i felt validated as a human being after this game.

Right, the NBA's financial interest is squarely behind Lebron, the league's #1 poster-child, losing games in the playoffs. Seriously, for Cleveland to complain about not getting enough foul calls in this series is an absolute joke.

Good job for the guy to forget about the S in Wonders.

Stands for Non-stop Bitc#ing Athletes. If LeBron represents the new face of the NBA, then we are in for a generation of whining sulking divas who need every call and get to take 5 steps driving to the hoop.

Count me as one guy who isn't interested in that kind of league.

Regardless of this series outcome, your team reflects your city...whiny.

THE NEW NBA:
I'm with ya on that. If I wanted to see whiny divas, I'd go watch the World Cup.

At least they have a Ritz Carlton in their crappy city - a hotel the locals can't afford...

The Wizards make me feel good about the NBA.

My pretty Song-Bird. My pale flightless Dove got run over like he was protesting in Tiananmen square. And the Caesar was screaming for aid, but Quintas said, "No, men. Sheath your whistles. Let this b*tch*ss punk fall on his own."

I hope this series never ends, I love people in New Orleans talking smack on the Wizards, only for them to push it to six games (then seven, then a win, then...you get the idea).

washing ton is a crappy city thats why the white house is down the street fron the ghetto

If you thought the Cleveland fans were bad you should have heard Reggie Miller and the other fools on TNT. If I had to hear him call Songaila's tech a punch one more time I was going to flip. I have never been more thankful for Comcast Sportsnet.

See, when I try to sum up a city, I try to take an even more unreasonable sample than 13 millionaire male athletes. So if I was going to sum up Cleveland, I would start by narrowing my range to only people 95 and older, and then go one step further and only pick those who have had a limb amputated. Or maybe I could find the best summation of Cleveland in a city by finding every first-generation Mongolian living there.

Eric: Actually Reggie called it a backhanded slap. Marv "Women Are Delicious" Albert was the one adamant that it was a punch and calling for an ejection.

Ah, I stand corrected. I was too busy calculating the potential wealth I could have if I had a dollar for every TNT commentator that called for a Wizards ejection.

I don't get it. Are mongolian amputees the ones jumping on the dc bogggs? Or you mean just the mongolian amputees with a 56k? Funny they should be such @ssholes and so unlearned. I guess midwestern mongolians don't react well to disability and drop out of skoool.

The best part about Cleveland is that his everything "major" cities have. Great parks, diverse restaurants, unique neighborhoods, a lot of cultural institutions like museums and theaters, parks, trails, beaches, hospitals, public transportation (rail and bus) librearies festivals year-round, concerts, deccent shopping, professional sports teams. Cleveland's cultural instiutions and hospitals are among the top in the country by the way. Cleveland is just old enough and just large enough to offer all these great things.

i grew up in the cleveland ohio area; cleveland has great museums, a wonderful metro-park system, great theaters, the lake front, sports teams, everything else you would find in a major city. the only negatives people complain about are the winter snow ( i actually like the snow) and if you actually live in the city limits the school system has got a bad rap; overall cleveland is still sometimes the butt of jokes because of it's poor reputation as a dirty industrial city in the 60's and 70's, but that has changed quite a bit.

LOLZ!

"librearies festivals"

I will miss you guys and your down hokum ways. Come back and visit after the series breaks up!

Richest American Cities
(Population over 250,000)
Rank City Median household income, 2004
1 San Jose, CA $71,765
2 Anchorage, AK $61,565
3 San Francisco, CA $60,031
4 Virginia Beach, VA $55,781
5 San Diego, CA $51,382
6 Anaheim, CA $49,622
7 Raleigh, NC $47,878
8 Seattle, WA $46,650
9 Cleveland, OH $46,574
10 Honolulu, HI $46,500
11 Oakland, CA $46,190
12 Charlotte, NC $46,082
13 Boston, MA $45,892
14 Arlington, TX $45,712
15 Austin, TX $45,508
16 Colorado Springs, CO $45,388
17 Riverside, CA $44,866
18 Las Vegas, NV $44,737
19 Aurora, CO $44,480
20 Minneapolis, MN $44,116
Poorest American cities
(Population over 250,000)
Rank City Median household income, 2004
1 Miami, FL $24,031
2 Newark, NJ $26,309
3 Washington, DC $27,871
4 Detroit, MI $27,871
5 Buffalo, NY $28,544
6 St. Louis, MO $30,389
7 Philadelphia, PA $30,631
8 Milwaukee, WI $31,231
9 New Orleans, LA $31,369
10 El Paso, TX $31,764
11 Tucson, AZ $31,901
12 Pittsburgh, PA $31,910
13 Cincinnati, OH $31,960
14 Memphis, TN $32,399
15 Baltimore, MD $34,055
16 Toledo, OH $35,239
17 Tulsa, OK $36,255
18 Oklahoma City, OK $36,347
19 San Antonio, TX $36,598
20 Stockton, CA $37,322

Rank Metropolitan Statistical Area Population Median
Household Income
1 San Francisco--Oakland--San Jose, CA CMSA 7,039,362 $62,024
2 Washington--Baltimore, DC--MD--VA--WV CMSA 7,608,070 $57,291
3 Anchorage, AK MSA 260,283 $55,546
4 Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN--WI MSA 3,368,806 $54,304
5 Boston--Worcester--Lawrence, MA--NH--ME--CT CMSA 5,819,101 $52,792
6 Hartford, CT MSA 1,183,110 $52,188
7 Atlanta, GA MSA 4,112,198 $51,948
8 Honolulu, HI MSA 876,156 $51,914
9 Rochester, MN MSA 124,277 $51,316
10 Denver--Boulder--Greeley, CO CMSA 2,581,506 $51,088

85 Cleveland--Akron, OH CMSA 2,945,831 $42,215

Top 25 cities with more than 250,000 population, ranked by percentage of bachelor's degrees among residents 25 and older
City State Percent
Seattle WA 52.7
San Francisco CA 50.1
Raleigh NC 50.1
Washington DC 45.3
Austin TX 44.1
Minneapolis MN 43.2
Atlanta GA 42.4
Boston MA 40.9
San Diego CA 40.4
Lexington-Fayette KY 39.5
Denver CO 39.0
Charlotte NC 38.8
Portland OR 38.8
St. Paul MN 36.5
San Jose CA 36.1
Colorado Springs CO 34.9
Honolulu HI 34.7
Oakland CA 33.8
Pittsburgh PA 32.3
New York NY 32.2
Albuquerque NM 32.2
Anchorage AK 32.2
Omaha NE 31.9
Nashville-Davidson TN 31.7
Columbus OH 31.4

did you know stats can be misused 82% of the time?

"It's easy to assume that the nation's richest counties dot the tri-state area around New York City, or San Francisco's Bay Area. Homeowners there, after all, shell out millions of dollars for small luxuries such as a lawn and a garage.

"But while affluent areas such as Nassau County, on New York's Long Island, and Marin County, just north of San Francisco, boast well-off residents, the nation's wealthiest live in the D.C. suburbs.

"Fairfax County, Va., Loudoun County, Va., and Howard County, Md., top the list of America's richest counties, which we based on median household income data from the 2006 census. In Fairfax, that number reaches $100,318 a year; Loudoun households pull down a livable $99,371 a year; Howard residents follow at $92,260."

Well said by Tough Juice. He and Jamison are the true leaders on the team. DeShawn DeSucks did make me laugh tho.

Went to Cleveland two straight summers. Had a great time at Indians games, and the R&R hall of fame was fun. But otherwise the city was D-E-A-D dead. Couldn;t get a decent meal after 7 PL in a weeknight; noone on the streets at all downtown in the evening. Very depressing comparing Cleveland to the bright lights and amazing neighborhoods of DC is like comparing Soulja Boy to JayZ.

I am always amazed by the Cleveland trolls that come in here talking trash. Let's do a quick comparison: The Washington Redskins won an incredible 3 Super Bowls under coach Joe Gibbs; the Cleveland Browns have never won a Super Bowl and are haunted by the memories of some of the greatest collapses in NFL history (so great, in fact, that they are commonly referenced by a single word, as in "The Drive" or "The Fumble", both of which came at the hands of the Denver Broncos). The Washington Wizards won the NBA championship in 1978, and have won 7 division titles and 4 conference titles; the Cleveland Cavaliers have won no championships and only 1 conference title (last year). The only thing cleveland fans have going for them is their sole superstar, LeBron, who can't wait for his contract to end so he can join Jay-Z in New York (check this out: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071004&content_id=2250946&vkey=ps2007news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb). Once he leaves, its almost guaranteed the Cavs return to the NBA Cellar of Mediocrity (whereas the Wizards have shown time and again that they can adapt to changing lineups and injured All Stars).

You Cleveland fans are getting all condescending towards us DC fans, but as a sports town you have absolutely nothing to substantiate your bold claims. You have accomplished nothing. Where does this cockiness come from? Until you do, leave your insults and flame baiting to your own newspapers' websites (don't they have commenting there?).

Its quite ironic that LeBron's statement applies quite readily to the Cleveland fans posting on this blog: until your city actually accomplishes something other than getting destroyed in the finals last year, you have nothing to hold over Washington fans. You are Soulja Boy. You come to this site and post obnoxious, directed comments at DC fans while your city has 0 championships and an embarrassing sports history. If you start a dynasty, you'll have earned the right to make bold claims. As it stands, however, you open yourself up to criticism if you make absurd posts.

I hope this puts the ridiculous trash talking by Cavaliers fans into perspective.

Also, for those that also worship at the altar of Jay-Z, this video will be life-altering:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bED9wMqQ1i8

you forgot all the broken windows downtown from the Cle-land Rocks and how bout that world class U downtown. Put Gtown on yo schedule. How bout Princess Jamey for all the crying? Flop, flop, flop, flop, grimace, flex that jaw, stumble and whine. Don't you get suspended and fined for crit the refs? Does the Princess get a WWF style belt for winning the NBA Triple Jump Championship? Got all the calls all night except the last one. Tough Juice scored while being mauled, but The Princess couldn't. Look out for all the people moving from Honolulu when they see your stats........cracks me up

And guess what? Jamison and Haywood didn't even play well last night. Longer the series goes, the riskier things get for the cry baby cavs.

For some strange reason, I took offense to this:

washing ton is a crappy city thats why the white house is down the street fron the ghetto

Posted by: | May 1, 2008 12:06 AM

Do people really think things like this? I live just a couple of blocks from the White House, and the rent on our 900 square foot apartment is almost $2,500 a month.

You can rent this, which looks to be significantly nicer than our place, in downtown Cleveland for $620 a month.

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/apa/662752762.html

I think a handful of us should move to Cleveland and buy the entire town.

DC = classess. HAHAHAHAHA this coming from someone from the mistake by the lake? hahahahahahahaha

Cleveland is a total joke and the sports nation is patiently waiting til LeBron leaves that digusting hellhole once and for all.

The crying about the "big bad thuggish Wizards" is getting old. The Wiz brought some attitude to this series and that's all it is. Quit acting like a bunch of B's.

Cleveland, Ohio by the way....hahahahahaha....uuuugghh.

Muiface,

About your Ritz-Carlton comment: If you're a local, why would you be staying in a hotel? Wouldn't you rather stay at home?

Sorry about that idiot who e-mailed you, Steinz. I guess you have to put up with asinine and ill-informed people most of the time.

Tuff Juice!!!

Rather be classless than jobless.

those gold t-shaerts are as ugly as their fans.

Is it ironic to anyone else that the WASHINGTON WIZARDS are being labeled as thugs?

I mean this same team that has been called soft and all that. Now they're thugs? Ha.

Say what you want Washington. Truth is your going to lose to Cleveland 3 years in a row. You can rip on the city, call Lebron a cry baby, and gloat about how much your place costs....maybe you can upgrade that $2,500 month apartment you rent, since you will get your money back for the second round series you didn't get to again.

so Chad, how yo bulls doin in the playoffs?

i hope your not going to start talking about titles with me??? please dont be that guy that brings up the redskins superbowl win the early 90's. your better then that.

"Truth is your going to lose to Cleveland 3 years in a row."

This sounds familiar, It's the exact same thing we heard after games 2 and 4, IIRC.

What's the problem, Cavs Fan? If the Wiz suck so much, why are you guys having such a tough time sealing the deal?

"your better then that."

You're 2nd grade grammar teacher takes a look at that comment, than weeps.

95% of people believe that you can make statistics say anything.

This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

The drama queen may have been fouled on the last shot, but so was Butler.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas committed approximately 37 personal fouls in the second half alone. The guy's primary skill, other than being 7'3", is having a knack for getting away with pushing, holding and then going over the back of opposing big men. It was ridiculous.

There will be no whining from Cleveland about officiating in this game. No sir...

I hope you all have learned how much people in the great state of Ohio love to use the word "class". They are obsessed with it.

O-Hi-Ho

I've been around to all of the states this side of the Mississippi and several others west of it. My Dad's family actually hails from O-Hi-Ho and I have been several times to Cleveland.. The person who said the city is DEAD is correct. No excitement - would compare to a Richmond Va, or Detroit - tho not quite as bad. Hell Cincinnati ain't much either come to think of it...

Now not liking the Lebronaires is one thing. The crying coach, players, fans, media.. all of it has become a bit tiresome. But I won't say the whole state of O-Hi-Ho sucks because of the portrayal in the media of this Wizards team and series. But comparing Cleveland to the Capital of the World? are we seriously having this convo???? is Cleveland even famous for anything? does anyone plan trips to go see Cleveland? Am I missing something here?

Duffman-

I'm not a Cleveland Fan, just speaking the truth from the outside looking in.

Also, thanks on the grammer shout out. I just signed up for a night class.

I also love this notion that the NBA wants this series to continue, so they can make more money off LeBron. What??

This series is making Stern wet his pants. It's poor for the always tenuous "image" of the league. Why do you think they buried it at 6pm, before the Celtics game? And wouldn't it make more sense for the league to want LeBron to advance unscathed? Stern wants a "classless" "thug" (Ohio talk) series where no one is coming out squeaky clean? I think not.

There are no conspiracies though - this series is what it is. Cavs fans are probably not happy about the realization that these two teams are pretty evenly matched. Even with LeBron playing well, Gil out and their big moves to get Wallace, West, etc.

Actually Kev, the NBA wants EVERY playoff series to go for as long as possible. As long as there are eyeballs on the TV watching NBA, it benefits the league's bottom line. More games = more eyeballs on the TV watching NBA. As the old saying goes "there's no such thing as bad publicity" when you are in the entertainment business.

at - Kev | May 1, 2008 10:31 AM

During Bos/Atl game 4; I loved the juxtaposition of asking Stern about the 'menacing gesture' and not 5 minutes later the near-fight between Garnett and Pachulia...you could see the color drain from his face.

Stern's got the Wiz/Cavs series under a very nervous, watchful eye.

Ohio is well known for it's ugly women, and it's burning rivers.

Is it ironic to anyone else that the WASHINGTON WIZARDS are being labeled as thugs?

I mean this same team that has been called soft and all that. Now they're thugs? Ha.

Posted by: Mark | May 1, 2008 9:34 AM

That is what has annoyed me more than anything about this series. The Wizards are not a physical team and it's annoying that the league is calling things against the Wiz like they are. The ignorant national media is going with it too. It's one thing when a guy hasn't watched one game and wants to draw conclusions, but Wilbon lives here. He'll be on a local show and talk the truth about the Wizards, but as soon as the ESPN cameras come on it's a different story. The games aren't being called justly and it isn't limited to this one series. Anyone checking the line on these games?

I'm not even a Wizards fan but I want the Wiz to win so badly against the overhyped ego maniac that is Lebron James. Referring to himself in the 3rd person, "As long as I'm on the court we always have a chance to win" comments, throwing his teammates under the bus during the game but then acting like he's a great leader who loves his teammates. He needs to grow up

Nice of the Cav's fans to ignore Caron getting hacked so obviously by Queen James that even Reggie Miller commented on it- it wasn't just that he got fouled with a windmill chop by James- it led directly to a fast break and 3 point play for Delonte West.

The fact remains- Lebron gets all the calls on both ends, the Wizards got no calls that game and still won.

Lebron is just a body, his overall game is weak. If he couldn't drive and get to the basket he would be a nothing player. No post up game, no mid range game- if he could take a couple dribbles and pull up and score he would unstoppable. But he's too busy looking in the mirror at his 45 year old receding hair line in the offseason to worry about working on his game. He shot about 3 airballs that game, trying to be like mike with quick release pull up J's that he's not skilled enough to make.

So here's hoping the Wiz can rally and sit Lebron and the Cav's down, and this is the beginning of Queen James decline. He already looks like an old man, I bet his body starts breaking down soon as well

and what's with all these sad people from Cleveland talking bad about Washington? Who cares about statistics and which city is better? Cities are largely the same with little geographical nuances and local traditions that make them different. I don't live in either city, but they both have their good and bad points, as do all cities.

This is about basketball. Some of you Cleveland nerds need to learn how to trash talk and take trash talk. I can tell you aren't used to being in this position with your woeful sports franchises but you're embarrassing yourselves with these comments about Washington. There's so much to talk about in this series yet you resort to talking about the city.

Pathetic

What was the deal with LeBronBron's suit jacket. Reminded me of the 'Rhythm Nation' video.

The whininess that is the Cleveland Cavaliers is evident from the bench players, to the starters, and staight on up to the Coach Mike "Crybaby" Brown. The Cavs have gotten all the close calls and yet the b!tching and the whining never stops. Every time there is a break in the action, that darn coach is whining to the officials. It is so irritating to watch. Lebron, Z, Joe Smith, Verejeo (aka The Flopper), and on and on... What a bunch of babies. Eric Snow is another one. Thank God he isn't playing. Yet another crybaby. They are definitely the type of team that makes you want to hate the NBA.

Thanks for the great coverage Dan!

people in Cleveland have jobs, who do you think makes your Blizzards when you go into Dairy Queen

Did someone tell the DC Madaam that you won last night....Blow the whistle

Please, for those of you willing to call out the bad grammar of others, make sure that your call-outs are grammatically correct. Trash talking can't be as effective when they can simply say to you, "Wow, been out of first grade long?"
And so many Americans are worried about OTHER people speaking proper English?!? Just stop it already. Take care of yourself first, then worry about others.

DeShawn DeSucks?

Hell nah, LeBron LeBlows

Wizard fans - Please go to: http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/2008/05/wizards_to_targets_cleveland_c.html#comments
Notice how all posts, from Cavs fans and Wizard fans, are just about THE GAME - analyzing it, giving their opinion. There are even Cavs fans pointing out the negatives of their own beloved team. These are true fans. All of the trash talk on the opposing fans and the city is non-existant. Let's focus on the subject at hand - game 6. Love your team, get passionate but stop personally attacking Clevelanders. That's dirty and for that, you deserve to get called classless.

The Cleveland Cav's loves to end a series in Washington D.C., it just comes natural. Bye, bye Songailal and the Zards, see you next year again in the first round. The Zards are always a good way to brake a sweat and start the playoff series's. We learn how to duck your cheap shots and get ready for the good teams.

Well D.C. it's been a slice, see you again next April. Oh Ya, is Labron James still overrated, I think not.

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