The rest is just noise

Cleveland is definitely a sports city, with professional teams in all three major leagues.

But since the 1960s, Cleveland has entered a period of decline, and then their professional sports also ushered in a championship-less ice age.

Entering the 1980s, in addition to being unable to win the championship, serious blows also followed one after another.

The Cavaliers changed owners and ushered in the era of Ted Steppi. In just two years, he had destroyed the Cavaliers.

The Browns of the NFL finished first in the American League East with 11 wins and 5 losses last year. The five teams that entered the playoffs in the American League this year all had the same record of 11 wins and 5 losses, which indirectly shows that

The competition in the American League was so fierce back then.

The Browns' rise stems from their core fourth position, Brian Sipe.

Spee is the first and only quarterback in the history of the Browns to pass the 4,000 passing yard mark in a single season. He was selected to the first team of the year, the UPI Associated Press Best Offensive Player, and the Kansas 101 Committee American League All-American.

An offensive player, he was selected to the Pro Bowl that year. Most importantly, he is Brown's only player to win the annual MVP since Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown in 1965.

Success is Spey, defeat is Spey, it was he who sent a pass that broke the hearts of Browns fans.

They played against the defending champion Oakland Raiders on January 14th at the beginning of this year. On that day, it was so cold at Cleveland Stadium that even the grass froze, and they had to play at minus 16°C.

The two sides fought hard until with 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Oakland scored another touchdown, bringing the score to 14-12.

The Browns tried their best to send the ball 14 yards to the opponent's position with 44 seconds before the end of the game. At this time, they faced a decision, 2 points away, whether to choose a touchdown (5) or a field goal (3).

It was very windy that day and the Browns' field goal success rate was less than 50%. Therefore, the Browns coaching staff decided to pass the ball to the touchdown and drew a tactic "Red Slot Right, Halfback Stay, 88".

The annual MVP Spey made a fatal mistake when executing tactics. He did not pay attention to the position of the opponent's safety position. That was an incomprehensible mistake, and it was a mistake that should not have occurred at his level. Exactly

It was this mistake that caused the Browns to lose the ball and the opponent completed the steal, ending the Browns' season.

That moment of mistake is called "Red right 88".

It has become a shameful symbol similar to "The Shot" in the future.

The owners of the Cavaliers and the "Red right 88" of the Browns, this was just the disaster that Cleveland's professional sports suffered in the first few years of the 1980s. They had reasons to be optimistic, but they never imagined that this was just the beginning of a nightmare.

The "Red Right 88" tragedy made Louis pay attention to the Browns, but he only scratched the surface.

In the area of ​​the NBA that he is more concerned about, the damage and influence that Steppi brought was by no means limited to the Cavaliers. He destroyed the Cavaliers, but at the same time, he also set a bad precedent for the league.

Before Steppi, the NBA had premium contracts, but there were no junk contracts. Management awarded contracts based on professional judgment of the players’ career prospects. The contracts given might be premium, but they would not become junk, let alone junk.

Giving an average player a top-tier salary that doesn't belong to him.

Before the NBA, there was a league called the ABA that offered all kinds of junk contracts to grab players.

As we all know, this alliance became history in 1976.

Therefore, from a broad perspective of junk contracts, Cavaliers owner Steppi is "Patient Zero" in this field.

It's hard not to think of the bankrupt ABA. Some owners are worried that the NBA will follow in the footsteps of the ABA.

Therefore, at the NBA annual meeting held in July, many people said that the unreasonable contract offered by Steppi was a move that destroyed the market and other clubs would not follow suit.

Stepi was very unconvinced. He compared himself with Auerbach and said, if Auerbach did this, other teams would dare to accuse him, right?

Those who put forward opinions at the NBA annual meeting are obviously a little too optimistic about the self-control and judgment of their peers.

"Other clubs will not follow suit" is definitely premature.

Just in July, the Seattle SuperSonics coveted Alex English, the Nuggets' Mr. English, and offered a contract of 3.1 million to poach him. The Nuggets reluctantly matched. Then the SuperSonics offered him another contract.

A contract for mediocre veteran Steve Hawes. The Nuggets matched it. This is another garbage contract.

Lakers owner Jerry Buss soon lost control of himself, stealing Mitch Kupchak away from Washington with a crazy seven-year, $5.6 million offer, followed by an offer that shocked the sports world of $2,500 over 25 years.

The $10,000 contract keeps Magic in Los Angeles forever.

The media shouted: Bass kept the magician!

Starting with Stepi, the symptoms spread to the entire league, and the era of junk contracts in the NBA began.

Buss' approach to poaching Kupchak from Washington scared other teams.

This is pure "money ability". It's not that Washington doesn't want to keep Kupchak, they just can't match it and are forced to reluctantly give up.

The malignant impact of Steppi has increased the cost of each team's pursuit of free agents.

But Bass brought another kind of destruction.

Since taking over the Lakers, Buss has never been shy about spending money, in fact, he has been more aggressive than any owner in the league. He often gives his players raises during their contracts - even though he doesn't have to.

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By 1981, Buss had increased the salaries of nearly all Lakers players. He raised Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's annual salary from $650,000 to more than $1 million; Jamal Wilkes from $350,000 to $600,000;

Tom Nixon's income increased from US$65,000 to US$400,000; Michael Cooper's income increased from US$35,000 to US$250,000... This angered other owners. Buss's practice of using money at will will make the league's

The salary level has been pushed up to a level that other small teams cannot afford.

Bass's attitude towards this was domineering and arrogant. He believed that he could spend his money however he wanted and that no one else could control it. If other bosses could use hundreds of millions of dollars to play this game, he would continue to play with him.

It's just the rules of the game, and the league doesn't prohibit them from spending money.

Buss and Steppi unintentionally joined forces to boost the value of free agents.

Therefore, most bosses require that a salary ceiling be set in the new collective bargaining agreement, otherwise many people will not be able to persist and go bankrupt. How can players think about it from this perspective? They want to get back the money they have put into their pockets.

None. Not only did they sternly refuse, but they also demanded a share of the revenue from tickets, advertising and TV broadcast contracts.

At this time, they stepped on the tail of the bosses, and the two sides adopted a fight-to-die attitude at the negotiation table. As the end date of the old labor agreement approaches (the summer of 1983), new negotiations will begin. Judging from the current situation

, both sides refused to give in.

Louis was exposed to the times and learned many things that he could not understand before.

Magician and Bird Save the League is a beautiful fairy tale.

They did bring more attention to the league, but two years after they entered the NBA, the league's decline has not slowed down.

Although violence in the stadium is not as frequent as it was in the late 1970s, more serious problems - the proliferation of exclusive products and increasingly larger contracts are bringing down some small teams. The big bosses can arbitrarily throw away sky-high contracts and grab people to improve themselves.

Strength.

If the status quo remains unchanged, poor and weak teams can only continue to be weak until the operating costs become unbearable and declare bankruptcy.

If only a few wealthy owners can support it by then, the NBA will be doomed.

Louis hadn't waited for Magic and Bird to use their magic to save the struggling league. Although he didn't know what happened next, the league must have found a way out.

From the beginning of July to the end of August, he was active in Cleveland. It wasn't until Fitch called to ask him to return to the team that he packed his bags.

Before Louis left home, Li Xuanbing gave him an ancestral amulet.

It is said that Louis' father was involved in a car accident because he went out without this amulet.

Louis didn't believe in God at first, but after he traveled through time, he began to believe a little bit, so he took his mother's amulet, put it on him to reassure her, and then left.