The Land Before Time: A Celebration of the Ending of our First Regular Season

The Land Before Time: Cavs Pre-Game Thoughts

April 13, 2025 vs Indiana

Did the Cavs just end any chance at dignity for the 2024-25 New York Knicks? In a meaningless game at Madison Square Garden where all of the Knicks starters played over 30 minutes, a short-handed Cavs squad overcame a sub-par start to win a game that had no impact on the regular season standings but might be the cherry on top of a wonderful Cavs’ season. With the win, the Cavs swept the season series against the Knicks and delivered them another loss to a team at the top of the NBA standings. Madison Square Garden is now “Madison Square Garland.”  

Today, the Cavs close out the regular season in what will hopefully be a celebration of this wonderful season this team has provided players and fans alike. Most of the Cavs stars will not play, except for Jarrett Allen, who will play in his 82nd game this season. No significant on-court lessons will be learned, so let’s all take this opportunity to reflect on, and celebrate, one of the best Cleveland Cavaliers seasons ever.

Here at The Land, this is a chance at reflection for ourselves as well. This season was our first. We’ve come a long way, and I want to take a moment and reflect on who we are and why we are here.

All five of us grew up in the Cleveland area. In fact, we all went to school together, most of us did K-12 together. We all grew up with the same love for Cleveland sports that defines much of the Cleveland identity. As we have grown up and lived elsewhere, it is often hard to explain to people from other places why our sports teams in Cleveland just mean more.  For me, I’ve lived around the country in many areas that have great sports teams and fans, but none quite have that intangible connection that Cleveland sports teams have with the fans and the city.

The five of us grew up, went to different colleges, and lived in a variety of cities in a variety of regions of the country. Through the change, two things remained constant: our friendship and our love of our Cleveland sports teams. The professional sports franchises of Cleveland provided a bonding agent for long-distance friendships. While in distant places, we were still together in watching and celebrating our beloved Cleveland teams.

Currently, we still live in a variety of places. Between the five of us, we have one in Ohio, one in Arizona, and three in Oregon. Brandon, who works with Playback, a sports watching platform that allows communities to watch sports together, started showcasing the platform and the many features of it became apparent to us all. For most of the Cavs 15-0 start to this season, we informally watched games together using Playback. It was fun, easy to use, and, most importantly, provided a place for friends in far-flung places to feel closer. At some point during that epic start to the season, Jamaal suggested that he would love to watch Brandon and Max commentate an entire Cavs game. A lot of us agreed, and the first seed of The Land was planted.

For a couple of weeks, the idea of formalizing watching Cleveland sports together was discussed. As the discussions evolved, we realized that there had to be people out there like us. People who loved Cleveland sports, lacked a place to celebrate and discuss their fandom, and who often watched our beloved teams without the joy that watching with community brings.

From that idea, The Land was born in December of 2024. We did our first formal broadcast on December 3rd, when the Cavs played the Wizards in the NBA Cup. We’ve done every Cavs game since, and thanks to Playback’s new partnership with MLB, we’ve done every Guardians game as well.

We started this because we loved being able to watch Cleveland sports as friends, even from different locations. Our goal in formalizing it is to welcome Cleveland fans like us into our community. It brings us genuine joy to hear from fans in locations around the world who have found camaraderie and community through The Land. Every person deserves to have a place to feel welcome, to celebrate the things they love with others, and to have a place they can go to where they know they will not be alone. For me personally, who does not live in Cleveland, this community is my place to celebrate the teams I love with a community of good people. When I can’t go to a game in Rocket Arena or Progressive Field, The Land is the place I want to be.

I hope it can be that for you, too. I want every Cleveland sports fan in the world to know they have a place where they can cheer, celebrate, and find community. As we wrap up our first Cavs season on The Land, my sincere hope is that we are on our way to doing just that.

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