I’ll never forget Oct. 26, 1997. With a World Championship on the line, my beloved Cleveland Indians blew a ninth-inning lead to the Florida Marlins in Game 7 of the World Series, destroying my opportunity to see one of my favorite teams win a championship. It was the lowest point in my life as a Cleveland sports fan.

Or so I thought.

When the Pittsburgh Steelers play in Sunday’s Super Bowl, the Browns’ rival will be attempting to win its third championship in six years, and NFL-best seventh in franchise history. And all Browns fans can do is make the same tired joke about what did or didn’t happen in the bathroom of a Milledgeville, Ga., bar more than a year ago.

Then again, are the Steelers and Browns even rivals? I don’t think a windshield would consider a bug its “rival.”

The lowly Browns just completed their second consecutive 5-11 season and hired some guy named Pat Shurmur to be their fifth head coach since 1999. Yes, the same Shurmur who was most recently the offensive coordinator for the 7-9 St. Louis Rams, who ranked 26th in NFL offenses in 2010.

And, to add insult to injury, the two quarterbacks playing in the Super Bowl — Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers — were passed on by the Browns in the 2004 and 2005 drafts, respectively. Apparently, Browns management found Jeff Garcia and Trent Dilfer more attractive.

But the Browns’ ineptness is nothing new to Cleveland fans — it’s been apparent since the team returned in 1999. The curse of Cleveland has manifested itself in the city’s other two major sports teams as well.

With LeBron James and his talents in South Beach, Fla., the Cavaliers are riding a 21-game losing streak and are two losses away from tying the 1995-96 Vancouver Grizzlies for the longest single-season losing streak in the history of the NBA. To make matters worse, the Cavs’ latest loss came against James and his Miami Heat.

Following a Jan. 25 loss to the Boston Celtics, Cavs coach Byron Scott told the media he was not concerned with the team’s near-historic losing streak.

“I don’t care about that crap,” Scott said. “I care about our guys getting better. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

In summary, Scott doesn’t care that his team is about to lose more consecutive games than any team in NBA history.

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers.

As for the Indians, they have not played a meaningful game since being one game away from advancing to the 2007 World Series.

The Indians are a dismal 215-271 since the 2007 playoffs, having finished fourth in the American League Central Division for the past two seasons, and third in 2008. During those three seasons, the Indians have traded two Cy Young Award winners — C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee — and watched as they competed against each other in Game 1 of the 2009 World Series.

Despite being known for its history of heartbreaks, from “The Fumble” to “The Decision,” 2011 appears to be the start of the lowest of lows for Cleveland fans. Whether it was the 1980s Browns, the 1990s Indians or the LeBron-led Cavs, the city has always had at least one of its three franchises to fall back on.

Not today.

It appears that it would take the contraction of three AL Central teams, Randy Lerner selling the Browns, or a miraculous change of heart and demanded trade back to Cleveland by LeBron to make one of the Cleveland franchises competitive — let alone, relevant — again. Couple that with the recent success of Cleveland’s most-hated teams, the Steelers and the Heat, and optimism is as scarce as championship rings in the city.

Following the Cavs’ collapse in the 2009 playoffs to the Orlando Magic, ESPN columnist Bill Simmons wrote, “I don’t believe in curses or jinxes, but I do believe that a franchise (or even a city of franchises) can pass a point with its fans at which they expect bad things to happen — always, without fail — and the players almost get contaminated by that negative energy.”

This is what has happened in Cleveland. This is rock bottom.

And, for the sake of Ohio State athletics, be thankful that it’s more than 100 miles away.

Published: Monday, January 31, 2011, 10:25 AM     Updated: Monday, January 31, 2011, 10:26 AM

WFNY Note: In case you haven’t noticed, “rebuild” seems to be quite the buzz word in the Cleveland sports world these days. And why not? The Indians are in the process of assembling a team from the detritus of the Sabathia, Lee and Martinez trades. The Cavs are drowning in the wake of an infamous “talent-relocation.” And the Browns? Oh dear, where to begin?

So considering the city’s current dire straits, we thought we’d take a collaborative look at which organization might be the closest to respectability. We mean to ask, simply: which Cleveland team will make the playoffs first?

Today, Jon speaks for the Tribe. Wednesday will be the Cavs, and we’ll wrap up the week with the Browns. Keep in mind these aren’t predictions as much as three different brands of optimism. Enjoy.

The Cleveland Indians have only one starting pitcher projected to have an ERA below 4.50 in 2011. That doesn’t bode particularly well for their playoff chances, I grant you.

But consider this: only one of the current Cleveland regimes has shown the stability and creativity to build an organization from the ashes and make it competitive. In 2002, Mark Shapiro traded Bartolo Colon to the Montreal Expos for three prospects. The fans shrieked. The dynasty was over. The glory days of the late ‘90s were gone for good.

Except they weren’t. Through shrewd trades and strong player development, the Indians front office (much of which is still intact) developed All-Star after All-Star. These players won 93 games in 2005 and came within one game of the World Series in 2007—a World Series in which they’d have been prohibitive favorites.

The one weakness of that front office appeared to be their drafts. But in the last several years, that deficiency seems to have been transformed to an asset: the Indians 2010 draft was ranked as the best in MLB by Baseball America.

Couple the strong front office with a particularly weak division and there’s no reason the Indians can’t make the playoffs. The AL Central is projected to have the fourth highest average opening day payroll out of the six MLB divisions. This isn’t the AL East—the Twins are NOT the Yankees.

Nor are they the Steelers.

To my eye, the Browns seem to suffer from three simultaneous problems that could delay their playoff hopes: a significant lack of talent, a terribly good division, and an inability or unwillingness to commit to a full-rebuild. The last of these interests me most.

Each time the Browns hire a coach, the fans pretend that they’re willing to accept the trials that accompany a change in philosophy and personnel: restocking the roster and retooling the priorities. Then, like the swallows returning to Capistrano, the Browns lose some games, the fans go ape, and the coach gets fired. Rinse and repeat, ad nauseam. Will this time be different with a young and inexperienced head coach who wants to revamp both the offense and defense and an aging “czar” with only four years left to prove his worth? I sure hope so, but forgive my cynicism.

The Cavs, on the other hand, appeared to be one of the more stable, coherent franchises in professional sports over the last decade—guided by a singular focus. From the moment the organization drafted LeBron James, everything revolved around him: acquiring the appropriate complements, keeping his entourage happy, making sure with every move that he’d be here forever.

Except now he’s gone, and the organization looks vestigial and empty, without direction or purpose. Sure, the Cavs will infuse some talent with the draft, but remember that even LeBron James—arguably the most talented player in NBA draft-history—took three years to get his team to the playoffs. And what’s the chance of finding another one of those anytime soon?

So yes, while the Indians’ rebuild may not be particularly fun to watch, it’s not crazy to believe it might be nearing an end—and after only two years. We’ve already found our catcher of the future in Carlos Santana. Carlos Carrasco, Drew Pomeranz and Alex White could be the front-end of the rotation as early as 2012. The albatross contract of Travis Hafner will be up after next year, while Shin-Soo Choo—one of the best players in the sport—is under affordable club-control for at least three more seasons.

There’s reason for hope here in C-Town, and I’m here to tell you that it wears Red, White and Blue.

The Cleveland Indians shook off their recent string of slow starts, outscoring Shepherd 50-24 in the first half as the Indians soundly defeated the Pirates 95-62 on Tuesday, Jan. 25, in Shepherd.

Senior Cedric Reed led the Indians with five players in double figures with 19 points. Jaraud Ross finished with 18 points, Trey Richardson finished with 17 points, Marques Montgomery finished with 14 points and Drew Walker finished with 10 points.

Jaraud Ross and Jared McPherson played well defensively, sacrificing their bodies by taking charges. Ross took four charges and McPherson took five.

Shepherd was able to outscore Cleveland 29-19 in the third quarter, but Cleveland responded in the fourth by holding Shepherd to nine points, while the offense poured on 26.

Cleveland will have a bye this Tuesday before taking on Coldspring on Feb. 4 at home.

Published: Saturday, January 29, 2011, 7:48 PM     Updated: Saturday, January 29, 2011, 7:49 PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio — “I’m optimistic, I really am.”

Those words came from Manny Acta, and you can probably figure that some of it comes from his job. He is the manager of the Cleveland Indians. It is the end of January. His team lost 93 games and had the lowest attendance in baseball.

But Acta sounds so sincere when he talks about the Indians of 2011.

“We’ll be better this year,” he insisted.

OK, I’ll play along … why will the Indians be better?

Confession time: I need this.

Do you know that since Dec. 1, Cleveland major-league teams are 2-33? Or that no major franchise has won a game since the Cavs beat the Knicks on December 18?

The Browns won at Miami in early December, and finished the season with four losses. The Cavs have lost 28-of-29. The Indians haven’t lost a game since Oct. 3. Of course, they haven’t played since then.

But after the Browns finished another season at 5-11 and fired another coach …

The Cavs’ Summer of LeBron has led to a freeze on winning any games …

I am ready to talk some baseball, even if I don’t completely believe everything in this column.

So back to Acta, our Mr. Sunshine for these dreary days,

“Go back to a year ago at this time,” he said. “I was sitting here wondering if Jake Westbrook can come back from his elbow injury. I was wondering what we’d get out of Fausto Carmona [6.32 ERA in 2009]. And Mitch Talbot? I had no idea what we’d get from him. We had no idea if [Justin] Masterson could start, or if we could even find some other starters.”

Acta believes a winning team begins with pitching. Starting pitching. Tribe starters had a 4.53 earned run average last year, 12th out of 14 American League teams. So we’re not exactly talking Feller, Lemon, Wynn and Garcia. But it was better than 5.06 in 2009.

Acta is convinced Carmona (13-14, 3.77) “will give us no less than last year, and more wins this time.” In his last six starts, Carmona was 2-1 with a 1.99 ERA. Masterson (6-13, 4.70) was 3-5 with a 3.84 ERA after the All-Star break. Mitch Talbot was 10-13 with a 4.41 ERA in his rookie season.

Those three are locked into the rotation.

I’m concerned that Talbot was 2-7 with a 5.23 ERA after July 1. Acta counters that Talbot “finished strong in September (2-2, 2.89 ERA), and I feel good about him.” He also believes 23-year-old Carlos Carrasco (2-2, 3.83 ERA) showed enough in seven September starts to merit a spot in the rotation.

“Carlos has been in Class AAA for two years,” said Acta. “Six [of his seven] starts were quality starts. He was a different man, a more mature pitcher when he came up in September.”

Acta talks about finding a fifth starter from a group of Jeanmar Gomez, David Huff and Josh Tomlin. Phenom Alex White (8-7, 2.28 ERA at Class AA Akron) has an outside chance to earn a spot.

“Fausto pitched 210 innings,” said Acta. “A lot of baseball people will tell you that Masterson is very tough to hit. We have a lot of good young arms, and I really like our bullpen.”

Dare I write that it sure seems the Indians should have a good bullpen? Every time I do, they don’t have a bad bullpen — or even a terrible bullpen … they have a bullpen of epic incompetence. They have a bullpen with a 5.13 ERA in 2008 — the year that I actually liked them in spring training.

I’ll simply say that after the All-Star break, the Tribe bullpen had a 2.95 ERA — second best in the American League. I’ll say that Chris Perez had a 1.71 ERA and had 23 saves, along with converting all nine save opportunities with a one-run lead. I’ll say they have a lot of good young arms in the bullpen, and that the bullpen should … well … you know … be sorta OK?

I don’t want to jinx it.

“We should be exciting,” said Acta. “We took a step forward after the All-Star break (35-39 compared to 34-54 in the first half). We have a lot of good young players. I like the direction we are going.”

Let’s just hope it’s the right one — fans here really need something to keep them interested.

Published: Saturday, January 29, 2011, 12:34 AM     Updated: Saturday, January 29, 2011, 12:37 AM

Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame player and manger Mike Hargrove has returned to the Tribe as Special Advisor for the 2011 season.  Hargrove joined Manager Manny Acta and several players at the Tribe on Tour event at Beachwood Place Mall.

Published: Saturday, January 29, 2011, 12:15 AM     Updated: Saturday, January 29, 2011, 12:38 AM

CLEVELAND, Ohio — For several reasons, all of them good, Shin-Soo Choo will never forget 2010.

Choo escaped what could have been season-ending surgery on his right thumb in July and returned to finish a season in which he hit .300 (165-for-550) with 22 homers, 90 RBI and 22 steals. In November, he helped South Korea win the Asian Games in China to earn an exemption from his two-year military obligation. Finally, he signed a one-year $3.975 million deal, a raise of more than $3.5 million compared with his 2009 salary, to avoid arbitration.

“It was the greatest year in my life,” said Choo on Friday at Beachwood Place Mall as the Indians started their winter tour.

The Asian Games were Choo’s last chance to bring closure to his military obligation in a way that would keep the Indians and his country happy. At 28, he had to do his two-year hitch by 30 unless South Korea won the gold.

All Choo did was hit .571 (8-for-14) with three homers, 11 RBI, two steals and five walks in the five-game tournament. He hit a homer in his first at-bat and never stopped hitting.

“It was amazing,” said Choo. “I don’t know how I did it.

“I had so much confidence. I don’t know why.

“During the season, I never think about losing. I always think about winning. But if you lose during the season, you play the next game. The Asian Games were different. It was my last chance. I don’t know why I had so much confidence.”

Choo will have to go through four weeks of basic training in November. He could have done it in October, but said, “We might be in the postseason.”

For two weeks after the victory, Choo said he had trouble comprehending what had happened. “I just kept asking myself, ‘I really made gold? I really made gold?’ It felt like a dream.”

Choo said that after he homered in his first at-bat of the tournament, he felt he could hit any pitch.

“I was just so comfortable,” he said.

Right after the gold medal victory, North Korea shelled the South Korean island of Yeongyeong. South Korea returned fire as tensions heightened.

“I was in Seoul at the time,” said Choo. “Seoul is about 30 miles from North Korea. I was staying on the 34th or 35th floor of a hotel. If North Korea started shooting, I could have seen it. It was scary.”

Choo said his career has made a “180-degree turn” after being excused from his two-year military commitment.

“I’m not worried about it anymore,” he said. “I don’t think about it anymore. I feel so comfortable now. I’m more focused to play baseball.”

The next hurdle facing Choo is deciding whether to pursue the Indians’ offer of a multiyear deal. GM Chris Antonetti tried to entice Choo and agent Scott Boras into such an arrangement before he signed the one-year deal on Jan. 18. Antonetti said at the time that he would still pursue a long-term deal with Choo.

“Every player wants a multiyear contract,” said Choo. “I will listen, yes. I don’t want to talk during the season, [but] it’s not closed. Antonetti and Scott can talk. My job is to play baseball.”

When asked about the 2011 season, Choo laughed and said, “It can’t be any worse than last year.”

The Indians lost 93 games and finished fourth in the AL Central.

“If Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner are healthy, and both guys play a lot of games, it will change our season,” said Choo. “We need everybody healthy, but especially Grady and Hafner.”

Sizemore is recovering from left knee surgery that limited him to 33 games last year. Hafner, with a chronic injury to his right shoulder, played only 118 games.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: phoynes@plaind.com, 216-999-5158