How did you became a Cavs fan? For those who are not from Cleveland.

[Rager]

I was thinking about making a thread for Cleveland sports fans that are not from the area (from overseas or other cities/states/countries). I don’t know if this is the right section, but as the topic is related to the Cavs, I decided to create it here. Mods feel free to move it or change the title for a more fitting one.

With this new influx of new posters I was really interested in getting to know Why, When and How did we all became fans of the Cavs (and Browns, Indians and so on). Felt like an interesting and fun idea.
Personally, I became a fan of the Cavaliers around 2006 I’d say. I started paying more attention to the world of the NBA (was a football – as in soccer for you – junkie) around that time and really liked some teams on the playoffs, namely New Jersey and Phoenix. Then I noticed the Cleveland Cavaliers...

Still remember how amazing that series against the Wizards was and how great of a player that kid with the number 23 was. At that point in time I really didn’t understand that much about the NBA but I found, for the first time, something that until today I can’t really explain in words, my love for the Cavs.

In 2007 I followed the NBA and the Cavs much closely. Those playoffs were great. The Detroit games from LeBron and Gibson were so memorable and then the, expected in a way, disappointment… Losing that way on the finals… So close yet so far. I was not the fan I am today then, but it hurt anyway.

I then started reading about the History of Cleveland sports and it really hit me. So many unfortunate events. But it also created a bond with me, can’t say why. Maybe because my football team hasn’t won in 12 years and have been through some tough times, but it doesn’t compare to a 50+ drought of titles.

Those next three years were so much fun. I loved the players and the team. Everyone knew that number 23 was the best one, but I freaking loved Z, Andy, Red and all the chemistry between the team.

Around 2007 or 08 I was discussing the NBA on Portuguese and International forums until I decided to search for a Cavs only forum. And I checked for some months (CavFanatic – yeah I know) and only some time later discovered RealCavsFans. I lurked during some months and then decided to register after knowing for sure this was an amazing crazy community.

The constant failures to Orlando and Boston on the playoffs were hard. But many games and moments were so enjoyable. The outburst against the Bucks, the Andy game winner, the Mo dunk, the “Get off your hands Ferry!”, the buzzer beater against Golden State and the Magic, the doughnuts, the KFC rap, and so on. And some bad moments too. I can’t forget when Sundiata Gaines hit a buzzer beater against us, in Utah... My mind was blown.

And you have to have in mind that, mostly Europeans, have to watch the games during really bad hours. We have to get sleep too…

I had to watch like 80% of the games on shitty streams (from 2010-2014 basically because before, the playoffs were on TV) and shitty hours. Staying up until 4 or 5 AM just to see the Cavs get blown out. But there were great moments too.
And then the offseason of 2010. Just brutal. I even donated for our Banner and, as someone here said, today I don’t feel so bad for that! It kinda worked in a way.

The Decision was heartbreaking, I even shed some tears, I grew very close to the team and the fans and that was the moment that would break all up…

I, as pretty much everyone, started hating the guy. But I can say that the last four years strengthened my bond to the Cavs and the city of Cleveland. I checked RCF on a daily basis and talked through PM to some members, I just posted less, and thanked more. And changed nickname a few times. And I also lurked and posted on some other forums. With all the thrashing of the city and the franchise I started getting really defensive.

That first year was a clusterfuck. Wow.

The team and some lineups were so bad. Just… I can’t erase from my mind the 26 loss streak ( I watched every game.. Hoping for the streak to end) and the 55 point loss to the Lakers. But I also loved the few games we got from Baron Davis. Watching Joe Haden on the sidelines with the beard was epic. But at the end it was all worth it. Getting Kyrie was amazing, I was so ecstatic. With the drafting of Tristan I was kind of confused, but whatever.

The first year with Irving was so much better, we had something to look for. And had some great moments. The game winners against Boston and Denver were great, after missing a easy one (layup) against the Pacers. I really think that that miss was the spark that Kyrie needed, he then became one of the most clutch players in the league. Can’t forget Byron Scott telling the refs to go fuck themselves… Classic.

Onto the draft again. In this one, with the fourth pick, I really was.. Just… Wow. I had no words. I just blank stared at the PC for 10 minutes.

What? Dion Waiters? I checked the RCF draft gurus during all the predraft threads and Dion wasn’t really thought as a possibility. Even with Tyler I was confused.

But not much after, Dion really became my favorite player in the league. He still is. Without a doubt. I love his game and the fire he has. He doesn’t give a shit about who the opponent is, he just wants kill them. Great to see.

Another year that passed, with some good moments. The All Star and Rookie game were great. I really enjoyed watching Dion. I hated watching the Suns comeback from 26 down and win… So many road bumps.

With the Bennett draft I was really expecting the worst. The rehire of Brown. Then I got really happy with the signings of Jack, Clark and Bynum. How wrong was I.

Shitty season to say the least. But I loved watching AB hitting his first shot against the Bucks and the Dion shot against the Pistons. I hate that franchise and team. Fuck them. That buzzer beater really fucked Detroit in the ass too. Amazing. And they got out before the Michigan State Police found them!

Getting the first pick again made no sense. But it was great. I was really hoping to get Embiid, but after all the bad news Wiggins made the most sense.

And I was ready to root for a team composed of Kyrie-Dion-Wiggins-Bennett-Tyler/Andy. Watching the young pups getting to the playoffs as a low seed.

What we’ve been through… And here we are.

With the greatest basketball player in the world back to his hometown team. Great to see. And the expectations for the future are amazing.

There’s nothing more than I want than to see a Cleveland sports team be champion. My preference is obviously the Cavs, but it doesn’t matter. I feel like a Clevelander. I have said this to some fellow posters, that I really bonded and feel as a native from Cleveland.

I have no connection to Cleveland. No family. Nothing. But I’m very passionate about the city and everything that relates to it. Can’t explain it. It just clicked.

Through the years I saw everybody shitting on the franchise and the city and I defended it, even though I’ve never been there. I feel I’m from there or something. Can’t put into words. I relate to you, to the people of Cleveland. You’re used to people thrashing the city or the Browns or the Cavs, etc. As I didn’t live through those letdowns, I was never used to that kind of treatment. And I got really, but really defensive about the city and its people. Now I’m more accustomed to that, but it still gets on my nerves. To the Cleveland haters:

Speaking of the last four years I can’t really forget to mention some soldiers. The Sharpshoota, Donald Sloan. DJ Kennedy, Manny Harris, Samardo, Ryan Hollins, Hudson, Semih Erden, Luke Walton, Casspi, Eyenga, Alonzo, Gody, Sessions, Joey Graham, Elk Shyt and so many more. So much respect. So many stories and episodes. Without these legends we wouldn’t stand where we are today.

It was also fun rooting against the Heat every year. For the first and second year I really hated LeBron, but after that I got indifferent to the guy. Just hoped they loss everytime. And, related to this topic, I think this gif should be retired, it was legendary during the last few years:

My life had many turns during the last few years, and I’m now posting from the other side of the world, with a shitty Internet connection. I probably won’t be able to see Cavs games through streams, only downloading them after. But as always, I check RCF daily. I could say much more, but it's too long already. Looks like someones essay.

I can say without a doubt I’m a diehard Cleveland sports fan. I’m still trying to get into football (Browns). Don’t really understand it fully.

Really looking forward to read about fellow Cavs fans, how you became a fan of this great city and franchise! Share them.

Cheers!

 

[HoustonCav]

Basketball Junkie.

No connection to Cleveland/Ohio.

Bron fan since my senior year in high school (2002).

Player fan. Don't see anything wrong with it.

Dont understand blind loyalty in sports.

Many reasons why I feel strongly about Bron as a player/person.

Been out to Cleveland to see him live several times. Enjoyed my time there.

Got to know and love some things about the organization while watching Bron.

After the Decision, rooted for the Heat, due to Bron.

Back since Bron is back, I'm back.

 

[AZCavs]

My dad is from Cleveland and I grew up in Sacramento, where there were no sports teams besides the Kings and they weren't an entertaining product at all when I first started watching basketball.

Also watching this guy sure helped a lot

 

[col63onel]

Cavs fan since birth. Earliest memories were the Price-Duagherty-Nance teams. Brad Daugherty is my all time favorite player.

 

[elcheato]

Back in the 02'-'03 season when I was 9 years old my dad took my brother and I to I think 7 or 8 Cavs games, and I've been a fan since. I have no idea why it hooked me, if anything I probably should have been disgusted with the Cavs and my dad for subjecting me to them, and decided to root for a different team.

Fondest memory of those games was some fat guy behind me constantly yelling "Lasagna Flop", and Pat Garrity lighting up the Cavs

 

[Sixth Man]

I just remember my whole middle school going nuts about some guy named LeBron. I had never had interest in basketball, but I decided to check him out since everyone was making such a big deal. Watched, loved it, and decided cleveland was my team.

However, I became a much bigger fan after he left, because of the hatred I think. Lebron was the reason I became a fan of the game and he left, so I wanted the Cavs to win even more due to that. But it's good to know the guy who got me interested in basketball is back, can't wait to cheer for him again!

 

[aaronr]

A very circuitous route, which began when I hit a corner jump shot with time running out to give the Grinnell Pioneers a win over Coe College in 1961 or 1962. Bill Fitch was the Coe coach at the time. After law school I moved to New York City and started attending some games at the Garden. After Fitch became the Cavs coach I decided to introduce myself the next time they visited NYC. He remembered my last-second shot with a chuckle and introduced me to Joe Tait who remembered me from his days of broadcasting Monmouth College basketball games. (Grinnell, Coe and Monmouth were all in the Midwest conference.) Joe and I became good friends. He always accepted our invitation to have a family dinner in Brooklyn when the Cavs were in town, in part I'm sure because he very much disliked Manhattan but also, I suspect, because my wife is a good cook who always sent him back to Manhattan with sugar cookies. For years I followed every game over "3WE", which usually came in pretty clearly, which I do now over television thanks to Direct TV's NBA package. When our kids were growing up we took an annual weekend trip to Cleveland to catch a Cavs game or two. I began posting on RCF a decade or so ago, but more or less dropped off the RCF radar screen a few years back when my workload and travels got crazy. It's been hard to get back into the RCF swing because most of my generation of posters has retired and also because the new generation, from whom I've learned a lot, is so sophisticated statistically. I'm active more recently because I'm cooped up recuperating from knee surgery. But I certainly am looking forward to the 2014-15 season, as I'm sure every Cavs fan is.

 

[CavsHomer]

Well, as you can read under my avatar: I'm from Germany.

I started following the Cavs in Kyrie's rookie year, the 2011-2012 season.
Before, I was just a casual fan, watching some Dallas games (because of Nowitzki of course).

So I watched a few games of Kyrie and immediately fell in love with his game (I also liked AV a lot!!!). So Kyrie was the reason I started following the Cavs.

Then, after all this "LeBron to Cavs"-rumors this off-season, I was just trying to get more and more infos, reading Twitter and on RealGM...
So I was also searching for a Cavs forum to get more infos and I found realcavsfans.com (and the LBJ Safari)

This is a really cool board, imo. Hope to have some great discussions with everyone!

And please excuse my bad english...

 

[Frank Stallone]

Great OP. Sorry you had picked a Cleveland team :chuckles:. But awesome to have stuck around. Sounds like you are as big a fan as anyone. Good shit. Anyway...

Dad grew up in Cleveland and gave me no fucking option. The end. Haha.

Was Indians obsessed growing up. Was too young to know the Browns pre-1999.

Wasn't a huge Cavs fan until probably 2000-2001. I had Cavs gear and would check the box scores and stuff, but wasn't as nearly into it as I would end up being down the line. Loved Big Z and Ricky Davis. But then became a bigger fan when they got Diop... sike.

I'd say if I had to pick one team, it'd still probably be the Browns. Like many people, my dad has always had a stronger bond to the Browns. He had season tickets his whole childhood and it would mean maybe a LITTLE more if they won.

With that said, they're all pretty even in terms of how die hard I, along with my dad, am. My dad is inching towards 60 and wasn't old enough to enjoy the last Cleveland title. I root for these teams more so that he can see a title, as opposed to me. Don't get me wrong, I'd still probably cry if the Cavs win, or any of the three, but I want him to see one.

The Browns teams have been hard to deal with, but they were an expansion team and they've consistently sucked. The Indians were great, and even since the 1990's they've had spurts of success. The Cavs meanwhile, the shell shocked state from winning 60+ games and then fucking blowing insane amounts of ass was awful. What a miserable four years. Every time I see a Photoshop of LeBron and Love, I get pretty giddy and overly anxious to just see video of them all practicing.

This is really awesome. Having this team is an odd feeling that I wasn't sure us Cleveland fans would ever see. Not that many will ever seen it, though. This is a rarity and anomaly to have a super team. Damn I'm excited.

Also, I thought this thread title said, "How to become a Cavs fan." My answer to that would've been: you don't, so back the fuck off.

EDIT: I'm on a train typing on my phone, so sorry for any typos.

EDIT EDIT: CavsHomer above has an acceptable story. Basically people wanting to become Cavs fans right now can go away.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Listening to ol' Pete Franklin on the radio in the early 70's was probably the beginning for me. And my first game was as a kid, watching the Cavs against the Bullets during the Miracle. That kind of memory sticks with you.

I know that it seems like no big deal now -- it wasn't even the conference finals. But I've been to World Series games, NBA Finals games, and I've still never been in a place that crazy and loud. My first game, the crowd noise was so loud it almost hurt, and the game hadn't even started. They finally got fans quieted down enough to start the National Anthem. All of sudden, with the Coliseum dead quiet except for whomever was singing the Anthem, this booming voice comes from higher up in the cheap seats:

"Unseld, you fat mother-fucker!"

How could you not be a fan after that?

 

[TheLand1287]

To the OP... that was a fantastic story, and will be tough for any of us to top. Hope you are able to make it over to the states and come visit the city sometime!

I was just a Cleveland fan by birth, despite growing up mainly in Indianapolis until moving back to Ohio in 2007 when I went to BGSU. Around the age of 8-9 years old I started watching NBA, NFL, MLB. The Browns didn't exist at the time so I didn't have a favorite football team to root for until they came back in 1999. Followed the Colts for a few years just based off location, but I really can't stand that franchise or their "fans". Indianapolis fans are the Miami fans of the midwest.

Got to enjoy the Indians while they were in their glory years of selling out every game and playing in the World Series. I still remember being in grade school and crying myself to sleep the night Jose Mesa blew Game 7.

The Cavs I stated watching that same time when Z was a rook and before we traded for Shawn Kemp. My first real memory as a Cavs fan was us losing to the Washington Bullets for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Other than that.. I've enjoyed the same high's and low's as everyone else has from that time on. My first real favorite player on the Cavs (pre-LeBron) was Dajuan Wagner. I thought he was going to be our Iverson

 

[Kidd Karma]

Lebron. Just loved his game. Saw him come out to Berkeley and play for the Oakland Soldiers alongside Leon Powe back in the summers of 2001 and 2002. There was one tourney that saw Kendrick Perkins join the team as well.

But I grew up on Magic and then JKidd grew up in my backyard, my 2 favorite players....would have thought James would have followed suit as an oversized point guard. Always thought he was more Magic than MJ.

 

[Dr. Claw]

I didn't live in Cleveland/Ohio before 2003. I have family here.

I didn't like the Bulls, and preferred the team in Cleveland with Price/Daugherty/Nance.

Man, if only Dajuan Wagner could have made it... can you imagine how 2003-09 would have been like?

 

[LostSpirit]

I'm from Israel, I'm with David Blatt

 

[NIkeL]

Being from Portugal i wasn't born in a country that's crazy about basketball, but one thing i started doing early in life was following american sports and its culture in general. It was always something that captivated me, so it was only natural that i started hearing about a young phenom from Akron when i was 13 or 14 years old. Started following his high school career, and obviously started following his career in Cleveland.

Pretty soon it was more about the Cavaliers than LeBron, don't get me wrong, LeBron was THE reason i was watching games for the first few weeks, but then the team started growing on me.

Religiously i stayed up until 2 and 3am watching games on a shitty stream, getting mad and excited as if i was a Cav since birth.
11 years later, here i am, still a Cav, LeBron or no LeBron, i will always be a Cav and if i may say it, an "adopted" Cleveland citizen, at least mentally. It's something that will follow me always, this team, the fans, even the state, i'll always have a place for it all.

Few years back i even got my cousin to start following the NBA and obviously the Cavs, i only know about 2 or 3 other Cavs fans here in Portugal, i'm sure there are a few more, but i can assure you we're passionate about the team and plan on watching a game live at least once in my life.

EDIT

Wow i posted this without reading the original post (was gonna do it later) and another fellow Portuguese and it's amazing how much i relate to that. :chuckles: