Sports fans in Cleveland will settle for a championship any way they can get it.

Even if it comes by way of the city’s NBA team as opposed to their beloved NFL Browns.

Even if it comes via the help of the greatest player in the world, who several years back went on national television and publicly embarrassed the region when he took his ball and won titles elsewhere.

But again, make no mistake, you take the sweet taste of success any way you can get it.

That’s what happens when you’ve gone 146 major sports seasons without a title. The last of which came on Dec. 27, 1964 when the Browns defeated the Baltimore Colts for the NFL championship.

But leave it to a nearby rival city to damper what should be a glorious time for sports fans in northeast Ohio.

If LeBron James and the Cavs pull off a series win over the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, will the accomplishment lose some luster should the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins claim their fourth Stanley Cup at the very same time?

Sure, nobody cares about hockey, but I can’t help but dwell on such a coincidence on the eve of the Cavs rolling out their best Finals lineup yet.

The Penguins took a 2-0 lead over the San Jose Sharks after winning in overtime on Wednesday. The NBA Finals tip off in California on Thursday night.

Pittsburgh has won a combined 11 championships in three different sports since the day the Browns last brought one home for Cleveland.

And now the City of Steel is halfway to another parade and celebration at a time when Cleveland should be at the forefront of the sports bubble throughout the area.

This odd twist of fate has me feeling as though the title drought in Cleveland is finally on its deathbed.

How fitting, though, for it to be overshadowed in the most Cleveland kind of way while the neighboring bully basks (yet again) in jubilation of its own.