Page 30 - Florida Sentinel 11-4-16 Online Edition

Sports
Maddon, Cubs Win World Series Championship With 8-7 Victory Over Cleveland Indians
Ray Allen, The Top 3-Point Shooter In NBA History, Announces Retirement
Finally.
The most epic drought in sports history is over, and the Chicago Cubs are world champi- ons.
After 108 years of waiting, the Cubs won the 2016 World Series with a wild 8-7, 10-inning Game 7 victory over the Indians on Wednesday night at Progressive Field. The triumph completed their climb back from a 3-1 Series deficit to claim their first cham- pionship since 1908.
A roller-coaster of emotions spilled out in a game that lasted almost five hours, featuring some wacky plays, a blown four-run lead, a 17-minute rain delay and some 10th inning heroics that sealed the deal.
It was a perfect ending for a franchise that had waited forever for just one championship, and your stomach never will be the same.
This is not a dream. The Cubs did it.
It was real, and it was spectac- ular. After blowing an eighth-in- ning lead in stunning fashion, the Cubs bounced back in the 10th with run-scoring hits from Ben Zobrist and Miguel Montero.
JOE MADDON
Over? Not quite.
The Indians came to within a run with two outs, until Mike Montgomery entered to induce the game-ending grounder to third base that saved the city. The Cubs rushed the field, waved "W' flags and held a group hugathon.
Tears flowed across Cubs Na- tion after the final out, and fans responded with the world's biggest group hug, remembering all the loved ones who could only imagine what it would be like to experience this moment of pure bliss.
The 1969 Cubs, the team that defined the word ''collapse,'' were off the hook. So were their pred- ecessors in '84 and 2003, who also came close only to suffer painful endings that scarred two
generations of Cubs fans and kept the drought alive.
The billy goat is gone, and the black cat too. And what was the name of the foul-ball dude? No matter. It was never really his fault, and now he's just a footnote in Cubs history.
The catchphrase Cubs fans ut- tered over the last century and change has been "just one before I die," a plea that fell on deaf ears decade after decade.
Well, you can die in peace now, thanks to former Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Mad- don's resilient club, which was bloodied and on the mat after a Game 4 loss at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs picked themselves up when Jon Lester and Aroldis Chapman tag-teamed the Indians in Game 5, and they battled to a Game 6 victory in Cleveland to set up the mother of all Game 7s between two fran- chises synonymous with heartache.
The road trips to cemeteries commence Thursday, where caps, balls, pennants and news clippings will be placed on mark- ers of loved ones, letting them know they did it. The Cubs did it.
Superstar Ray Allen won championships in Boston and Miami, made one of the most memorable shots in NBA Finals history and has more 3-pointers than anyone who ever played in the league.
More than two years after his last game, he's decided that was enough.
Allen announced his retire- ment on Tuesday in a post on The Players' Tribune website. Allen spent 18 seasons in the league with Milwaukee, Seattle, the Celtics and the Heat, averag- ing 18.9 points in 1,300 regular- season games and appearing in 10 All-Star Games.
Allen entertained thoughts about a comeback over the last two years and had plenty of op- portunities from title-contend- ing teams. But nothing ever lured him back, although the door always remained a tiny bit open -- until now.
Allen starred in the 1998 Spike Lee film "He Got Game." He portrayed Jesus Shut- tlesworth, a top-ranked bas- ketball prospect, whose father (played by Denzel Washing- ton) is in prison for killing his
RAY ALLEN
wife.
On the court, teammates and
coaches raved about Allen's famed work ethic and commit- ment to fitness -- which now takes a different form, after he and his wife, Shannon, re- cently opened an organic fast- casual restaurant in Miami. Allen was almost always on the floor for a workout three hours before games, shooting on some occasions before the arena lights were even turned on.
Allen had the record for 3- pointers in a season for seven years, his mark of 269 standing until Stephen Curry of Golden State made 272 in 2012-13 - a record Curry has topped twice.
"The greatest shooter to play the game," Curry wrote in a tweet Tuesday, congratulating Allen on his career.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2016 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 15-A