Dunlap: Pittsburgh Shouldn't Celebrate Cavs Title
Almost choked on my coffee Tuesday morning.
It came as I was reading a piece in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review titled 'Cavaliers NBA title run carries Western Pennsylvania flavor.'
It was well written.
It was well researched.
Those weren't the problems.
For me, however, some of the stuff in it was just wholly delusional --- which gets us back to why I almost choked.
You see, as many of us know, the Cleveland Cavaliers recently captured the NBA title, winning the first major sports championship for that city since 1817 or 1821 or whatever.
Nice.
Good for them.
Have a parade --- and they did.
Some guy even ate horse poop (don't believe me look on YouTube) and the city was shut down for the better part of 36 hours or so; not because of the manure eating, but because of the parade that led to such revelry as, well, manure eating.
Anyhow, the Trib piece outlined a man named Len Komoroski, who I don't know but have friends who know him. By all accounts from mutual friends, Komoroski is a splendid guy, the kind of guy you'd want to be your neighbor and just and outright good man. He's also a Duquesne graduate, Pittsburgh native and the CEO of the Cavs.
He told the Trib something I just had to read about nine times to fully digest.
"Pittsburgh's a big part of our region. I know a lot of Cavs fans from Pittsburgh," Komoroski said in the piece. "Cleveland is an easy trip on the turnpike. It's something we're focused on, knowing we are a regional team."
I guess, man.
I don't know.
I will just speak for myself here: As a born and raised Pittsburgher, when a team from Cleveland plays I want to see them get their doors blown off.
In everything.
And against every opponent.
It could be football against a team from Pittsburgh, basketball against a team from Oakland, hopscotch against a team from Nome or four square against a team from Osaka --- when I see 'Cleveland' on the front of a uniform, I feel it is my civic duty as someone from Pittsburgh to root against that Cleveland team.
It is just the way I was raised, just the way I am wired and just the way I will always be.
Perhaps, at 39 years old, I am right on the outer cusp --- in age --- of a group of Pittsburghers who remember the "old" Cleveland Browns and the true dislike and distaste the Steelers had for them so I will never embrace anything Cleveland.
That's why --- and apologies to Mr. Komoroski --- you won't ever find me cheering for the Cavs from afar or, God forbid, heading up there with some LeBron jersey on and taking in a game to root, root, root for the home team.
It will never happen. Ever.
In my estimation, Pittsburgh fans are Pittsburgh fans and Cleveland fans are Cleveland fans and there are no gray areas ---- it doesn't matter if Pittsburgh hasn't an NBA team or that God-awful city up there doesn't have an NHL team. You stay on your rooting side and we will stay on ours. Period.
Maybe this all sounds antiquated, a bit bitter and a togetherness with Cleveland is something I need to embrace. Again, it isn't happening with me, though.
I went to the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium for a Steelers-Browns game with some friends when I was in high school in the mid-90s.
The people there were vile.
The home fans were despicable toward us.
They acted really abhorrent.
And those were just the women.
In all sincerity, however, the people were nasty and we were just some teenagers who went there to watch a football game.
That has stuck with me forever. At 16 or 17, it was my first deep, true, proper taste of the rivalry between Pittsburgh and Cleveland.
It will stick with me forever. It's one grudge I will perpetually hold.
So pardon me if I can't get all warm and fuzzy about the Cavs winning. Heck, I hope they lose every game next season.
By 80 points.
After all, in my estimation, that's the way Pittsburghers should see it.
Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weekdays from 5:40 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.
