Yahoo Nachrichten 
Terry Francona and Tyronn Lue are typically awkward acquaintances
Indians manager Terry Francona and Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue are the leaders behind the sports renaissance in Cleveland. They’re also typically awkward acquaintances who this summer were on the opposite ends of a text message that left one feeling awkward and the other feeling empty, perhaps.
According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, the two men first met years ago in Boston when Francona was managing the Red Sox and Lue was an assistant coach for the Celtics. As a result, they’ve become supporters of one another with an occasional exchange of text messages. However, as Lue revealed on Friday, there was one pretty important text from Francona that he completely disregarded and had to explain when touching base after the Indians pennant-clinching win on Wednesday.
“He sent me a text during the Finals,” Lue said after practice Friday. “He had changed numbers, so I didn’t really know who it was. When I was texting him the other night, I saw a text came from him, and I said, ‘Oh [expletive]. My bad.’ He said, ‘No I understand. You got busy.’ … We cleaned it up, and I had a chance to talk to him the other night.”
That had a chance to be awkward. Fortunately, Francona is not one to hold a grudge. In fact, we’re sure he’d long forgotten the text went unanswered. He’s been pretty busy, you know, helping the Indians overcome injuries to reach the World Series for the first time since 1997. Once reminded though, he was very understanding of the circumstances, which are not unusual given how quickly things change in sports.
We’ll also say this: It’s better to have disregarded Terry Francona if you’re Tyronn Lue instead of someone like, say, LeBron James. That one would be a little tougher to explain to the bosses, who some would argue is actually James.
By the way, it’s worth noting the relationship between the Indians and Cavaliers appears to be stronger than ever heading into Tuesday’s epic sports conundrum. In fact, the Cavs announced Friday that they’ll be moving up their championship ceremony ahead of their home opener 30 minutes to 7:30 p.m. ET. That will allow fans to watch that without missing the first pitch of the World Series about a football field away at Progressive Field.
It’s the neighborly thing to do, after all, and it’ll give fans some positive energy heading into a nerve-wracking Game 1.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
– – – – – – –
Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
