we have things to say. hopefully they are good.

i’m from ohio. i grew up in conneaut, i went to school in wooster, and i’ve lived in euclid. while playing ultimate, i’ve traveled all around the state for various tournaments, seeing pretty much every section of the state. i’ve driven down every major highway in the state. i’ve hung out in ‘the land’, ‘c-bus’, and ‘the natti’. in short, its where i’m from, and i know it well.

i’m not what i would consider ‘typical ohio,’ but i have a lot of the traits. for better or worse i am marked by my 23 years in ohio. i know that i have the accent, and i can recognize it in others (‘bag’ is almost always a dead give away). when i’m at work, i have to be working or i feel like i’m cheating someone. i know what a lot of snow looks like and i know how to drive in it.

even though i’m straight up ohio, its more northeast ohio. the only thing that i know better than route 90 between cleveland and conneaut is the culture between them. its a culture that i love and miss. i bring it with me wherever i go.

cleveland knows what its not. the 216 knows that its not nyc, or boston, or chicago (at least we’re not detroit). we are a humble midwest city on the lake who has been through a lot. we were doing the recession before it was fashionable. we might not have the best skyline, or the best celebrities, and some even say we are the most miserable city in the united states.

thats not the cleveland that i know though.

the cleveland that i know is home to a great ultimate scene. there is case western reserve and their ultimate teams, which are some of the coolest people i’ve met through the sport. i’ve partied with them at their place and at mine. we’ve had some good times together. they were a decent sized portion of my college life, and i miss them as much as some of my wooster friends. it also has a culture built around the old jawbone teams that made runs at nationals, with a lot of those vets still kicking around. i’ve played so much ultimate in cle between club and college leagues as well as the always awesome groundhogs tournaments.

i love the cleveland that loves lebron james and shows unwavering loyalty towards him, even in this crazy season. he means more to that city than any one person means to any other city. other than single-handedly making the cavs relevant, he’s just a giant fun-boy who dominates, and we love him for it. across from the q, there is a giant LBJ sign. its epic. its also so close to the highway that it violates advertising laws. we love lebron so much that we got the governer to say, ‘fuck tha police. this is lebron james we’re talking about.’

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the cleveland that i know is also home to the cleveland clinic, and university hospitals, two of the best hospitals in the country. the latter being the hospital that made sure that my totally badass nephew alive when he was born a few months earlier than he should have been. at the clinic, he got world class healthcare that helped turn him into the baloo that we all know and love.

in short, cleveland and ohio rock and i’m glad i grew up there. i had a solid upbringing and i’m happy with how i turned out. i owe the majority of that to my fam, but i’ll give some credit to ohio as well. now i’ve left my home, but when people ask me where i’m from, no matter what happens, i’m going to be saying “oh, i’m from ohiah.” with a big smile on my face.

i’ll leave you with kid cudi’s thoughts on the area. (he knows it pretty well as he’s from shaker heights). “after this song’s done ain’t much i can say, except cleveland is my city.”