I’m not going to lie when I say I wasn’t came to Case for Cleveland’s professional sports “heritage.” I’m from Maryland where our history of winning has been on the decline since my birth, slowly nearing Cleveland’s level of losing. I’m from smack dab in the center of Maryland and my allegiances have been always been split between Washington D.C. and Baltimore, though I want absolutely nothing to do with those damned Ravens.

I grew up a football junky, learning math and my sevens multiplication tables by watching the Redskins get rolled by every team I loathed. Hockey and baseball went kind of hand in hand, the seasons were at the same time and we were always about the same skill level. Perennial playoff contenders that would do little when it actually counted.

The Orioles were fairly good in the 90’s until Cal Ripken left and everything fell apart. Finally the Nationals came around and everything started to look semi-decent.

Enter Stephen Strasburg, the answer to everyone’s prayers. “Strasmas”, as sports journalists called his debut, went better than anyone could imagine. A win, two earned runs, no walks, and 14 strikeouts was as good as anyone could possibly ask for.

Everything was going fine. Strasburg was pitching, the Nationals were trying to give him run support, and he was making waves and garnering All-Star consideration.

Then it happened. I never thought D.C. was cursed. Sure, Redskins owner Dan Snyder hangs out with Scientologists but we all have wacky friends. Who cares if Gilbert Arenas brings guns into the locker room, even when they’re illegal in Washington D.C.. So what if the Capitals can’t win in the playoffs, Alex Ovechkin is polarizing.

There it was on twitter, from a beat reporter I follow. “Strasberg torn ligament. Needs Tommy John Surgery. Out 12-18…Months.”

I never thought I could empathize with the city that had the “The Drive”, “The Catch”, “The Fumble”, “The other verbs that need a ‘the’ in front of them to show on devastating they were”, and the South Beach Talent Show.

It’s never easy knowing that things aren’t going your way. LeBron’s gone and so is my chance at getting a guaranteed chalupa every time the Cav’s play at home. The Indians are floating in a sea of helplessness. The Buckeyes are too far away.

Living in a losing culture is difficult; I never thought I’d get too caught up in the Cleveland sports scene. Hoping Delhomme and McNabb and take the Browns and ‘skins to the top of their divisons, but I’m frankly more optimistic about one than the other.

I don’t think the Cavs are going to have as hard a time bouncing back as people think. The Eastern Conference is ripe with weak teams (like the Wizards), I don’t foresee any playoff runs but nothing screams mediocrity like making the playoffs with a below .500 record.

I’ll be here for the next two years and I can feel your pain. Just remember that in 50 years we’ll have forgotten about the “The *insert curse here*”’s, we’ll have dozens of new ones by then. For now, all I have is the Grinch who stole Strasmas.