My 10 favorite moments as a Cleveland sports fan

1. Cleveland Cavaliers win the 2016 NBA Finals. This was SO improbable. They were down three games to one against the best regular-season NBA team that ever was, with two of the three remaining games in Oakland. It’s been eight years, and I still can’t believe I actually saw that happen! The Warriors were 73-9 that year, but LeBron, Kyrie, Kevin and company managed to win four out of seven! It still gives me goosebumps just thinking about it! “Cleveland, this is for you!”

2. Ohio State Buckeyes win the 2002 college football national championship (January 2003), upsetting the heavily favored Miami Hurricanes. It was the first time I ever saw one of my teams win a title (at age 31), and I’ll never forget it. It does bear mentioning that it wouldn’t have happened if not for a controversial pass interference call against Miami, but I will go to my grave thinking it was the correct call. And Maurice Clarett, a running back, managed to make the defensive play of the game when he stripped a Miami defender of the ball after an interception in the end zone.

3. Len Barker pitches a perfect game against the Blue Jays in 1981. I was nine years old (turned 10 a month later) and watched the entire game with my late father. I had just read the book “Baseball’s Greatest Moments,” which mentioned Sandy Koufax’s perfect game; I didn’t know there had been others. But still, Barker’s was only the 10th perfect game in major league history. The image of Rick Manning catching the last out and jumping with joy at the end of the game will be with me as long as I live.

4. Ohio State Buckeyes win the 2014 college football national championship (January 2015), beating Oregon. This was slightly less meaningful than the 2002 title, mostly because it wasn’t the first time I’d seen it happen. But also because it wasn’t that dramatic a game. The semifinal game against Alabama (42-35) was a much better game. Regardless, Ezekiel Elliott scored four touchdowns in a 42-20 rout. Admittedly, it was 21-20 OSU as late as the penultimate play of the third quarter. It was definitely fun to watch, anyway.

5. Bernie Kosar’s Browns pull out an unbelievable comeback playoff win against the Jets, 1986 season (January 1987). The Browns were the top seed in the AFC, and the Jets were a wild card, so we were supposed to win. But the Jets were strong out of the gate, scoring a touchdown on a flea-flicker. I love the flea-flicker in general, but that particular one sucked. (Ha!) Anyway, when the Jets turned a rare Kosar interception into a touchdown with less than five minutes left, it was 20-10, Jets. But we managed to score a quick touchdown and then got a field goal from the last straight-on kicker, Mark Moseley, to send it to overtime. It took a second overtime, but we pulled it out!

6. Rajai Davis ties game seven with a three-run homer in the 2016 World Series against the Cubs. We all know how that game turned out, but good lord, was that an exciting home run. It was the eighth inning, and my wife and kids had all gone to bed, so I had to cheer quietly. That was Davis' only season in Cleveland, and he’d only hit one home run all season. The last thing I expected was to see that ball go onto the home run porch, but that’s exactly what happened. Unbelievable.

7. The Indians take a curtain call after their 22-game winning streak comes to an end, 2017. It was the second-longest winning streak in MLB history, though it has to be said that the 1916 Giants' 26-game winning streak did include a tie that got called due to darkness in the days when games were only played when the sun was out. Terry Francona led the players out of the dugout after a tight 4-3 loss to the Royals ended the streak, and I shed an actual tear.

8. Cleveland Browns upset the Steelers in the playoffs, 2020 season (January 2021). The final score was 48-31, but it really wasn’t that close. We scored a VERY fast touchdown after a bad snap went over Ben Roethlisberger’s head on the very first play from scrimmage, and we were up 28-0 after the first quarter. So much fun to watch.

9. Indians win game four against the Red Sox, ALCS, 2007. This was extra-meaningful because I attended the game (shelling out something like $400 for tickets for me and my girlfriend, who is also my current girlfriend all these years later). Jhonny Peralta’s fifth-inning home run came close enough to us that we were on SportsCenter the next morning; I actually thought I might have had a shot at catching it when it was making its way toward us. Sadly, that would be the last game the Indians won that year.

10. Cavaliers win game five of the Eastern Conference Finals in double-overtime, opening a 3-2 lead over the Pistons in Detroit. The incomparable LeBron James scored 29 of the Cavs' last 30 points, including ALL of their last 25. As great as LeBron has been, I’ve never seen him play as well as he did at the end of that game. He was freaking unstoppable.