we weren’t much to write home about.
So, I was bummed that the season ended so quickly, but not disappointed. However, one thing I had, in spite of the above paragraph, was hope. You see, as I’ve said repeatedly, baseball is the only sport where you can’t run out the clock or take a knee. You have to play until the final out. And because of that, I always have hope that things could change before that final out.
I wish I could say the same thing for the rest of the Cleveland Indians “fans”.
My wife and I are fair-weather fans. We try to get to at least one or two football games at the high school where she teaches. However, we only go if the weather is decent. You know, “fair”. The Cleveland Indians fans, on the other hand, are fair-weather fans of the other sort. You know what I mean.
When the Indians are winning, people are wearing their gear, screaming in the stands, and letting the world know that Cleveland is a true sports town. But when they aren’t doing so good? They are leaving the stands before the game is even over. And like I said above, it’s never over until the final out.
Are you from Cleveland? Do you call this place CleveLAND? Are you one of those who say it is “us against the world”? I wish it were so.
At around the 7th inning, the wheels came off. I won’t go into the stats - you can look those up yourself - but in the 7th Houston scored three runs to put them in the lead for the first time. Then, during the 8th, they scored an additional SIX runs, bringing the score to 10-2. I had the game on my tablet (my wife and I are “Slingers”) up until 17:00, when it was time to head for home. I then had the local radio station (WMMS 100.7 FM) giving me the audio play-by-plays for the rest. I wish I hadn’t.
As I listened to the “voice of the Cleveland Indians”, Tom “Hammy” Hamilton, I got angry. At one point Hamilton informed us that after the top of the 8th fans were leaving the stadium in droves. It was a mass exodus. And that’s not what really blew my stack. It was when Hamilton said the season was over for the Indians. He thanked the production staff for such a great job over the season (and yes, they have), since it was over. When the Astros’ 9th inning pitcher came out, he said that after he was done pitching he would be going to the visitor's clubhouse to celebrate.
THE GAME WASN’T OVER!!!
I don’t give a rat’s ass what the score is. You don’t call the game over before it’s over!!
So, in closing, I want to leave you with a few suggestions for next year:
It’s time for Tom Hamilton to retire. He’s had a great run, but I prefer my sports announcers to be informative, a bit entertaining, and maybe a LITTLE biased towards the home team. I don’t think he is able to do that anymore.
Cleveland fans need to put up or shut up. You sit in your seats until the very end of a Marvel movie to see the end credit “shawarma” stinger, but leave when your team is down? What impact do you think that has for the players when they see the seats empty?
Cleveland fans need to stop bad-mouthing the Indians. Remember the “wait until next year” unofficial slogan the Indians rallied for years? In 2016, when the Indians looked for a World Series win they haven't seen since 1948, what did the fans do? They gave the Chicago Cubs home field advantage here in Cleveland by selling their tickets to Chicago fans and providing the Indians a sea of Cubs blue to rally them. Maybe you aren’t ready for “next year”.
And finally, you should read a book about baseball. Not a book of stats. Stories. Read books like “Indians Memories” by Tim Long and Don Fox, or “The Curse of Rocky Colavito” by Terry Pluto, or “Shoeless Joe” (the story that inspired the movie “A Field of Dreams”) by W.P. Kinsella, or “For the Love of Baseball” by a bunch of different writers taking you on an emotional roller coaster.
This off season, fall in love with the game of baseball again. So next year, you will root, root, root for your home team; and if you don’t, well, it’s a shame.
© Emittravel 2018
