It’s been a while, IPL readers. College has kept me from writing for pleasure, but now that I’m home for winter break, I have some time on my hands. Of course, going to a liberal arts college occasionally allows me to blend my hobbies with what I learn in class. One example of this happened last semester in my US Broadcast History and Theory class. For the final research paper, students were able to pick from just about anything that aired on television or radio prior to 1990. Being the Cleveland sports nut that I am, I chose to write about the media portrayal of Cleveland sports teams from 1978 to 1987. “Why 1978-1987?” you might ask. Well, the era begins with Cleveland defaulting on its loans and ends with The Drive, The Fumble, and the famous Sports Illustrated cover jinx, with no scarcity of important events occurring in between. There is so much I could have elaborated on, but this was a term paper, not a dissertation. The paper is embedded below, with only some small formatting changes made from what I submitted to my professor. It’s still a college research paper, so all of the citations and the works cited page are still there, though I converted the footnotes to endnotes for readability purposes. I got an A on the assignment, so address any complaints to [e-mail redacted]. The document is embedded below; you can also read it here.