again, what is this "Akron/Cleveland" rivalry?

[Triple-S]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/LeBr ... ron-113010

I have had friends and family in ellet, springfield, tallmadge, fairlawn, and have worked downtown in the past, I also live in an area that borders summit/stark and portage counties.

Have never once heard people drone on about hating Cleveland and have only really met 2 or 3 people who still "support" him.

And it really makes us that grew up in the area look like jackasses. No, we don't like him, most of us love the big 4 of NEOhio sports, we're no different than anyone from the 216. Don't believe the hype.

[motherscratcher]

I live near Cleveland, work near Akron. All this BS is news to me as well. Never heard it before until tWoA decided that it was so. Now there are people like this jackass chiming in.

Whatever.

[aclayman]

This writer talked with LeBron's old coach and a couple other people and decided that the entirety of Akron has built a cocoon of love and support for the guy. The whole premise of the piece is built on a blatantly incorrect and completely unsubstantiated assumption. As an Akronite, I actually felt double betrayed by "the Decision," being that I lost the best player on my NBA team and the best ambassador for my hometown. As if the lazy generalizations about Clevelanders weren't bad enough, they've gotta invent a turf war now between Cleveland and Akron? Ok then.

[Triple-S]

Well, and very much so, that the people pulling for lebron at this moment are:

-Wannabe white gangstas, who generally support the player, not the team, and are somewhat doing it for the attention

-People close to LeBron ie, family, friends, people from st. v-st. m.

-Just inner-city peeps, who claim lebron represents them and enjoyed sticking it to gilbert and cleveland. for the lack of a better word, those people are what they are. One of my friends

The average joe, who's grown up in the area, hates him like the rest of NEOhio. And I've even met people from St. V-St. M who seem really reluctant to say something overly positive about him. Again, the feeling that keep popping up from there are "Well, I support him because he's a fellow alumnus, however, I'm a cavs fan, and felt what he did wasn't very good a choice, especially how he did it"

Notice something, there USED to be signs all around Akron promoting this as his hometown and giving stats about his MVP's and such. And those no longer exist. He and others can go on and on about akron still loves him, but that..can't really be farther from the truth in my eyes.

[jb]

I thought you were from Stark County anyway?

Stark County hates Akron.

[Spin]

There was a rivalry for a time when Cleveland was putting down Akron and LBJ for saying "I am from Akron, not Cleveland". Maybe it's a territory thing with a certain demographic.

The only time I saw this come up was when they were trying to get Gateway passed and there was a big argument over the Richfield Coliseum. I almost got Triv fired from 98.5 over one particular rant. There was a lot of bad blood during that time, as Mileti put the arena there because it was the population center of the market. That never sat well with a lot of Clevelanders. And the city buying (errrrr CLOSING) the Coliseum and moving the Cavs and Jacks downtown didn't sit well with a lot of people outside Cuyahoga County.

That's the only things that come to mind. It's all one market. Is there tension betwen Dallas and Ft. Worth? Minneapolis and St.Paul?

Anyway I can tell you for a fact that a lot of Akronites hate LeQuitness. When I come across someone who says "We have to support him, he's from Akron" I reply "Jeffrey Dahmer is from Akron too, are you a big fan of his?"

And for the record, I am still a fan of Andy Sonnanstine, Chrissy Hynde, and Devo.

[Triple-S]

I thought you were from Stark County anyway?

Stark County hates Akron.

Not as much as we hate Youngstown.

boom roasted.

[Triple-S]

But devo and chrissie hynde are from KSU, spin ;).

In all seriousness, I want to hear more of this Triv. thing, how pissed off was he getting?

[jb]

Spin, seems crazy in this day and age, but Miletti put his own jack up for the Coliseum. I thought it was located there because the land was cheap, cheap, cheap -- and I 271 had just recently been built. Maybe they anticipated growth, but there was no population center there, unless once counts cows. You can't really justify the MSA location of that place. There's just not that many people in Ghent/Montrose to justify putting it 50 miles from the western and far eastern burbs. Getting to Richfield from the east & west burbs of Cleveland in February was an adventure in bad weather. I recall some pretty crazy drives home.

BTW - Loved the old place. Loved being able to walk the concourse 360 inside the seating area. Loved how the loges were in nosebleed areas and fans had good sight lines. Loved that it was still there when I was at KSU, but fundge was tight so I couldn't take as much advantage as I looking back would have liked to.

But the parking? A complete cluster freak. Although the lot did lend itself to some interetsing pre concert experiences in the golden age of the concert.

Backing up, Bron was really basing everything on his own personal ego-centric experiences. Shocking, I know. Goes back to his pre-HS AAU days when the Cleveland teams would turn nose up at the "small town" kids or some BS like that.

St V-M never played Cleveland HS teams in hoops. They never played many Ohio D 1 high school teams. Heights had some monser teams then, an dthey never played Ed's or Ignatius, both of which won state IIRC when he was at St V. So really, he's carrying his junior high bulshit out and putting it out there as some sort of fact. Kid has no thought process.

[jb]

I thought you were from Stark County anyway?

Stark County hates Akron.

Not as much as we hate Youngstown.

boom roasted.

I live in Y-town, but I am Cleveland. Good people down here (what happened to Struthers Justin, anyway?) but too many yinzer types. Was doing some xmas shopping at southern park and stoppe dinto BW for a GLCA, and you should see Sucklet fan. They all look like the guys on Teen Mom & browns fan looks reltively normal. Chinstraps and backwards DG lids with $ 350 authentic jerseys that between them and their Dodge Neon street rods kep them living at home until they are 35

BTW - CAK pizza sucks, and I include Luigi's. Overrated. There are 4 better joints here w/ in a 5 minute drive. No better Italian food in America than in the mahoning Valley.

[Spin]

Triv was a daily guest on the WNCX morning show, with "Those Guys in the Morning". He had a 10-15 minute slot he would come in and give commentary on sports. There was no callers. Just him and his schpeal.

Someone (probably Terry Pluto) wrote a piece about the location of the Coliseum, and Triv went off. "I'm so sick of hearing about Akron, it's CLEVELAND'S team. Not Akron's. TO HELL WITH AKRON. TO HELL WITH SUMMIT COUNTY. YOU CAN ALL GO TO HELL. All four of you. The sooner they get OUR team out of that cornfield and up here in the city where it belongs, the better."

So I called the station manager and asked "Where did you find this Pete Franklyn reject? Has he ever been south of 480? HE just pissed off half of your listeners. You know what. TO HELL WITH YOUR SPONSORS. TO HELL WITH YOUR STATION. We have our own GD classic rock station, we sure as hell don't need to listen to your elitist bullshit."

The next day, no Triv. The next day, he was all apologetic, saying he was misunderstood, that he didn't mean anything about the wonderful fans in Akron. Apparently they bought his because he didn't get fired. In fact a few years later he was full time on the new morning show with Jerry Shirley. What a match made in hell that was.

And we don't hold that against Chrissie or DEVO. They came back. And Buchtel Community College wasn't quite the same as it is now...

[motherscratcher]

Spin, seems crazy in this day and age, but Miletti put his own jack up for the Coliseum. I thought it was located there because the land was cheap, cheap, cheap -- and I 271 had just recently been built. Maybe they anticipated growth, but there was no population center there, unless once counts cows. You can't really justify the MSA location of that place. There's just not that many people in Ghent/Montrose to justify putting it 50 miles from the western and far eastern burbs. Getting to Richfield from the east & west burbs of Cleveland in February was an adventure in bad weather. I recall some pretty crazy drives home.

BTW - Loved the old place. Loved being able to walk the concourse 360 inside the seating area. Loved how the loges were in nosebleed areas and fans had good sight lines. Loved that it was still there when I was at KSU, but fundge was tight so I couldn't take as much advantage as I looking back would have liked to.

But the parking? A complete cluster freak. Although the lot did lend itself to some interetsing pre concert experiences in the golden age of the concert.

Backing up, Bron was really basing everything on his own personal ego-centric experiences. Shocking, I know. Goes back to his pre-HS AAU days when the Cleveland teams would turn nose up at the "small town" kids or some BS like that.

St V-M never played Cleveland HS teams in hoops. They never played many Ohio D 1 high school teams. Heights had some monser teams then, an dthey never played Ed's or Ignatius, both of which won state IIRC when he was at St V. So really, he's carrying his junior high bulshit out and putting it out there as some sort of fact. Kid has no thought process.

That's what so many people nationally don't understand. They think that Cleveland and Akron are completely separate, not linked in any way, because LeBron says so. It's fucking ludicrous. I got in a short back and forth yesterday with someone who was spouting the old "LeBron isn't from Cleveland, he's from Akron" bullshit.

For all intents and purposes, as far as sports go, they're pretty much the same. Cleveland and Akron are linked georgaphically, economically, and socially. Cleveland pro teams ARE their teams.

Christ, Lebron (who claims to live in Akron) lives less than 30 miles from the arena. Closer to the practice facility.

Geography isn't some subjective feeling. You don't get to just declare where you are from based on feelings. Christ, it's like someone from Long Island claiming they aren't from NYC because when they were 13 they didn't like someone from the city.

[Triple-S]

BTW - CAK pizza sucks, and I include Luigi's. Overrated. There are 4 better joints here w/ in a 5 minute drive. No better Italian food in America than in the mahoning Valley.

Romeo's has it's roots here, and they've won multiple titles.

different styles holmes. German's don't believe in making things overly spicey, and I do define the pizza here as if it was german-esque.

[jb]

BTW - CAK pizza sucks, and I include Luigi's. Overrated. There are 4 better joints here w/ in a 5 minute drive. No better Italian food in America than in the mahoning Valley.

Romeo's has it's roots here, and they've won multiple titles.

different styles holmes. German's don't believe in making things overly spicey, and I do define the pizza here as if it was german-esque.

Titles of what? Best pizza in Cakron? Like winning Nicest house in East Cleveland.

Germans don't know scheist about pizza. I already told CDT that months ago.

[Triple-S]

Titles of what? Best pizza in Cakron? Like winning Nicest house in East Cleveland.

Germans don't know scheist about pizza. I already told CDT that months ago.

http://www.romeospizza.com/history.php

yo and here comes my left blow.

It sez medina, but the guy played footbaw' for the blue streaks.

[Rat_Tail]

I thought you were from Stark County anyway?

Stark County hates Akron.

Not as much as we hate Youngstown.

boom roasted.

I live in Y-town, but I am Cleveland. Good people down here (what happened to Struthers Justin, anyway?) but too many yinzer types. Was doing some xmas shopping at southern park and stoppe dinto BW for a GLCA, and you should see Sucklet fan. They all look like the guys on Teen Mom & browns fan looks reltively normal. Chinstraps and backwards DG lids with $ 350 authentic jerseys that between them and their Dodge Neon street rods kep them living at home until they are 35

BTW - CAK pizza sucks, and I include Luigi's. Overrated. There are 4 better joints here w/ in a 5 minute drive. No better Italian food in America than in the mahoning Valley.

This thread smells like Youngstown.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Youngstown ain't be havin' no real Italians.

[jb]

I thought you were from Stark County anyway?

Stark County hates Akron.

Not as much as we hate Youngstown.

boom roasted.

I live in Y-town, but I am Cleveland. Good people down here (what happened to Struthers Justin, anyway?) but too many yinzer types. Was doing some xmas shopping at southern park and stoppe dinto BW for a GLCA, and you should see Sucklet fan. They all look like the guys on Teen Mom & browns fan looks reltively normal. Chinstraps and backwards DG lids with $ 350 authentic jerseys that between them and their Dodge Neon street rods kep them living at home until they are 35

BTW - CAK pizza sucks, and I include Luigi's. Overrated. There are 4 better joints here w/ in a 5 minute drive. No better Italian food in America than in the mahoning Valley.

This thread smells like Youngstown.

It may be the worst city in Ohio.

There's places in Akron proper I'l live in a heartbeat. Same for canton, although it'd be more boring.

You couldn't pay me enough to live anywhere in Ytown proper. It is a straight up ghetto mess.

But Germans still don't know from pizza, unless they are making an Italian make it for them at luger point.

[Ziner]

But Germans still don't know from pizza, unless they are making an Italian make it for them at luger point.

especially CDT, dude doesnt know dick about pizza.

[jb]

But Germans still don't know from pizza, unless they are making an Italian make it for them at luger point.

especially CDT, dude doesnt know dick about pizza.

Certainly knows far less than you and I.

[Spin]

Spin, seems crazy in this day and age, but Miletti put his own jack up for the Coliseum. I thought it was located there because the land was cheap, cheap, cheap -- and I 271 had just recently been built. Maybe they anticipated growth, but there was no population center there, unless once counts cows. You can't really justify the MSA location of that place. There's just not that many people in Ghent/Montrose to justify putting it 50 miles from the western and far eastern burbs. Getting to Richfield from the east & west burbs of Cleveland in February was an adventure in bad weather. I recall some pretty crazy drives home.

According to wikipedia, we're both right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richfield_Coliseum

The arena, which opened in 1974, replaced the then-decrepit Cleveland Arena, which had 12,500+ boxing capacity, 10,000+ otherwise. The new arena seated about 20,000 for basketball and 18,500 for hockey, and was one of the first indoor arenas to contain luxury boxes. Nick Mileti was the driving force behind the Coliseum's construction, believing that its location in northern Summit County south of Cleveland near the confluence of the Ohio Turnpike and Interstates 77 and 271 was ideally suited given the growth of urban sprawl. The Coliseum was built in Richfield to draw fans from both of Northeast Ohio's major cities, as nearly 5 million Ohioans lived within less than an hour's drive (in good weather) from the Coliseum. While the arena's location hindered attendance somewhat, nevertheless, the Cavaliers' average attendance was over 18,000 per game each of the last 2 seasons at the Coliseum.

I also remember the state refusing to build better intersections to get people from 77 South to 271 North to access the arena. Or 77 South to 303. That was a pissing match that didn't end until it was torn down. That really hindered access from the city and the western suburbs.

But the location being in the center of the market did work out as he thought. The Cleveland Force moved it's headquarters to Montrose to be better located in it's fan base. Force owner Bart Wolstein proposed an MLS stadium in Macedonia for the same reasons before his death.

We know why the urban sprawl never reached Richfield. By the 1980's industry was dying. Why Richfield never became a suburbanite destination like Medina Country has (just what us Medina County residents really fricken want) I don't really know.

[YahooFanChicago]

Surprised we have a thread for this topic. This Akron vs Cleveland bullshit is just Lebron and his jackass handlers creating justification and spin for his decision to go elsewhere. He started this crap even before his "decision" which further shows that he probably knew for quite some time he was leaving.

Lebron's a front runner looking for easy success. He grew-up a Yankees, Cowboys and Bull's fan since they were all dynasty's. The guy's too lazy and lacks any loyalty and discipline to be a fan of any other type of team.

Akron vs Cleveland is just a red herring.