Cleveland fans... stop watching sports this year

I am actually dead serious.

This is the best advice you can get from your pal Sully.

Stop. 

Don't watch the NBA Finals. It will just make you mad.

Don't watch any Indians games. They are terrible.

Don't watch any Browns games. They won't win the Super Bowl.

Seriously... turn off ESPN. Don't log onto your favorite sports blogs.

Do yourself this favor and don't watch any more sports until the calendar flips over to the new decade.

Consider all of the time you spend on sports during a season and use it elsewhere.

If you are a spouse or a parent... spend time with your family. 

If your spouse rolls their eyes when you say "I've got to watch the game today" imagine their glee when you say "Let's do something this Sunday together."

Think about stuff you wanted to do around the house.

Think about some crack pot idea you are kicking around in your head.

Is there some relative or friend you've lost touch with? Call them. And say "Let's meet this Sunday." And when they say "Wait, aren't the Browns playing then?" reply "This is more important." They'll cry more than the end of Terms of Endearment!

Are there books you haven't read? Read them.

Is there a book idea you have? Write it.

Is there an instrument that fascinates you? Learn it.

Are there local points of interest you've driven past all of your life and never entered? Go check them out.

It doesn't even have to be something refined.

Learn some new dirty jokes.

Ever hear people talk about movies that you realize you never saw... go see them.

Catch up on TV shows.

Because it isn't just the time watching the game... there is the fretting about it, the Fantasy Teams you keep, the reading the scores and watching the highlights or listening to sports talk.

You've got to stop it for the rest of the year.

I know you think because I am a Red Sox fan that I am trying to rub something in your face on such a devastating night as the Cavaliers unlikely collapse to Orlando.

Nothing  could be further from the truth. I am a Red Sox fan and a Celtics fan, so yes in full disclosure I rooted against the Indians in 2007 and the Cavs in 2008.

And also in full disclosure my favorite National League team is the Giants and if there ever was a rematch of the 1954 World Series, I'd have to root for the Giants because they are my dad's team.

But when the Red Sox, Celtics or Giants are not involved... I ALWAYS root for the Cleveland team.

I have written about the insane drought in Cleveland and I've openly rooted for the Cavs in this post season.

Even when we Red Sox fans went through the 86 year drought, we had the Celtics winning titles.

But there was something very cruel about tonights game... in some ways more cruel than the Drive, the Fumble, the Shot or the 9th inning of Game 7 in 1997.

There was no dagger. It was just a loss. 

The Magic beat them, and it wasn't even as close as the score would indicate.

I wondered if LeBron James had answered Jordan's shot over Ehlo? It turns out it was just the same as John Starks' dunk in 1993. It looked great, but his team lost in 6.

Seriously... think about it. 

This has nothing to do with loyalty. No fans in all of sport are more loyal than Cleveland fans. 

Keeping in mind that you don't really start following the ins and outs of a sports team until you reach 7 or 8 years of age, there are 52 year olds with no memory of a Cleveland title.

There has been no Championship parade in Cleveland in the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s and now the 2000s.

You are loyal.

But you deserve a break.

I expect to see the attendance at Indians and Browns games to be ZERO!