Tomorrow is the Cavs’ 2009-10 season home opener! Sure you could wear a regular ‘ole Cavs jersey or t-shirt, but wouldn’t it be MUCH COOLER to wear a Cavs-inspired t-shirt?
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We are so grateful to have so many loyal customers. Some customers are so loyal, that they keep checking in every couple of weeks to see if we’ve gotten new merchandise. And out of those who come in every couple of weeks, I know quite a few are looking for items that are out of stock. Well, we’ve got some good news…. NEW MERCHANDISE IS COMING SOON! And by soon, I mean just a few weeks…I really mean it.
By the beginning of October, we’ll have more sizes & colors in of some of your favorites like Survival (Where the Weak are Killed & Eaten), Route 8, Akron WITNESSED First, and more! We’re going to reprint some of the classic colors, but we’re also open to suggestion on new colors! Let us know any ideas you might have for some of your favorite RCC designs!
Today millions of students across the nation will be ’schooled’ by President Obama, LeBron, & Kelly Clarkson. No, it’s not a students vs. celebrities basketball game (I’d highly question Kelly Clarkson’s skills on the court); the ’schooling’ is actually at school. Get Schooled, a special documentary about the importance of education and following your dreams to success will air in schools across the country, as well as at 8pm on Viacom networks like MTV (nice they could take time away from quality programming like The Hills or 16 and Pregnant), BET, Nickelodeon, and more. This special is a school year kick-off to encourage students to take this new year seriously and excel in their studies.
Fifty years ago, Akron students got a little ‘kick-off’ in the form of a textbook written by an APS teacher, Sara Klippert. ‘The Akron Story’ was a supplementary text book distributed to 11,000 Akron Public Schools fourth-graders. The book served as an imaginative way to tell the history of our city, and build local pride in Akron youth. Featuring illustrations and vintage photos, the Akron Story, tells the fictional tale of twins David and Diana who move to Akron after their father takes a job with a rubber factory. The twins immediately love their new city and are determined to learn all they can about it, including joining a local pride club called Norka Wonki (which is I Know Akron backwards).
This seems like a great way to instill local pride in youth. It’s been quite a while since I passed through the APS system. I recall a little Ohio History for one semester when I was in seventh grade. Honestly, before I began working with RCC, I vaguely knew the Simon Perkins story and the history of Goodyear/Tires. I had no idea about John Brown, Sojourner Truth, Akron’s rich music history, the Toy Marble Museum, and all the other things that were Made in Akron or that Akron Witnessed First. It would be money quite well spent by APS to update the Akron Story.
If anyone knows of an available copy or would like to display theirs at RCC, please call Sarah at 330.434.4722.
Akron’s favorite son LeBron James stopped by his old alma mater, St. Vincent-St. Mary High School to launch his latest line of sneakers. The Nike Air Max LeBron Zoom VII’s kicked off their 10-city tour debut at St. V yesterday. Future stops include London, Paris, and Shanghai. Hmmm….yet another case of Akron WITNESSING First!
I was born and raised in Akron, the daughter of a die-hard Cleveland sports fan. I spent almost every summer weekend of my childhood going up to Municipal Stadium to see the 80’s Tribe; the stadium so unpopulated that my brother and I used the empty sections as a playground. I was always a Tribe fan when I was little; got into the Cavs more when I started playing basketball in 3rd grade; and even though I never really cared for football, I wore Milkbones in my hair on ‘Browns Day’ at school. I was a Cleveland sports fan.
Around the time I was in 4th or 5th grade, I jumped off the bridge with everyone else and started liking the Bulls and the Hornets in basketball (let’s be honest, the Cavs never had a cool Starter jacket); began to completely ignore the Browns (so did Art Modell); but was still a strong Indians fan. I think it was when I was in 4th grade the Cavs made it to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, and my family went to a game against ‘da Bulls’ (think George Wendt and Chris Farley). Even though I’m fairly sure I bet my dad $5 that the Bulls would win, it was pretty exciting to see a Cleveland team doing great. Well, we know how that ended.
Just two years later, we got another shot at getting close to a championship, with the 1995 Indians. That was a great year to be a fan in Cleveland. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my dad so happy as he was that season. But alas, that season ended with the Tribe losing the World Series (their first in 41 years) to the Atlanta Braves. The hurt was just the same in ‘97 when we lost to the Marlins.
Then began a good 5-6 year slump of being a fan in Cleveland. By that time, there were no Cleveland Browns and the Cavs’ popularity was dwindling. The Indians would have several players who went onto Playoffs and/or the World Series (Jim Thome, Coco Puffs Crisp, even Milton Bradley saw some October action). While Cleveland struggled, other cities thrived. In that same time period, the Chicago Cubs came close to getting to the World Series (seemingly almost impossible since the Billy Goat curse of ‘45); and even those losers known as the Boston Red Sox- (I forgot to mention that after my first trip to NYC in 1996, the first thing I saw in NY was Yankee Stadium. From then on I swore to be a Yanks fan, and sure enough they won the WS that year- and three times more in the next 4 years. The point of all of this is to say that as a Yankees fan, I hate the Red Sox. Plus I lived in the Bronx. The Red Sox suck. Still love the Tribe too.)- but even those ‘idiots’ the Red Sox won a World Series. I honestly couldn’t tell you what was going on with football, but whatever was, it wasn’t in Cleveland. But things were looking a little different on the hardwood court in Cleveland. With one lucky lotto draw in 2003, the destiny of the Cavs and the potential for a Cleveland title was forever changed.
Around 2000/2001, I started to hear about this kid from a rough part of Akron who got a basketball scholarship to play basketball at St. V. He was supposed to be really really good. I didn’t care about high school sports, so I really didn’t pay much attention. But more and more, the name ‘LeBron James’ was popping up everywhere. Sports Illustrated and ESPN were even talking about this kid. He must be really good. Then in 2003, after he had already been gifted that infamous Hummer, the Cavs lucked out and not only got a ‘hometown’ boy; but they acquired one of the greatest players in the game. LeBron signing with the Cavs started to change Cleveland sports fans. People were excited again.
Fast forward to present time, 2009. The Indians are…well, it’s still early in the season. The Browns… I’ll be honest, I don’t care… but I know give ‘em 3 games and they’ll blow the season. But the Cavs…that’s another story. Right now we are four games into the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavs had an amazing regular season- the best in the league; and they SWEPT the first two rounds of the post-season. Not since ‘95 can I say I’ve seen this kind of mania for a Cleveland team. I’ve sold I can’t even tell you how many ‘Akron WITNESSED First‘ shirts. Even I’m watching basketball again, which I NEVER thought would happen. I’ve got friends (girls) who don’t know squat about sports, that are watching every game and screaming at the TV. LeBron and the rest of this Cavs team have given us HOPE. Tonight is Game 5 against Orlando. 3 out of the 4 games in this series have either been won or lost by a point. This is serious. If the Cavs lose tonight, you will hear hearts breaking all over Northeast Ohio. The hope is there. C’mon Cavs! Win this for Cleveland. We need it! Don’t make us ‘wait till next year’.
P.S. While I was typing this, I hopped over to Facebook and saw my friend Joe Strailey did an excellent piece for Scene Magazine this week on being a Cleveland sports fan. Check it out here to check it out. He’s a REAL Cleveland fan. I’m just a bullsheeter.
WITNESS fever has reach new heights! Check out this video from Cleveland rapper A. Gully:
I wonder if he knows that AKRON WITNESSED FIRST?
This is hilarious!!! Gotta love Akron pride- even from a puppet!
Tuesday night we headed up to the Q/Gateway District in Cleveland to promote LeBron’s hometown (and the fact that we WITNESSED First). It was definitely an interesting experience. We got up there just before 5pm- myself, Vinnie, and Nick, a friend of Ed’s with the know-how to drive the ‘65 Land Rover- and set up camp just off of East 9th St and Bolivar St. Margaret and her passengers certainly got a raised eyebrow or two. One guy who was selling ‘King Beads’ (Mardi Gras beads in Cavs’ colors) and basketball net hats was a little pissed that we were stealing his thunder. We had some pretty stiff competition from some guys on the corner selling ‘MVP’ shirts with LeBron’s image on them for only $10, and not a lot of people seemed to ‘get’ the shirt when they walked by. But it was great to see a little more Akron represented with the Goodyear Blimp flying above us.
We didn’t blow out of shirts as we hoped- unfortunately not as many Akronites or Akron Lovers up that way. We did however have a few amazing RCC fans stop down to support us. Two guys even said they came down because they saw it on Twitter. Oh the power of quick updates. We did have a pretty good time- would have been nice to get into the game to see the Cavs DOMINATE Game 1. Tonight is Game 2, but due to the weather, we will not be heading up to Cleveland (will be a little hard to sell in a thunder storm). Look for our Facebook/MySpace/Twitter updates to see where we will be bar-hopping around Akron with WITNESSED shirts.
Last night in Cleveland, the WITNESS wall in downtown Cleveland got a little extra special treatment. In honor of LeBron’s MVP award, Nike put together a laser spectacular. Cleveland may have witnessed the award, but Akron WITNESSED the MVP first!
Monday marked a HUGE day for Northeast Ohio/Cleveland sports, and specifically Akron. Our own LeBron James was named MVP of the NBA for the 2008-2009 season. This is the first time a Cleveland Cavalier has been named MVP; the first time since 1962 a Cleveland sports player has received MVP; and most importantly the first time EVER someone from Akron has received such an honor. What made the whole deal even sweeter, is that the official announcement was made at LeBron’s alma mater, St. Vincent-St. Mary High School- where we all began WITNESSING. Dozens of fans crowded outside to see LeBron and some of the other Cavs pull up to the high school just off of West Market St. RCC’s Vinnie was there taking pictures of the action. As a St.V alum, he was SUPPOSED to get inside, but didn’t (and we’ll try not to hold it against him). He did get some pretty decent photos of the action outside:
LeBron pulling up to St. V in his Ferrari.
The Ferrari's plate.
Cavs' player Andy Varajeo made it to Akron to support LeBron, and pleased some fans along the way.
Lots of original WITNESSES.
Ben Wallace also came out to show his teammate support.