Saturday, March 14, 2009

The Old Place

We Cleveland fans have had plenty to debate, trash, and bitch about this week. The Cavs sorry inside game, the Browns Jet-centric signings, the Tribe's spring training (its a given we will all question whatever happens in Goodyear). So, I figure we might as well reminisce about the old days. What do you˜ loyal bloggers remember about the old Richfield Coliseum? I'll share a few of mine just to get the ball rolling.

1)The late 80's and early 90's Cavs. The 2 games I remember most were against the Spurs and Timberwolves. The Spurs had David Robinson in his early years and the T-wolves had Jim Breur. The Admiral was his impressive self and i remember thinking how great it was to see him on a school night. I remember Breuer because he got kicked in the face and left the court bloodied (pussy). And just for random knowledge, John Battle threw a pass between his legs from half-court. I think our boy Ehlo finished it with a lay-up


2) The Cleveland Force. I played soccer growing up and i remember going to many Force games. The place always seemed to be sold out, probably because it was in a prime location to draw people from Akron and Cleveland. I remember them being good, but not good enough to win a title. Typical Cleveland. They did have a pretty cool intro for the players that featured Darth Vader and the theme from Star Wars.

3) Monster Truck Rally. This is here because it was the only time i was ever in one of the loge's. You remember the loge's at the top of the arena? It was awesome being there, but i remember being uneasy about the plummet distance.

3) The Billy Joel concert my mom took me and my siblings to after my parents' divorce. I wasnt the biggest fan, but he did put on a great show.

Anyways, with the state of our Cleveland teams I thought it would be cathartic to come together and share our memories about the old Richfield Coliseum. It was a great venue so why not share your good times?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice trip down memory lane, but feel as if you should be covering the cavs win last night, no?

Unknown said...

You spoke of seeing Billy Joel. I saw him there the night of "The Drive". When Billy mentioned what happened early that day he said, "You think you have it tough, I'm a Jets fan!" Referring somewhat to the week before when the Browns snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Thank You Mark Gastineau....

Biff said...

A couple of points on Cavs coverage:

1. We all have real jobs. It's hard to find time on weeknights to write, especially when games finish late.

2. There are hundreds of good national, regional, and local sites that you can visit to get good game recaps. Given the limited amount of time we have to dedicate to this site, generally, we find it more useful to post pieces that offer a slightly different take on the state of the team rather than just recapping the previous night's action. That being said, when something significant happens in a game, we try to write about it shortly thereafter. Thanks for reading our stuff.

-Biff

Biff said...

By the way, my most vivid memories at Richfield are the Circus and a New Kids on the Block Concert (dragged against my will by my sisters). I was too young in the late 80s to really attend many Cavs games. I do, however, remember attending the Gund for the first time and thinking it sucked compared to the Coliseum. Truth be told, when it was first built, it did. People forget how much work Gilbert has put into that place.

Anonymous said...

Understood, just wanted to hear your take on the cavs recent roadtrip, but like your unique perspective to the cleveland blogging, keep it up fellas.

Biff said...

In a nutshell, I feel like a lot of people probably do: I love the fact that they know how to hit the gas when they need to but I'm concerned that they can't seem to play 4 quarters of lockdown defense anymore. It just astounds me that a past-his-prime 6'9 froncourt player with a creaky back could make that much of a difference in the quality of interior defense that the Cavs are able to play.

Maybe its just that Joe Smith and Z are finess guys while Andy is our only real banger left on the interior right now. That would explain why guys like Leon Powe are completely owning the Cavs these days.

Overall, I'm concerned but not alarmed. They just swept their last big road trip of the season so I can't really be too upset about things. They now face some tough home games in the nice little cocoon that is the Q. They absolutely must keep winning to keep the #1 seed out of reach for Boston. As for the Lakers, we'll just have to worry about crossing that bridge if and when we come to it.

Go Cavs tonight. This game is a big test for our bigs.

Anonymous said...

They are missing ben wallace's toughness, as you can tell in the interior defense is much different with a healthy ben wallace in the frontcourt. Joe smith is an undersized Z, but fits in well off the bench for this team. i still hope ben rested for this month will help him be healthy and rejuvenated back will be ready for the playoffs, as they will need his defense in stretches this postseason to face the skillful big men the cavs will face this postseason.

Cleveland Frowns said...

does anyone else out there think that Biff looks like Jurevicius?

Anonymous said...

Best Coliseum memory - game 4 vs. Bulls before they went back to Chicago and Daugherty got taken to school by Dave Corzine in the deciding game.

2nd place - seeing World B. Free play against Gervin.

Art Brosef said...

Two points about this post;

1) I totally agree with Biff about the contents of this blog. I dont need a recap of the games, I watch them myself. As I see it, the purpose of blogs is to entertain and provoke unique conversation.

2) Again, I agree with Biffs statements that hes "concerned but not alarmed." Its hard to argue with winning but at the same time there are weaknesses that are obvious. Again though, the cavs success this year has been remarkable and its hard to complain with what we have going into the postseason.

Let the chips fall where they may, But Ive never been this hopeful as a lifetime Cleveland fan.

Im off to the game. Happy St Patricks day yall!