Be the "12th man" - A Soccer fans view on how we can get ourselves out of this mess.

[LondonCav]

Firstly, I am an English Cavaliers fan. As i'm sure some of you know football (soccer) is the main sport over here, and my soccer team is Liverpool Football Club. There aren't that many differences between the two teams, both have waited a long time to bring a championship home. Both have been in horrible positions, where there looks like their is little if no hope at all. This is where Liverpool comes in, 4 years ago they were 3-0 down at half time against arguably the most feared side in europe : AC Milan.

During this first half Liverpool were completely outclassed, it was honestly like watching men versus boys. But they thought back, they were determined not to let their fans down, and ultimately they didn't. Clawing iit back to 3-3 and eventually winning on penalties. Liverpools captain said if it wasn't for the fans, their 12th man none of this would've happened. They believe in us, and we refused to leave this stadium empty handed.

Liverpool's players and fans adopt a never say die attitude, they never turn on their players. supporting them no matter what the score, no matter what happens. If tonight in game 5, can send a message to the Cav's that WE believe in them, WE believe they have the ability to fight back, from the gates of hell and make history, The team will believe. Tonight the Q must be a cauldron of noise, of atmosphere. We NEED to intimidate the Magic's players, hurting their on court communication, Forcing them to make mistakes.

"The Liverpool fans almost sucked the ball into the net" - Jose Mourinho.

This is what the Cavaliers fans must to, make an atmosphere, ride with it for 48 minutes.

Send a message, WE are CLEVELAND, WE fear NO ONE, this is OUR championship, OUR time.

Rise up Cleveland.

So tonight, lets turn the Q into this :

Thanks for reading.

LETS GO CAVS !!

 

[LeBeastJames]

Re: Be the "12th man" - A Soccer fans view on how we can get ourselves out of this me

Good post. And well, I suppose as one of this forum's resident Canadians I'd share my own experience. On New Year's Eve, my team Canada played against the USA in just a regular round robin tournament match. It was the game of the tournament thus far with both teams looking very strong and dispatching of previous competition. Winner would get a bye to the semi-finals, provided they won their final round robin game vs a weak opponent.

Within like 10 minutes, USA was on top 3-0. The Canadian goalie, Dustin Tokarski, looked horrible, and the Canadian players weren't skating hard. This was in Canada btw, with the crowd going crazy before the game. At this point, you could hear a pin drop. I was watching in disbelief. I was disgusted. I would have bet $50 to anyones $1 right there that we were going to lose. Then John Tavares, who will in all likelihood be the #1 pick, scored 2 quick goals, and we tied it before intermission. Went on to win 7-4.

Later in the tournament, in the semi-final game against Russia, we'd find ourselves down 5-4 in the final minute... one of our guys tied the game with 5.4 remaining and we won in a shootout, and then handled the Swedes for the gold.

Since that moment, I have never once considered anything over until it's over. As long as we have one life, we can get the high score. That's why I'm keeping the faith.

Also I've seen my teams choke enough leads to know nothing's safe. You'd think being up 1 with 90 seconds in an NHL game 7 would be enough to win, but we lost before overtime. You'd think being up 3 games on your division rival with 3 games to go is a safe bet. But we missed the playoffs. Ain't over till it's over.