Cleveland Heights, Ohio — THERE is no song called “I Left My Heart in Cleveland.” Cleveland is the flip side of California and the Golden State Warriors, whom they have met in the last two N.B.A. finals. The former Cleveland Cavaliers basketball coach David Blatt once said: “We’re in Cleveland. Nothing is easy here.” Then he got fired.

Sunday night Cleveland came back from a three-games-to-one deficit to beat Golden State and win the N.B.A. championship. I was born in Cleveland, my father was born in Cleveland, my children were born in Cleveland, and we’ve all seen many, many losing teams — 52 years’ worth, if you’re counting. And we’re counting here in Cleveland. The last time Cleveland won a championship was the 1964 National Football League Championship. My dad took me. I was in Section 18, Row T, Seat 8 of Municipal Stadium.

Two years ago, when LeBron James announced his return to Cleveland from Miami in Sports Illustrated, some Cleveland men teared up. My middle-aged friend Jimmy and I did. So un-Cleveland — those tears. The credo here is “Cleveland: You’ve Got to Be Tough,” from a T-shirt first printed in the 1970s when the boy-mayor Dennis Kucinich ushered the city into default.

James wrote: “Before anyone ever cared where I would play basketball, I was a kid from Northeast Ohio. It’s where I walked. It’s where I ran. It’s where I cried. It’s where I bled. It holds a special place in my heart. People there have seen me grow up. I sometimes feel like I’m their son.”