Many years ago, back when I was in my first apartment and being a Girl About Town, I got a phone call at about 11:00 on a Saturday night from someone claiming to be a police officer in Sandusky, Ohio, who stated that my friend Joey P. had been arrested for creating a “disturbance” at Cedar Point. In his heyday, Pal Joey excelled at creating disturbances, but why would I be his one phone call? I’m no lawyer. My B.S. meter was reading “high,” and although I hate the phrase, the first words out of my mouth were “Is this for real?”

Over and over, I keep hearing and reading sports analysts ask “Are the Indians for real?” as though no one can believe the hapless Cleveland Indians are winning more baseball games than they are losing. Merriam-Webster defines “real” as: not artificial, fraudulent, or illusory. In the case of my friend Joey, the arrest was artificial–he was just trying to pull my leg. In the case of the Indians, I don’t think their enchanted April was artificial, fraudulent or illusory.

What no one seems to want to admit is that this is a solid team, made up primarily of the same guys who went 35-39 after the All-Star break at the end of last season. Acta seems to have found a core that works, plus reserves who come in and get the job done. It seems that the real reason so many people believe the Indians can’t keep this is up is because, well, it’s the Indians. But the people questioning the legitimacy of the team’s season thus far are probably the same people who still make burning river jokes 40+ years later. They have a singular impression of the team and the city and aren’t going to let the facts get in the way of their opinion. So be it.

It remains to be seen what the rest of the season holds. While the May schedule won’t be easy (I’m especially eager to see how we do against the White Sox) I think the big test will come in June, when we face the Rangers and the Yankees (in New York). I hesitate to say “Heck yeah, the Indians are for real!” simply because I think using the phrase “for real” is a slippery grammatical slope. Next thing you know, I’ll be asking my kid “Where are your shoes at?” and slipping in apostrophes every time I want to write a plural noun, both of which break my little editorial heart. Let’s just say that the 2011 Indians are not artificial, fraudulent, or illusory.

11 Comments

  • Cuff Camlin says:

    Much the same argument I(a former clevelander) have had to make to People here in Kansas who think the Royals will catch Cleveland because Cleveland is playing above their heads.The only thing I might add is that one might have expected a major rebound with so many players coming back from the DL this year.That And the Twins continueing episode of Mash the baseball team have left the field wide open for the Indians.

  • John says:

    I’m trying to figure out how the gurus at ESPN justify this week’s edition of the MLB Power Rankings. The Tribe should be listed at #1. It shouldn’t even be a question: Best record in baseball, longest win streak, best RS/RA, tied for best record over the last 10 games, and a higher SOS than either the Phillies or the Yanks. What the heck does it take?

  • Nancy Marcus says:

    I’m excited about how well the Indians are doing. I’m also excited that I’m the first person to comment on your first ESPN blog post. For real. Can’t wait to read more of your baseball blogging!

  • tom l says:

    “…simply because I think using the phrase “for real” is a slippery grammatical slope. Next thing you know, I’ll be asking my kid “Where are your shoes at?” and slipping in apostrophes every time I want to write a plural noun, both of which break my little editorial heart.”

    So grammatical mistakes are inexcusable, but clichés are cool? (“It remains to be seen what the rest of the season holds.”)

  • tom l says:

    p.s. go tribe

  • Mike H says:

    Great blog, but I do beg to differ on one point. You say the reason nobody believes the Indians can continue at this pace, or thereabouts (my definition of “for real”) is because they’re the Indians. Yet you give the REAL reason right above: “made up primarily of the same guys who went 35-39 after the All-Star break at the end of last season.” I expected the Indians to be better than their final record last year, yes. But the return of a Grady Sizemore who hadn’t shown much in tow years and a rookie Carlos Santana didn’t give me real hope we were going to go from a sub-.500 team (35-39 = under .500, just not 20 games under) to challenging for the AL title. THAT is why people wonder if this team is illusory in their success – not because they’re the Indians.

    Keep up the good work…
    —Mike

    • Brendan says:

      I did watch every game last season though on mlb ticket and as a die hard indians fan along with my father you could see a real shot with a rising star in carlos santana and grady has shown he can play when hes not hurt. Acta has a great system right now of sitting him every third day to keep him healthy and its working. Acta is pushing all the right buttons right now and he has a hungry team. They are definitely the best team in baseball right now, and once hafner comes back he will only add more power. This team is real fun to watch and the people in cleveland need to stop crying about lebron and get with this team and buy some freaking tickets. They will notice that this team has a shot.

      • MHagesfeld says:

        Agreed that this team CAN do much better than expected, and that the performance this year seems real, and we should support this team (all those people whining they would support a winner better get off their couches and down to the Prog). My point was just that people’s expectations that we would NOT have the league’s best record at this point were not unfair, and expecting us to keep up THIS pace might e unreasonable. Having said that…if we just go .500 the rest of the way, the rest of the division might have a hard time catching us.

  • Brendan says:

    P.S. I just laugh when teams doing worse than the Indians get so much more recognition. When you look at the MLB section on espn.com you are the only story about them. I thought if a team was doing good you report on them? Just because we have seen a lot of down years doesn’t mean you just assume it will happen again. Give the Indians some credit! thank you for trying to get your blogs out there and recognized by writing on by far the most interesting and under rated story in sports right now.

  • Alan says:

    Thank you for being annoyed by “where are your shoes at?” You have a friend for life.

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