I know as a Clevelander I was not supposed to enjoy watching this World Series. And, yes, while it was physically painful watching C.C. and Cliff Lee square off, knowing that one of them was going to get a ring, I couldn’t look away. It’s like a James Bond movie, or a Real World marathon on MTV; once it’s on, I just can’t turn it off.
There are so many mixed emotions regarding C.C. On the one hand there is bitterness. It’s frustrating for everyone to watch C.C. perform so well in the postseason, after clearly being tired and/or rattled in the 2007 playoffs when he was with the Tribe.
Everyone remembers his song and dance about how if he left Cleveland he just wanted to go back to California, or play for a National League team so he could bat, or even go somewhere with more African American players. Well let’s put New York to the test. No …no …and no. That’s 0 for 3,(which in QB rating terms would be just slightly higher than that of DA, but I digress). I’m not doubting the sincerity of C.C.’s wishes, when he stated them, it’s just that money talks and, as we know, Dolan doesn’t really like to spend any. We would all be lying if we said, unequivocally, that we would have turned down the kind of money C.C. knew he could get from the Yanks, which turned out to be $161 million.
Unfortunately, as Clevelanders we are used to this kind of treatment, as it takes a special kind of owner (Gilbert) or a salary cap to thwart this type of transaction from taking place. That said, Major League Baseball angers me for allowing this to happen. I hate the Yankees for buying players and having a payroll that is higher than the GDP of seven countries.
On the other hand, I can’t really hate C.C. No matter how you look at it, he didn’t screw anyone over like Carlos Boozer; he’s not an arrogant doofus like Manny; and he didn’t go to Michigan like Braylon (kidding…kind of).
Unlike Cliff Lee, C.C. was an Indian from the start – one of our few draft picks that ever panned out – and was a class act all the way up until his departure. The ad he took out in the Plain Dealer was a great gesture which he felt compelled to make.
“You’ve touched our lives with your kindness, love and generosity. We are forever grateful!”
C.C. played on some pretty awful teams during his tenure in Cleveland, and while I’d rather it have been with the Indians, it would have been a shame for a pitcher as talented as C.C. to never win a World Series.
Just to be abundantly clear, I have never rooted for, nor ever will root for, the New York Yankees.
But C.C. winning a ring last night… I can live with that.
***TV Tip: If you are visiting this blog I’m assuming there’s an 80% chance you play fantasy football. If so, you want to be watching “The League,” on FX tonight at 10:30pm, right after “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” It’s not going to win any Emmys, but it’s entertaining and very applicable for fantasy football fans.
Zeigs Zone comes out each and every Thursday on LeBrownsTown.com.
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Cliff Lee was not an Indians draft pick. He came in the Bartolo Colon trade, from the Montreal Expos.
thats exactly what the article said!
“Unlike Cliff Lee, C.C. was an Indian from the start – one of our few draft picks that ever panned out”
have to say I disagree. CC got the easy ticket out of Cleveland. He turned down like $72 million contract or something like that. In other words, screw you Cleveland. Yeah, I know it has a lot to do with MLB and I’m glad we traded him because we knew he wasn’t coming back. However, he’s no different from Manny or Thome leaving in free agency for more money. I have always hated fair-weather fans but after we had to trade 2 Cy Young winners in a row, I have lost faith in baseball and our only hope for contending is our pathetic division. We are worse off than the Pirates. We should have the 2 best left-handed pitchers in the game but MLB sucks.