I do feel like a Clevelander. Every time, when people ask me, I

In the words of Kyrie Irving, “I do feel like a Clevelander. Every time, when people ask me, I automatically say, ‘My home is Cleveland.’” — we hear not just the voice of an athlete, but of a soul speaking of belonging, loyalty, and identity. It is rare for a traveler, who has crossed oceans and cities, to declare allegiance to a single place. Yet in these words lies the eternal truth: that home is not where one is born, but where one’s spirit is tested and transformed. Irving speaks as one who found not just fame but formation in Cleveland, the city where his boyhood dreams were forged into heroic reality. Through victory and defeat, joy and pain, the soil of Cleveland became the ground of his becoming.

In the days of the ancients, warriors and poets alike spoke of the cities that shaped their destiny. Achilles had his Phthia, Odysseus his Ithaca — not because these places were merely physical lands, but because they held the memory of who they had been and who they became. So too does Kyrie Irving, by calling himself a Clevelander, honor the sacred bond between person and place. For it was in Cleveland that he rose from a gifted youth to a champion, standing side by side with his comrades in the great struggle for victory. The city gave him challenge and opportunity; he, in return, gave it his heart and his name.

In the world of sport, loyalty is often tested by the currents of fortune — contracts, fame, and shifting allegiance. Yet there is a deeper loyalty, one not written in ink or gold, but in memory and gratitude. Irving’s words recall that truth. They echo the spirit of Aeneas, the wandering hero of Rome’s founding myth, who carried with him the ashes of Troy. Though he built a new city, his heart never forgot the flames that once defined him. Likewise, Irving carries the fire of Cleveland within him — a fire born of struggle, resilience, and triumph, the fire that once lit the dreams of a city yearning for redemption.

To say, “My home is Cleveland,” is to make a declaration of roots and reverence. For home is not a place that is chosen lightly; it is claimed through time, through toil, and through love given without condition. The Clevelander spirit is one of grit — of working through the long winters, of believing in tomorrow’s dawn even when today is clouded. In calling himself one of them, Irving places himself among those who rise not through ease, but through endurance. His words remind us that the truest belonging is not granted — it is earned, through devotion and shared struggle.

Let us look also to the story of Alexander the Great, who, though born in Macedonia, wept not for his homeland but for the vast empire he came to know as his own. Yet when his journey ended, it was not the splendor of Persia he longed for, but the soil that had raised him — the rough hills where he had learned courage, discipline, and command. So it is with Kyrie and Cleveland: though the world opened wide before him, the city that shaped his courage remains the dwelling of his heart. Home, after all, is the forge of the soul, and no amount of distance can undo the shaping of one’s spirit there.

In this declaration, there is also a quiet humility — a recognition that greatness does not emerge from isolation, but from community. The cheers of the fans, the faith of the city, the shared dream of championship — these are not ornaments to his success, but the very air he breathed as he rose. His acknowledgment of home is an act of gratitude, and gratitude is the mark of the wise. The ancients taught that to forget where one came from is to lose the thread of one’s own story. To remember, then, is to remain whole.

And so, my friends, the lesson is clear: Honor the places that have shaped you. Whether it is the city of your birth, the school of your youth, or the land where you found your calling, give thanks for the soil beneath your feet. Let your heart carry those places as Kyrie carries Cleveland — not as trophies, but as truths. Wherever you go, let your home live within you, as a compass pointing you back to your beginnings. For in the end, no matter how far we wander, we belong to the places that made us brave, and it is by remembering them that we remain rooted in the great story of who we are.