by Carter Caldwell

After overcoming a 52-year championship drought in the 2016 NBA Finals, it seems that the city of Cleveland’s professional sports “curse” is over.  Two of the three teams often viewed as being “cursed,” the NBA Cavaliers  and the MLB Indians, have experienced surges of success since the Cavaliers won the Finals in 2016, with the Cavs going on to play again in the 2017 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors for the third year in a row, a feat that had never been accomplished.

The Indians, on the other hand, are still experiencing the MLB’s current longest World Series Championship drought at 68 seasons, but also recently set the longest MLB winning streak in 101 years, winning 22 games in a row.  They are currently placed at number one in their division, a title they held last season despite losing 4-3 in the World Series to the Chicago Cubs, who ended the longest championship drought in Major League Baseball history at 107 seasons.

The Browns, the third “cursed” team, unfortunately have not displayed any significant changes since the 2016 NBA Finals.  As of this writing, their record is 0-2, not a good start to a season preceded by a franchise-low record of 1-15.  Whether or not the curse existed and was lifted is up for speculation.  What is not is the fact that not one, but two of Cleveland’s drought-ridden teams have had fighting chances at Championship titles.

Ultimately, the success of the Cavaliers with the return of LeBron James and the Indians is likely to be attributed to their hard work and talent, but the rallying of their communities behind them show that no matter how different we may be, everyone loves a good comeback story.