What do you know - we're only 7 years apart!

I'm Joe, 28 years old, was a Latin major and a business minor (I know - weird combination - I had thought about becoming a priest, but changed my mind,) I proofread, edit, and revise ebooks, Word documents, etc. and also am learning more about Internet marketing, with plans to build my own online business in the near future.  I've lived in Cleveland all my life.

My favorite Indian - Omar Vizquel - his personality, his improving offense, his great defense, his willingness to do what it took to win.  I'll always remember him as one of the Indians that made the '90s great.  

I remember how sad he was after the 1997 WS meltdown - he couldn't even show up to the parade like he did after 1995, saying that "he gave everything he had for that series and needed time to get away and recover from the loss."

afh4 - still think we couldn't work in the booth together, LOL!  Nice to know you better. :-)

Have always been a sports freak with two over riding passions, one being Manchester United and the other the Cleveland Indians. I have no idea how or when I started following the Indians, hopefully it wasn't due to watching Charlie Sheen running out to pitch. In 1993 on my way back home to NZ I purchased a 1954 Indians replica shirt which I still have, so know I followed them at that stage.

Living in NZ there was next to no coverage of baseball apart from looking at the Tribe scores in the newspaper, so fast forward to the age of internet and the ability to follow your team whilst living down under. Started following the Tribe games on the ESPN website in 2003 and have done so ever since, plus sitting through SportsCenter to watch a 20 second clip of highlights, started following this site late last season and only recently got the courage to post amongst you knowledgeable fans. Other than the internet we get ESPN coverage of Sunday Night Baseball, Monday and the Thursday ESPN games, so it is always fingers crossed that the Tribe are scheduled to play in one of these games, seen them 3 times this season to date. Fantastic, OK the Angels game sucked.

Favourite player, probably Jim Thome and over the past 3 seasons I have always rooted for Casey Blake, might not be the worlds best, but always seems to give 110% everynight.

My dreams for the future? I can sign up for STO whilst living in NZ, our broadband gets faster (and cheaper) and I can get the MLBTV deal and my number one dream to one day go to the Jake and watch my Indians play. Oh, and Casy Blake hits a walk off home run to win the World Series!!!

Keep up the posts, I greatly enjoy the banter and the baseball education they contain for me. My wife thinks I'm mad sitting down watching a computer screen graphic, getting excited or upset (she just doesn't understand about Aaron Boone). Apologies in advance for any "down under" rubbish I might post in the future. Please bear with me.

My name is Ellen and I'm a forty-something out of work musician making a good living as a legal paraprofessional. I went to my first Tribe game sometime ion the late 50's. Alvin Dark was manager. I have been hooked ever since and have the emotional scars to prove it.

Good luck finding a job.

Great to hear a bit more about you all.

I'm Luis, 25 born and bred in London, England.  I started following the tribe in 2000 when I met my fiancee (who's from Ashtabula County) in Toronto and we caught an Indians game at the Skydome.

Thankfully, when we visit her family I get to catch a game, so I've been to the Jake about once a year since 2002.  Since around then I've become gradually more obsessed as I've actually managed to understand the game...took a few months.  This site has helped fuel it even more, so much so that my fiancee is now bored by baseball because I never shut up about it and she was quite interested in it when I met her.

Try the catch the games as much as possible, but its not easy with the time difference, so day games are my best friend; thankfully i have MLBTV so I can see how they're all doing.

I'm a law major and trying desperately to get a legal job, but hopefully one day I'll be coming to live in the states and close to the tribe with a family of my own.

I'm also football mad and for Sean's sake I will confess that I am an Arsenal fan to the core (was once heckled by an American  Man Utd fan sitting on his porch in the deepest depths of Madison, Indiana when wearing an Arsenal shirt...weird!!).

My favourite indian was initially Robbie Alomar, for the simple fact (like a kid) that he hit a homer in that game at the Skydome after having jeered by the Blue Jay fans for the whole game.  Unfortunately he was gone before I really knew the sport, so since then it's been little O because of the real love he seemed to have for the game.  From the current crop i would go with Pronk; I loved being in on the secret that he was such an underrated hitter and has a cool nickname....God I hated hearing Joe Morgan and John MIllar butcher that story!!

I'm 30, born on the East side of Cleveland but grew up on the West side, St. Ignatius class of '93.

I can't remember a time when I didn't live and die with the Tribe. My best Indians experience was probably going down to Winter Haven in '03 and meeting Shapiro.

My favorite Indian, past OR present, is and always will be the powerful and handsome CC Sabathia.

My favorite Indian? Andre Thornton.

This site helps keep me sane (or is it insane).  Like TribeFanInLondon, the time differance is a pain in the arse, but I did go ahead and get the MLBRadio.  I can't tell you the number of games I've fallen asleep to (around 3-4am local time).

As for favorite players - I first fell in love with the Tribe in the 80's when my dad would take me down to the Ol' Stadium.  I always liked Brook Jacoby.  During the 90's I loved watching Manny hit, Omar and Roberto field, and Thome's HR's.  Of the current crop it's tough since I haven't seen any of them play live.  From the sounds of it though, I like the hustle from Sizemore.

I started following the Indians in the late 80s, the Brook Jacoby/Julio Franco/Joe Carter teams. I also went to a lot of Canton/Akron Indians games, and watched Joey Belle and Charles Nagy climb the ladder to Cleveland. I enjoyed pounding on the aluminum (yes, aluminum) bleachers at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium, and I loved the flow of the game. Most of the rest of family are Browns fans first, but the Indians were always my favorite team.

Favorite Indian? That's a tough call. Some of favorites growing up were Doug Jones, Greg Swindell, Sandy Alomar, and Kenny Lofton.

Nice to meet everyone.

All Chicago-based Tribe fans - didn't know there was so many of you.  Think you guys could put a hex or jinx on the White Sox?  :-)

Again, nice to meet all of you and keep coming back - there should be some interesting stuff to talk about, even if the Indians are out of the playoff race.

Lots of favorites: Alvis, Fosse, Manning, Super Joe, Thornton, Barker, Jacoby, Nagy and Hafner. Don Hood was a special favorite (not sure why) and you can't leave Feller off any Indians list.

1997 makes me sick to this day. Jacobs Field is a thing of beauty.

I too live in Chicago, in Lincoln Square - right by the Davis Theatre if you know where that's at.  I used to live at Southport and Addison, so I guess I'm a member of the LGT Lakeview Alumni Society.

Sounds like we have got enough Chicagoins to have a LGT Pizza Feed...I'd be up for watching a game sometime/somewhere if anybody else would.

I haven't lived in Ohio since junior high school, but all my extended family is still there (Akron area).  My father and aunts and uncles are all Indians fan.  (My brother is a Twins fan.  I still love him.)  I've been to more games in the mistake than I have in the Jake.  Actually, I've seen the Indians play more times in Coors than in Jacobs Field.

I started following in the Snyder days as well, but there are no players I ever liked as well as Thome and Ramirez.

I still have a jersey with players name on it: Russell Branyan.  I stopped buying them after that, figured I was bad luck.

One of my favorite memories was going to a game at Municipal Stadium with my Dad September 2, 1990 (I was 11).  The Airshow was going on and we got seats on the 1B side so we could watch most of the planes while watching the game.  Dave Stieb no-hit the Indians that day, which, although the Indians lost, was amazing to watch.  Alex Cole had an almost hit in the 8th inning to break up the no-no.  Also, they were giving away free mini-boxes of frosted flakes that day, which was great for an 11-year old.

I'm Josh ; I'm a new poster here, but regularly read the posts because they offer some baseball insight, minus much of the teeth gnashing and wailing that accompanies the other Indians forums.

I'm a lifelong Cleveland fan, growing up in Lakewood. My pops used to take me to ballgames in the 80's and early 90's as a young kid, he worked security at old Municipal. Currently live in Connecticut, where i'm in the US Navy teaching IT Security classes at the submarine base in Groton.
I feel for the guy trying to convince his wife to be a indians fan over the reds ; im trying to convicne my wife to be an indians fan over a yankee fan. (there is little worse than that) Im having an easier time convincing her to be a cavs fan, because they appear to be headed in a better direction, and that playoff series was one for the ages.

My favorite Indians player has to be Cory Snyder or Joe Carter ; I went to the stadium for "picture day" I got a picture with all the old inidans, and they were all very friendly and accomodating. It was great.

Currently living in WestPark and am in sales (among other hats that I tend to wear).

Favorite all-time Indians - Tabler (met him at Little Indians Fan Club Events) and Jacoby (met him once at Tony LaRiche Chevrolet).

Favorite current Indians - Wickman (member of Wickmans' Warriors, with the T-Shirt to prove it) and the Crooked Cap (so unappreciated locally).

I was in college during the '95 and '97 Series and STILL think that this current incarnation of the Tribe will take us back there.  Maybe not in 2006, but not too far off.

After graduation from college in 92, my future wife and I moved to Cleveland from western PA.  It was the place where I got a job, and she worked for one of the big accounting firms downtown.  We didn't know anyone, so we just had fun exploring.  She would always have me meet her downtown for a game in the old stadium (since tickets were easy to get).  We became hooked and bought season tickets when the Jake opened the following year.  We moved to Lancaster in 1997, but our friends kept our tickets for a couple of years after that.

My best memory was in 95 when they came back from the 10-1 defecit against David Cone.  Sorrento hits the HR in the bottom of the 9th.  The stadium and the streets were just electric.

The Wife always liked Omar and Sorrento.  I was a Belle fan, because that guy was a scary good hiter.  

One of my first memories (of anything at all, not just baseball) is Frank Robinson hitting that HR in his first game as the manager of the Indians.

Favorite Indian?  Andre Thornton and Charles Nagy are right up there, but I think it's got to be Carlos Baerga - the young Baerga who played with passion and was in Cleveland when the long-dead corpse that was the Tribe I had known my entire life was revitalized.  And then the bastards went out on strike. 1994 would have been the season of my dreams.  I'm still a big fan, but I've never completely recovered from that strike.

I don't know if I have a favorite player.  The childhood attachments are to Rick Manning and Andre Thornton.  Robbie Alomar probably gave me more enjoyment per-game than any other Indian I can think of.  I think of Manny the way a lot of folks here talk about Belle -- the enjoyment of a perfect machine.  I am a great admirer of Omar Vizquel as a player, in particular the way he pushed himself to improve and find new ways contribute well into his 30's.  And I'll always have some fondness for Matt Williams, in part because he seemed like such an infallible vacuum that one season, but mostly just because he pulled off the hidden-ball trick.  I have soft spots for the great unheralded Eric Plunk, and Paul Shuey, and Chad Ogea, and El Presidente of course.

Of late, I have a special enjoyment of Peralta and Martinez and Betancourt, the first players I followed closely through the minors, who have fulfilled the promise they showed then, in spades.  I know that they still feel new to a lot of folks, but I've been following them for almost six years already.  It's different.

Great moments:  It's going to be hard to top seeing the Indians tie the 1997 Division Series in Game Four, and then win it in Game Five, in person with my Dad and one of my brothers.  Screaming our heads off, with all the players and fans wearing the Thome high-socks.  Wow.  We ran through the streets around the Jake high-fiving everyone.  I remember talking to an older fan about the significance of the win -- what most of the younger fans didn't understand was that it wasn't just that we won, it was that we beat the stinkin' Yankees -- smiting a mortal enemy dating back to the great teams of the 40's and 50's.  And that was what made it really great.  You should have seen the satisfaction on this guy's face.

Another great memory is in Yankee Stadium, July 19, 2003 -- "Ryan Ludwick?  Who the hell is Ryan Ludwick?"  I met one of my brothers for the game along with my girlfriend of ten months or so who had never lived west of Philadelphia.  My brother asked her if she knew the names of any of the players, and she fairly quickly rattled off a dozen names while my brother stood there in shock.  Keep in mind, in July 2003, many lifelong Indians fans could not have named a dozen current players.  We were married by the next Opening Day.  True story -- and yeah, I know some of you guys are starting to get choked up right now.  It's okay, I won't tell anyone.

It's nice to meet everyone, including the new ones who are coming out to post.  Keep it up. :-)

Kos - I know that crying feeling over the 1997 WS; I was in college at the time and my mother called me a few days after that WS ended.  It was just before my 20th birthday.  

We both started crying over that loss.  To be honest, it didn't really hit us until a few days later.  I happened to visit my parents that weekend and watched the game with them (didn't get back to college until late that night, early the next morning.)

When Renteria got that base hit, Nagy just missed getting it, and the ball went between Vizquel and Fernandez, I just sat on the couch in a daze, just in disbelief over it.  The emotion didn't come out for two more days.

Darn Mesa!  

And he has the audacity to throw at Omar for him speaking the truth?!  Jose Mesa might be my least favorite Indian for his throwing episodes at Omar.  He was good in 1995-1996; I probably could have even gotten over him blowing the 1997 WS if he hadn't tried to hurt Omar in the past few years, but trying to intentionally hurt Omar, no, he has to be my least favorite Indian of all time.  Blowing the WS just adds more "bad icing" to that cake.  

Just my 5 cents. :-)