Call it a bad case of bad luck.
For decades, ill-timed injuries and ailments have plagued Northeast Ohio’s professional sports teams.
From slugger Al Rosen’s broken finger that hampered him during the Indians’ World Series loss in 1954 to Shaq’s thumb injury before the Cavs’ doomed playoff run in 2010, championship dreams have been shattered again and again.
Yet through it all, local sports fans remain fiercely loyal, said Dr. Joseph Congeni, lead author of a new book, Cleveland’s Bitter Pill: A Diagnosis of Injured Title Dreams and Die-Hard Fans.
The book, published recently by University of Akron Press, chronicles the painful tales of Cleveland sports with expert insight from Congeni, a sports medicine physician and lifelong Northeast Ohio sports fan.