Editor's note: Tony Grossi covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN 850 WKNR.

Chill: On the verge of its first major professional sports team championship in 52 years, Cleveland is a frazzled mess.

A glorious NBA Finals rematch of the Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors begins Thursday in Oakland. And I’m already hearing enough gnashing of teeth and cracking of knuckles to drown out the cacophony of the 17-year cicadas invading Northeast Ohio.

Fans and media are too worried about the traditional kick in the stomach they have come to expect than to enjoy the journey on which the Cavaliers have taken us.

It is understandable.

It is also sad.

Seemingly, we can’t revel in the moment for fear of another humongous letdown.

I caught a whiff of this when I Tweeted my hope for the Warriors to complete their comeback from a 3 games-to-1 deficit in the Western Conference finals and defeat the tottering Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7.

These responses were typical:

Grossi the Warrior fan. Sad.

said Tony Grossi in his Warriors Pajamas

Angst-ridden Cleveland sports fans wanted OK City to win the West because the Cavaliers would have home-court advantage over the Thunder, but not over the Warriors.

I could care less about where Game 7 of the Finals is played because there won’t be a Game 7. And if there is, no worries. They’ve got this.

Respect: Cleveland is a fantastic, passionate sports city, but it has a fatal flaw -- an utter inability to respect the opponent.

Cleveland fans deride true champions because they are so envious of them.

So they ridicule John Elway and Michael Jordan and every other Hall of Famer who has outperformed the local sports heroes with championships on the line.

Last year, Golden State was lucky to beat the Cavaliers, say Clevelanders, because the Cavs were injury-riddled and not at full strength.

And when the Warriors ripped off an NBA-record 73 regular-season wins -- against nine losses -- Cleveland fans jeered that it means nothing if the Warriors don’t win the championship.

So the Warriors made it to the Finals again and Cleveland fans want to believe the NBA rigged it in favor of Golden State to pump up TV ratings, or something.

I’d rather see the Warriors as the Cavs’ opponent in the epic Finals that will break the Cleveland’s 52-year championship drought. Why? Because they are the defending champions and one of the greatest teams in NBA history.

Be the best? Beat the best.

And, yes, Golden State scoring machine Steph Curry is the NBA’s current brightest star, professional sports’ best role model and Madison Avenue’s most valuable pitchman.

Curry has taken over from Tiger Woods -- in his prime -- as the one person in professional sports that would cause me to drop everything and watch him on TV. He drew me back to the NBA. I didn’t watch an NBA game for years until Curry captivated me in the All-Star Weekend three-point contest in 2015.

I want to see Curry -- the very deserving two-time NBA most valuable player -- perform on this Finals stage because I have the utmost confidence in the Cavaliers prevailing.

But Cleveland fans and media deride Curry for demonstrably chomping on his mouth guard, for beating his chest when he makes a clutch three-pointer or foul shot, for allowing his 3-year-old daughter Riley to invade Golden State postgame press conferences.

Why can’t Cleveland fans respect Curry as the best showman in the NBA today? Good lord, he is so fun to watch.

Been there?: The sports quote “act like you’ve been there before” has been attributed to Paul Brown, Vince Lombardi, Bear Bryant and other coaching greats.

I would like to offer that advice to Cleveland sports fans and some media as the Cavaliers’ championship run concludes. But then, most Cleveland sports fans and media, in fact, haven’t been there before.

Most have never seen a Cleveland sports championship and don’t know how to act as one unfolds.

So, here are some tips:

* Curry is going to chomp on that mouth guard and is going to bury a bunch of threes and beat his chest and howl. Don’t hate him for it.

* Draymond Green is going to cheap-shot some Cavalier and probably will get away with it. It is not an NBA conspiracy to get the Warriors a second straight title.

* The Cavs will not win every game. It will not be the end of the world when they lose.

* It is going to be a fun Finals. Enjoy the ride.

* Above all, respect your opponent. They’re pretty good, too.