[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9664-9666]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 CONGRATULATING THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS FOR WINNING THE 2016 NATIONAL 
                     BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION FINALS

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I know I will be joined in a few moments by 
my colleague from Ohio, Senator Portman.
  I rise to make some remarks on a resolution Senator Portman has 
submitted with me.
  Mr. President, journalists and sports fans like to describe victories 
as ``historic,'' and often that is a bit of hyperbole. But in the case 
of the Cleveland Cavaliers' NBA championship win on Sunday, the word 
``historic'' is warranted.
  Today, several hundred thousand people gathered in downtown 
Cleveland. Senator Portman and I talked about how we would have liked 
to have joined in. But we have these day jobs, and we just figured we 
couldn't really go back. Today, literally hundreds of thousands of 
people are in downtown Cleveland. Some estimates were as high as almost 
all the adult population of Cuyahoga County. The numbers are pretty 
spectacular. The word ``historic'' is warranted in this Cavaliers 
victory on Sunday night.
  No other team in NBA history has come from a 3-to-1 series deficit in 
the finals, until now. No other major American city has gone so long as 
Cleveland has without winning a major league sports championship.
  It is fitting for my city--my wife and I call Cleveland home--that 
this championship came down to game 7. The series played out like a 
metaphor for what this means in Cleveland--ever the underdog, down 3 
games to 1.
  To understand what this victory means for our Midwestern city on the 
lake, think about the last time we won a championship in a major sport. 
None of the pages sitting here were born. In fact, some of their 
parents might not have yet been born. It was 1964.
  Lyndon Johnson was President. Martin Luther King, Jr., was in the 
middle of a very successful civil rights campaign. Robert Kennedy, who 
sat at this desk on the Senate floor, was still alive, campaigning for 
civil rights and economic justice. America was beginning to hear more 
and more about Vietnam on the evening news. We had no idea of the 
nightmare that it would become.
  The Beatles had just come to America. We had three TV channels in 
Cleveland--channels 3, 5, and 8. The most popular shows were 
``Bonanza'' and ``Bewitched.''
  As a boy growing up in Mansfield--not far from Cleveland, about 70 
miles--I watched with pride a little more than 2 years before that when 
Ohio's John Glenn orbited the Earth in Friendship 7. The moon was still 
a distant dream, and none of us had heard of astronaut Neil Armstrong.
  The Cleveland Browns with Jim Brown brought home the NFL championship 
for us that December. It wasn't even called the Super Bowl back then. 
That is how long ago this was. It was called the NFL championship. 
Little did any of us know that we wouldn't see another trophy for 
another half century.
  I was 12 years old at the time.
  The Cleveland Cavaliers did not exist. The NBA was much smaller. 
Three years earlier, the Indians had traded the beloved outfielder, the 
hero of all young fans. Rocco Colavito was traded away to Detroit. The 
Indians were in the midst of losing season after losing season. Within 
a year or 2, they put together a top-line four-person starting pitching 
staff--Sonny Siebert, Luis Tiant, Sam McDowell, Steve Hargan--but still 
the Cleveland Indians didn't win.
  As a 10-year-old, a 12-year-old, and a 15-year-old, my dad would take 
us up old U.S. 42, often to see a double-header, back when they played 
those kinds of double-headers on Sunday.
  My dad would never take us to see the New York Yankees, a team he 
despised, because he knew that 15 or 20 cents of our ticket price would 
go to Mickey Mantle or Roger Maris and Yogi Berra and other Yankees.
  Every year I was naive to think the Indians would win the pennant. 
Never in those years would they even get close. By July, or certainly 
by August, it was clear even to this 12-year-old boy that the Indians 
were not going to win the pennant.
  For the next 52 years after the 1964 Browns championship, we were 
challenged in the city of Cleveland. The manufacturing economy that 
sustained Northeast Ohio eroded with decades of policy choices that 
closed factories and shipped jobs overseas. Too often there was bad 
trade policy and bad tax policy. The population of the city shrank to 
almost half its population from my boyhood, from my early years.
  Beginning in 1995, Ohio had 14 years of consecutive foreclosure 
increases, each year more than the year before.
  But today, downtown Cleveland is coming back, not just because 
hundreds of thousands of people are in downtown Cleveland celebrating 
this first NBA championship, but it is coming back. My wife and I moved 
into the city 3 years ago. We wanted to be a part of this renaissance, 
and we have seen the city beginning to return to its glory.
  Nothing has embodied the hope and the determination and the grit of 
our city like this team. We know that sports teams are far more than 
the sum of their parts. They are a point of connection for people in 
every walk of life in the city. There is a reason we have begun to call 
it Believeland.
  On Monday, a native Clevelander who had to move away from his 
hometown posted this on Facebook:

       We draw so much from our teams. It's wound up in our 
     identity--a token of the pride we have for the local tribe 
     from which we came.

  My wife Connie reposted the man's words that night, and hundreds 
chimed in to explain the connection they felt to the Cavaliers and 
their fellow Clevelanders. One woman said Cleveland sports were her 
connection to her family--her grandfather, her parents, aunts and 
uncles, cousins, some of whom have scattered across the State and 
across the country.
  Our faith had been tested for decades. For the past decade, the hopes 
of this city--at least in sports--rested on the shoulders of one 
talented young man. I watched LeBron James play in high school. His 
best friend's mother worked with me in Akron. LeBron played for St. 
Vincent-St. Mary, a Catholic school. I saw him at the University of 
Akron arena, where the team played its home games because LeBron was so 
in demand that people all over Northeast Ohio came to see him in high 
school. I saw him play at Barberton High School in the State 
tournament.
  We knew he was a star. You didn't have to know much about basketball 
to know that. We were heartbroken when he went to Miami. But like 
families do, we welcomed him back with opened arms in 2014, and pretty 
much forgot that he had ever left--once an Ohioan, always an Ohioan.
  For the next 2 years, he carried the weight of our city's 
championship dreams. He was all in, his city was all in, and this year, 
he and his team delivered. King James will go down in the history books 
as perhaps the NBA's greatest basketball player. I will debate that, if 
anybody would like. Certainly, he is one of the greatest athletes of 
all time.
  He was unanimously named the 2016 NBA Finals MVP. He led all players 
in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. Nobody has 
ever come close to doing that in any championship series. His 
leadership was important, but the victory was surely was a team effort.

[[Page 9665]]

  Kyrie Irving scored 26 points in the final game and scored a crucial 
3-pointer with less than 1 minute left. It was decisive. Coach Tyronn 
Lue and his coaching staff worked to put the team in a position to win. 
With the hopes and dreams of a city riding on them, win is what they 
did, ending that 52-year championship drought and restoring faith to 
Cleveland.
  I wish I could have been on East 9th Street this morning for the 
parade. My wife left home at 7 a.m. for what normally should only have 
been a 20-minute drive to downtown. We live in the city, only 5 miles 
from downtown. She knew it would take at least an hour because of the 
crowds gathered.
  I am heading back to my office in a few moments to meet my colleague 
from the Golden State, Senator Boxer. She owes Ohioans some beer. We 
bet Cleveland-brewed beer against Bay Area-brewed beer. She will be 
sporting a LeBron James jersey to make the delivery. I had to do that 
last year. Turnaround is fair play.
  On behalf of my colleague Senator Portman, who attended a number of 
the games and is as excited as I am about this, congratulations to the 
Cavaliers, congratulations to the city of Cleveland, and 
congratulations to the fans scattered far and wide across this country 
who never gave up, and now, on to next season.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the 
immediate consideration of S. Res. 509, submitted earlier today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 509) congratulating the Cleveland 
     Cavaliers for winning the 2016 National Basketball 
     Association Finals.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider 
be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action 
or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 509) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record 
under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I yield to my friend from Ohio, Senator 
Portman.
  Mr. PORTMAN. I thank my colleague, and I thank the Presiding Officer.
  Wow, what an incredible week for Cleveland. While we are talking 
today, there are several hundred thousand fans walking down the streets 
in Cleveland in an awesome parade. As much as I appreciate being in the 
Senate doing my constitutional duty in my day job, I wish I were there. 
I know Senator Brown feels the same way. Because we cannot be there, we 
wanted to provide the resolution today at the time of the parade and be 
sure that all of our colleagues know how proud we are of the Cavs and 
get them on record.
  We are trying not to rub it in too much with our California 
colleagues, although I will now say I have a case of Great Lakes beer 
in my refrigerator that otherwise would have gone to one of my Senate 
colleagues, Senator Feinstein. Instead, I get a case of California 
wine. That is nice because last year it was the other way around.
  What an amazing season and incredible finals. I did get a chance to 
go to some of the games. I lived in Cleveland for a brief time when I 
was a kid. At that time, Cleveland was not known as a great sports 
town. Jimmy Brown and the Cleveland Browns were our last team to win a 
championship in 1964. Fifty-two years is a long time. The drought is 
over, and the Cavs did it in the Northeast way. Northeast Ohio is an 
area where, through grit and determination and perseverance, we are on 
the way back up. We are a comeback region. Cleveland is a comeback 
city, and that is exactly what happened.
  In many respects, the way we won the finals is the way we worked 
through the season with some of the challenges we had. We changed 
coaches in midstream, and every single player showed grit and 
determination. Whether it was Iman Shumpert or Kevin Love or certainly 
Kyrie Irving and that incredible 3-pointer in the seventh game, Tristan 
Thompson, and then, of course, the king--he really willed victory that 
night. Game 7--you saw the blocked shot at the end. You saw his layup 
at the end. He did get a triple-double that night. He not only got a 
triple-double, but throughout the entire series, he was a star in the 
sense that--and this has never happened in the finals before, ever. He 
did have more blocked shots, he did have more assists, he did have more 
points, he did have more rebounds, and he did have more steals than any 
player on either team. When you think about that, it is extraordinary. 
In my view, he is the greatest basketball player living today, and he 
will go down in history, because of this one series, as being the guy 
who really pulled Cleveland over the line.
  I went to the fourth game. This was the game we lost in Cleveland. We 
were down 3 to 1. No one has ever come back to win a series being down 
3 to 1 in the finals, ever. But the fans did not give up that night. 
More importantly, the players I talked about and the other players who 
came off the bench and did an awesome job never gave up. They never 
gave up because they had that grit and perseverance which characterizes 
Northeast Ohio and because they wanted to make good on the promise.
  When LeBron James came back to Cleveland, what did he say? He said: I 
am going to bring my hometown, my home area, a championship. Born and 
raised in Akron, he was a high school player who was a phenomenon. He 
is a guy who loves his State, loves Northeast Ohio. I think he summed 
it all up when he came back and said: I am going to deliver a 
championship. I think he was very emotional after game 7, in part 
because his goal, his dream--not for himself but for Cleveland--was 
finally accomplished.
  About Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, he says it is an area where you 
work hard and you earn it. He said that you don't get success just for 
your talent, just through showing up; you get your success by working 
hard and earning it. That is a great message. It is a message that he 
has imbued in the minds of young people all over Northeast Ohio, 
specifically in Akron, where so many young men and young women have 
been able to be more successful in life thanks to his efforts, his 
funding his foundation to help them get through high school and get 
into college. He has told them: This is about grit, perseverance, hard 
work, and discipline. You don't just get there because of your talent.
  He is probably the most talented athlete I know, but, as we saw in 
game 7, it wasn't just about talent, it was about perseverance, 
determination, and focus.
  I am very proud of the Cavs. I am very proud of the way they won. I 
am proud of Cleveland.
  As you know, the Republican convention is coming up in Cleveland. 
Someone asked me today: Do you think they will take down the Cavs 
posters?
  I said: I hope not. This is all part of a big celebration.
  It was great for Cleveland in terms of the hotels and restaurants 
being full, certainly great for the economy to have the finals, but 
more importantly, it is great for the spirit of Cleveland and 
consistent with the comeback city, consistent with this notion that, 
yes, we have had tough times before, we have had our share of 
challenges in Cleveland, and we still do, but we are Believeland, 
Cleveland. We believe. We believe that through hard work and 
perseverance, we can make progress and we can be successful, just as 
the Cavs were during this final series.
  I also thank Dan Gilbert, the owner of the team. He is the guy who 
worked hard to get the team back together, to get the band back 
together. I am sure bringing together Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Tristan 
Thompson, and certainly the king, LeBron James--you know it is not easy 
to bring all those players together and make it all work and gel, but 
Gilbert believed. Gilbert believes in Cleveland. He is a Detroit guy, 
but he believes in Cleveland. He has made a big investment in Cleveland 
in other

[[Page 9666]]

ways in the community and in the economic development there, and 
certainly what the Cavs just did assisted in that.
  Ultimately, this is a celebration, not just because they won the 
finals, but because of the way they did it. It was a tough season. They 
switched coaches in midstream. They had some injuries back and forth. 
They did it the hard way--through perseverance, determination, and hard 
work.
  I am proud of Cleveland. Senator Brown and I are proud to have this 
resolution before the Senate today. We are pleased it passed with 
unanimous consent. That doesn't happen with everything in the U.S. 
Congress, as some of you may have noticed, but it certainly happens 
here because in this case the Cavaliers earned it. You earn it in 
Northeast Ohio, and that is what they did. I am proud of them.
  Thank you for allowing us to present this resolution. And Go Cavs. We 
are all in.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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