Cleveland grapples with curse of LeBron

LeBron was right: 3-1 leads are spooky. This June the Cleveland Cavaliers came back from a three-game deficit to defeat the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. Then in November, the Chicago Cubs came back from a three-game deficit to defeat the Cleveland Indians and win the World Series.

It is not hard to see the irony in this, as Cleveland has long been the victim of a “sports curse.” Before 2016, their last major sports title was in 1964 when the Browns beat the Colts to win the NFL Championship. This was so long ago the term “Super Bowl” did not yet exist and the Colts were located right here in Baltimore. Since then, Cleveland has been known as the city where quarterbacks’ careers go to die.

The Cleveland Indians have not had much better luck. Their last World Series championship was in 1948, giving them the longest current drought in all of Major League Baseball,  a drought that could have ended this year.

There have been so many sports curses through the years. Well known to sports fans and laypeople alike is the Curse of the Bambino, which kept the Boston Red Sox from a World Series title for 86 years.

The Cubs too had their own “Curse of the Billy Goat,” which was placed by the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern after he was asked to leave Wrigley Field due to complaints about the odor of his pet goat. This November, 61 years after the curse was placed in 1945, it was finally broken.

More recently there was Lil B’s curse on Kevin Durant. The rapper said Durant, who previously played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, would never win an NBA championship after he called the rapper “wack.” This curse was in jeopardy last June when the Thunder were up three games to one against the Golden State Warriors. Sound familiar?

The Warriors came back with a flurry of threes and advanced to face off against LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, where they also lost after leading three games to one.

All of these curses have eventually been broken. Even Lil B lifted his curse on KD after he left the Thunder for Golden State. Many thought the Cleveland sports curse was also lifted this year when LeBron and the Cavs won the NBA championship. Then why was it the Chicago Cubs that won the World Series?

Some may point to the rain delay in Game 7, which gave the Cubs a chance to regroup and take back the lead. Others go back to Game 6, when two Cleveland outfielders collided with each other resulting in a two-run double and an unsettling atmosphere that remained for the rest of the game. My analysis? It’s the new curse of LeBron James.

After the Cavs historic comeback, the phrase “3-1” became something of a joke among fans. Signs reading “The Warriors blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals” popping up at College Football games, behind FOX newscasters as they previewed the first presidential debate.

Days before Game 6 of the World Series, at LeBron’s annual Halloween party, the elaborate celebration featured “3-1” on the front of a drum set, suggesting the “scary” nature of such a lead. The party also featured cookies in the form of gravestones of two of the Warrior’s top players, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

While the careers of both players are indisputably alive and well, the security of a 3-1 lead has undeniably been refuted this year. At the time, the Indians were still up 3-2 and many believed that they would close the deal at Game 6 in front of their home crowd.

LeBron personally attended this game and looked defeated when the Indians trailed 7 to 1 by the fifth inning. A notable development because LeBron has been a vocal Yankees fan all his life. A few days later, the Cubs sealed the deal in an exciting Game 7.

While many suggest  the Cubs’ tenacity led them to victory, it is much more entertaining to use LeBron’s excessive gloating and bandwagoning to explain the turn of events. To Warriors fans, like myself, LeBron ending Cleveland’s sports curse — and reviving it all within the same year — heals the hole this year’s NBA finals drilled into our hearts.

What makes this all the more sweeter is that LeBron is paying the price. LeBron and former teammate Dwayne Wade, a Chicago native, placed bets on the series and as a result LeBron must wear Cubs gear for his Dec. 2 matchup in against Wade and the Chicago Bulls: a small price to pay for reigniting an old tradition.