The Cleveland Cavaliers have been awarded the first and fourth picks in the upcoming NBA draft. My reaction? Yawnnnn.
But Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert gave me another reason to respect him. Gilbert's teenage son , Nick, represented the Cavs on stage for the draft lottery. Nick is suffering from neurafibromatosis, an inherited condition that causes unsightly growths inside and outside of the body. My older sister, who passed away in 1997, and my younger brother, who passed away 3 years ago had it as does my younger sister, who lives at my home as her epilepsy caused by it makes it impossible for her to live independently. When someone can give a face to this horrible condition, maybe research will be aimed a little harder in it's direction and possibly it can be eradicated some day in the not so distant future.
Now as far as the draft lottery is concerned, my feelings is that it's not on the up and up. I think maybe the Cavs got the number one pick because of the outrage of Lebron James "taking his talents to South Beach" last summer. I also think that the Cavaliers getting the number one pick when James went into the draft was designed by the NBA to put butts in seats in Cleveland.
I probably didn't see more than a dozen Cavs games on tv during the James era, but I was aware of the excitement during this time. I know that my father in law looked forward to the games during this time as he was confined to his house due to his health in the winter time. My younger brother was pretty much the sports desk at the nursing home and he never missed a game and had a Lebron James plaque given to him to hang on his wall. So I do know that sports are important to some who don't have as much to enjoy as those of us who can get around.
Me as a Cleveland sports fan, just give me a major sports championship while I can still enjoy it. It's been since 1964, and I was only 9 and living out of the area at the time...
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