I ran into SI's Ian Thomsen last Wednesday as I was leaving the hotel in Orlando. The Cavs were down 3-1, and in typical Cleveland fashion I was starting to wonder how they could ever, ever win the next game. So I asked if he thought the Cavs could win the series.
"Sure," he said.
Really, I asked — yet another incredibly intelligent response.
"Sure," he said, again. "All the games have been close. It'd be hard, but … "
Which is why I was a tad surprised to read that Thomsen had picked Orlando, with the qualifier that LeBron James could change things in a heartbeat.
Thomsen, incidentally, compared the crowd at The Q to the crowds at Fenway Park before the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004.
"During the playoffs, the fans would go quiet when they sensed a recurrence of doom, so conditioned were they to bad things happening.," Thomsen wrote. "It has been the same in Cleveland as Orlando has threatened to drum out the Cavaliers — a brooding silence. But not to worry: When LeBron comes through with a championship eventually, whether this year or sometime in future, the Cleveland fans will become as arrogant and unrepentant as the frontrunners in all of the other bandwagon cities."
Hey, Pat, I've gotta ask you in a public forum, where did the Beacon Journal allow you to be booked? The Ritz, the Red Roof Inn, a tent "hotel" in a trailer park, or somewhere in-between? I believe I earlier guessed the Courtyard, Marriott's hotel. Was I right? I like that place, nice decor, free USA Today, and they usually have a very nice breakfast buffet with fresh fruit, never a green banana to be found.