pwnage?

I'm used to the idea of seeing a team/city dominate another team/city thoroughly.

I'm not used to my team/city being on the giving end of the whooping.

And yet, it seems that I'm staring that down.

The Cavs are up 3-2 on the Detroit Pistons with game six tonight in Cleveland with a chance to move to the NBA Finals for the first time in history.

The Tribe has won five in a row against the Detroit Tigers to open up a 4.5 game lead in the AL Central.

And the most recent wins for both teams seemed to rip the heart out of their Detroit counterpart. The Pistons held all but one player scoreless for the last 12+ minutes of the game, including both overtimes, and lost. The Tigers pounded out 11 runs and have a four-run lead in the ninth inning, and lost. Cleveland didn't just win those two games. They took shot after shot on the mouth, and then demoralized Detroit and won anyways. They left Detroit shaking their heads, wondering if they could do anything. Believe me, I know. I've seen my teams on the wrong end of those types of games all too often.

It seems like pwnage is happening. By the Indians. By the Cavs. By the city of Cleveland.

And yet ... the Clevelander in me is still waiting for the other shoe to drop. For something like "the Shot" or "The Mesa" or "The Drive" or "The Fumble" ... but I feel like it's not gonna happen this time. This isn't like last year against Detroit, where I was amazed the Cavs won three games and had a chance. This isn't like 1997 where we had a lead in a back-and-forth World Series. This is a basketball series we've been dominating, and losing by not making a clutch shot, not getting dominated and winning a game or two with luck. This is the type of run the White Sox had against the Indians two years ago.

It really feels different.

God, I hope it is.