The City Of Cleveland Is Mad At Dan Shaughnessy
BOSTON (CBS) - Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Zolak & Bertrand in studio on Thursday to discuss his recent article, which has gotten Cleveland fans upset and angry.
Here are some of the highlights:
"Cleveland once was one of America's five largest cities. Today, downtown Cleveland is a sad space with many vacant buildings and boarded-up stores. The city is quiet on weekends and empty on weeknights after the workforce goes home. It feels like the local economy runs on lottery tickets."
And another:
"At the corner of East Fourth Street and Prospect you can still get a 16-ounce can of Pabst Blue Ribbon for $3 at Flannery's Pub. Not far from the other end of Fourth Street, there's the Horseshoe Casino, connected to the Tower City Center. This is not a high-roller crowd. It's not Ocean's Eleven. It's more like Atlantic City-on-the-Cuyahoga."
And another:
"LeBron and the Cavaliers are important because Cleveland is dead or dying, and there hasn't been a team to make the city feel good about itself since Lyndon Baines Johnson was in the White House."
The premise of the article, which was lost on a lot of Cleveland fans, was that Shaughnessy is actually rooting for the Cavs to win the NBA title because of their long championship drought.
But needless to say certain descriptions of the city did not go over well with the diehards of C-Town.
"They went berserk," Shaughnessy said on Zolak & Bertrand.
Some headlines from Cleveland:
- Boston writer Dan Shaughnessy misses mark about Cleveland
- Sports writer bashes Cavs, Cleveland, locals fire back
- Fuming: Boston sports columnist takes shots at Cleveland
- Cuyahoga County Executive Responds To Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy
Although Shaughnessy took some jabs, he had no intention of bashing the city of Cleveland.
"When I'm going at someone, there is no ambiguity. If it's coach John Calipari or the Texans, there is no gray area. I was rooting for Cleveland over Atlanta because I wanted the Celtics to go to Cleveland instead of Atlanta," Shaughnessy said.
"I'm used to getting crushed, but generally you deserve it and you know it's coming. This is one where it was so out of the blue and I was like after awhile you people need to get the chip off your shoulder. We're kind of rooting for you over here. I want them to win the championship. I hope the Cavaliers win the NBA title. I think it will be great. They're clearly a very needy population."
Listen to full segment:
