Steve Sirk

Yes indeed.

It’s time to stake our claim, Cleveland. We need a statue outside the Jake of the Joe Carter and Cory Snyder “Indian Uprising” Sports Illustrated cover from 1987.

(“Believe it! Cleveland is the best team in the American League.” They went on to lose 101 games. Not Joe Carter’s fault though!)

"Walmart Saturday Showdown" sounds like...a trip to Walmart on a Saturday.

ANOTHER random find while doing Force research....

I had never seen the Toronto Towers logo! Here is Cleveland Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien unveiling the team's logo at Maple Leaf Gardens in March 1983 as he intended to relocate the Cavs there.

Article mentions Arsenal, Ipswich Town, Nottingham Forest, and Birmingham City among the participants.

Arsenal fullback Kenny Sansom: "It's a very entertaining game. You see a lot of skill."

Arsenal manager Terry Neill: "I'm all for it."

Another random find:

8 English top-flight teams participated in an indoor soccer tournament in 1983, looking to reverse soccer's struggles in England. There was talk of shutting down outdoor in winter to play the indoor game. Lack of arenas was a hindrance.

Opening paragraphs...

Art Modell quote: "I intend to stay in Cleveland with the Browns, and that my boys will succeed me when I retire-- in Cleveland."

Random thing I came across during Force research:

In 1982, Art Modell was rumored to be selling the Browns to start an expansion team in LA to block the Raiders from moving there. NFL insiders said it was in the works, but he denied it. If only it had happened...

Well, not really. Totally different stakes. But it still sucks when what would have been an all-time classic moment is ruined to the point you wish it had never happened in the first place because all it did was give false hope and ratchet up the residual anguish forever.

Now Chicagoans know how the Rajai Davis homer feels.

A QB heaving a ball from 25 yards behind the line of scrimmage to a guy in the corner of the end zone to tie the game in the closing seconds is a play so preposterous I can’t believe it didn’t happen against the Browns.

Other teams must suffer when the Browns never make the playoffs.

Jose got six turns and still lost to the non-Joses at tic-tac-toe. I never thought it possible, but I guess we found something he's not awesome at?

imagine hitting 13 walk-off home runs

Guy wearing an original Hartford Whalers logo hat, with a whale and the letters ERS after the whale.

Attn: @michaelarace1.bsky.social

Guy being interviewed on local news in Cleveland kicking it old school Hartford.

Akron Beacon Journal readers' favorite athletes by team, circa June 1988: Kosar, Carter, Haaskivi, Price. That's a fairly representative mixed-franchise local Mount Rushmore of my childhood.

Headline that reads "Eyes of a Tiger." Subhead is "Browns draftee Mike Junkin has a look that intimidates."

A hazard of Cleveland Force research is that sometimes you catch strays...

Only one way to find out for sure…

My grumpiness about this mostly has to do with Whitaker and Grich, who were MUCH better players than Kent.

Kent's induction isn't Harold Baines levels of WTF, but it's more like the "Jack Morris had the most wins in the 1980s" level of bad. But at least Morris had a World Series Game 7 for the ages in 1991 to hang his hat on. Kent does not.

At no point in his career did I ever think I was watching "future Hall-of-Famer" Jeff Kent. He was never a good 2B and he was barely a league average hitter until he joined with Bonds and suddenly got much better from ages 30-37.

Jeff Kent being in the HOF is really stupid when 2B like Lou Whitaker and Bobby Grich are not. Those two were comparable at the plate (Grich a little better, Whitaker a smidge below) when compared to their eras, but were so much better defensively. Kent is in b/c "most HR by 2B" in HR-inflated era.

It remains stunning to me how even with Magic and Bird, the NBA still was not that popular in the 1980s. The NBA as we know it didn't really happen until the 1990s.

Here's a clip from the ABJ in March 1983 looking at the Major Indoor Soccer League vs. the NBA. Look at even those "good" NBA numbers.

Codify hot take: the introduction of an ABS Challenge System will increase Steven Kwan's batting average.

Seems you can make a pretty good living with consistent paychecks by being the person who writes those "The lottery prize is enormous, but the winner will take home less than that" stories. The people-who-know-how-to-read-but-have-never-heard-of-taxes demographic is highly coveted and catered to.

True. Hcme is where the heart is.

If only there were an O-shaped logo.

11-6 Cleveland!

The Hellions were before my time so I have no personal recollection of the Force playing them, but I think of you whenever I see Hartford anything.

If I could do this again, I would have used Massiveness instead of greatness. Oh well.

Congratulations to Lionel Messi for amassing 67% of the MLS Cup assist total of 2008 #Crew96 Guillermo Barros Schelotto. You approached the general vicinity of greatness, Leo, and that's quite a feather in your cap.

A newspaper ad for the Cleveland Force vs. Hartford Hellions indoor soccer game scheduled for January 4, 1980, at the Coliseum in Richfield, OH.

I wonder if @michaelarace1.bsky.social ever went to see the Hartford Hellions.

Newport cigarette ad offering buy-on-e-get-one Cleveland Force tickets with proof of purchase of two packs of Newports.

See!