Tribe time now: Support the Indians in their playoff push

Okay, I get it: Cleveland is a football town, despite the push by the Cleveland Indians to dub Cleveland as a Tribe town. After all, the Browns put a losing team on the field almost every year, and fans still show up just to be disappointed. Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins was another example of that.

What boggles my mind is not the fact that people show up to watch Cleveland’s disappointing football team; I love the Browns too. But my mind is boggled by the fact that our city has a winning baseball team right now with a shot at making the playoffs, and nobody is showing up to watch them.

I would never ask any Clevelander to choose between our hometown sports teams. We all love the Browns, Indians, and Cavs, and we cheer them on each season. I also understand that there are only eight Browns games played at home, compared to 81 Indians games at the Jake each season.

But it’s not April anymore. The seemingly endless amount of baseball games left at the beginning of the season has dwindled down to 20 remaining games. And after tonight’s game at Progressive Field is played, guess how many home games will remain for our heroic Indians? Eight.

So, Cleveland, my request to you is to flock down to at least one of the remaining eight home games of the Tribe season just as you flock to the eight often-disappointing home games the Browns play each season.

Because, guess what? Your Cleveland Indians are two games behind Tampa Bay in a race for a wild card spot. If the Browns were that close to making the playoffs, which doesn’t seem likely to happen for a while, the city would probably need to build another stadium to accommodate the masses of people who would pile downtown.

I’m not asking you to choose between two loves. Most movies demonstrate just how terrible it is to be forced to do that. But I am asking you to support an exciting Cleveland team that is on the cusp of a playoff berth. In the next couple weeks, at least try to make it downtown to show your support for a Cleveland team that has never given up, even when the media and fans have declared them dead countless times this season.

So while the Browns are seemingly trying to make this a September to forget, the Indians may just make it one that all Clevelanders remember.

And unlike most of the Browns games you drunkenly stumble into, these remaining baseball games actually mean something.

It truly is Tribe time now.

Sports talk: Stop counting the Indians out

Alright, I get it: the Tribe has been in a pretty bad funk during the past week or so. They were swept by the Atlanta Braves and only managed to take one of three games in Detroit because somebody forgot to load the bats onto the airplane. Yesterday’s home game against Baltimore was nothing short of depressing either.

But can we stop acting like each loss spells doom for the Tribe? Can we stop jumping off the bandwagon whenever the Indians lose a ballgame?

In early June, when the Indians were swept on the road in Detroit, some fans said it was over. When the Tigers came to Cleveland at the beginning of August and were swept again, fans and sports commentators were once again counting out the Tribe and beginning to focus their attention on the Browns, a team that has given Cleveland just two winning seasons over the past 14 years. 

I watch just about every game, either on TV or live at the Jake (yes, I still call it that), and I find it amazing that Tribe nation hasn’t figured out what this team is all about.

Each time – and I mean every single time – that the Indians are pronounced dead by “fans” and the media, they claw their way back into contention. They are going through a bad stretch of baseball, which is something they’ve gone through a few times this season, but they have repeatedly shown that they will not roll over and die.

I’m not saying that the Indians will win the World Series. I’m not even saying that they will make the playoffs. What I’m saying is that the Indians are playing meaningful baseball games in September, and that’s a pretty good place to be after a 94-loss season in 2012.

Throughout this season, the Tribe has shown that they will not give up. As fans, we shouldn’t either. So put on your Tribe cap, and support your Cleveland Indians until the end. They deserve it.