iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

First pitch! Cleveland’s Gavin Williams to Seattle’s J.P. Crawford.

Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

ANOTHER random find while doing Force research.... I had never seen the Toronto Towers logo! Here is Cleveland Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien unveiling the team's logo at Maple Leaf Gardens in March 1983 as he intended to relocate the Cavs there.

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Another random find: 8 English top-flight teams participated in an indoor soccer tournament in 1983, looking to reverse soccer's struggles in England. There was talk of shutting down outdoor in winter to play the indoor game. Lack of arenas was a hindrance. Opening paragraphs...

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Random thing I came across during Force research: In 1982, Art Modell was rumored to be selling the Browns to start an expansion team in LA to block the Raiders from moving there. NFL insiders said it was in the works, but he denied it. If only it had happened...

Art Modell quote: "I intend to stay in Cleveland with the Browns, and that my boys will succeed me when I retire-- in Cleveland."

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Attn: @michaelarace1.bsky.social Guy being interviewed on local news in Cleveland kicking it old school Hartford.

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Akron Beacon Journal readers' favorite athletes by team, circa June 1988: Kosar, Carter, Haaskivi, Price. That's a fairly representative mixed-franchise local Mount Rushmore of my childhood.

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

A hazard of Cleveland Force research is that sometimes you catch strays...

Headline that reads "Eyes of a Tiger." Subhead is "Browns draftee Mike Junkin has a look that intimidates."

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

It remains stunning to me how even with Magic and Bird, the NBA still was not that popular in the 1980s. The NBA as we know it didn't really happen until the 1990s. Here's a clip from the ABJ in March 1983 looking at the Major Indoor Soccer League vs. the NBA. Look at even those "good" NBA numbers.

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

I wonder if @michaelarace1.bsky.social ever went to see the Hartford Hellions.

A newspaper ad for the Cleveland Force vs. Hartford Hellions indoor soccer game scheduled for January 4, 1980, at the Coliseum in Richfield, OH.

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

Dashboard display of an adjacent contact while pulling up someone to call. Sometimes it’s nice to get a random reminder of the weird things that have happened in my life.

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

I did not know @mrgeorgewallace.bsky.social was in the accommodations business.

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

That’s a wrap on Force games to write about. And it was unknowingly wraps on a franchise. That’s next to write about.

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

First pitch! Cleveland’s Logan Allen to Cincinnati’s T.J. Friedl.

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

MLS fans may associate Tim Lieweke as being president of AEG during the Beckham years, but long before that, he was GM of the MISL's Kansas City Comets. When he left to take a job with the NBA expansion Minnesota Timberwolves, the Comets replaced him as GM with... a former *Chiefs* player?

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Look at this kid who signed with the Cleveland Force after being the #1 overall pick in the 1987 MISL draft. #Crew96

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

For reference, here's an aerial view of League Park in its major league days. It got its peculiar dimensions from being tucked into a rectangular block in a neighborhood, thus the short RF because of Lexington Avenue and the ample room for deep left and center fields.

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

If you’ve ever yearned to see a museum-quality urinal fragment, today is your lucky day. Hopefully this will tide you over until you can make the pilgrimage to see it in person.

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

Impossible to overstate how big League Park’s outfield is. Only 290 down RF line and 340 to right center, BUT… 380 down LF line, 425 to left center, 460 to the deepest part left of center, and 420 to dead center. So. Much. Green. Tris Speaker EARNED his reputation as one of the greatest CFs ever.

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

View from the League Park mound christened by Cy Young and where Ray Caldwell survived being struck by lightning in August 24, 1919. After being unconscious for five minutes and then some recovery time, he re-took the mound and retired the final batter to finish a complete game victory.

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

A cool thing about League Park is the field is in the exact location and dimensions of the original field. This is the view from the left-handed batter’s box from which Babe Ruth hit is 500th HR over the 45-foot fence onto Lexington Avenue. It’s just 290 feet down the line, thus the 45-foot fence.

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Had a good time today at the Baseball Heritage Museum at League Park in Cleveland to see @stephanieliscio.bsky.social give a talk on Cleveland Buckeyes great (and oldest ROY in MLB history at 32 with the Braves) Sam Jethroe. Good turnout and interesting questions/discussions. Learned some things!

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

A 1986 headline that unwittingly invoked Cleveland’s indoor soccer future.

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Steve Sirk @stevesirk.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

How about that? Turns out #Crew96 did not pioneer the scoreboard fire. This is Connie Mack Stadium (formerly Shibe Park) in Philadelphia on April 16, 1966. Jim Maloney is pitching for the Reds and that's Pete Rose playing third base in the background.

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