CLEVELAND (AP) — A parade held somewhere else for more than a half-century is rolling through Cleveland.
No longer the butt of jokes, it’s a title town again.
Hundreds of thousands of fans, some arriving Tuesday night to camp on the sidewalk for the best view, are lining the downtown streets to cheer superstar LeBron James and the Cavaliers, who made history by overcoming a 3-1 deficit to beat Golden State in the NBA Finals and end the city’s 52-year championship drought.
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Cleveland Cavalier fans gather at the Quicken Loans Arena early Wednesday, June 22, 2016, to watch a parade celebrating the Cleveland Cavaliers’ NBA Championship in downtown Cleveland. The Cavaliers made history by overcoming a 3-1 deficit to beat the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals and end the city’s 52-year drought without a professional sports championship. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) |
Cleveland fans young and old are partying like it’s 1964. This is the celebration James promised when he returned to his home state two years ago.
The Akron-born James was named Finals MVP, and his third title solidifies his place among the game’s greats. He was already Ohio basketball royalty — King James — and he’s now the one who stopped a half-century of sports suffering.
This was a parade Cleveland had been sitting on the curb waiting to see since the Browns won it all when Lyndon Johnson was president.
And the sight of James, who scorned the city by leaving in 2010, holding the Larry O’Brien trophy as he rides down East 9th Street is certain to produce cheers and some tears from fans waiting a lifetime to see one of Cleveland’s three teams finish first.
No major city had endured more pain with its sports franchises. The Browns, Indians, Cavs and Barons — yes, there was an NHL team here for a brief time in the 1970s — went a combined 146 seasons between sips of championship champagne.
When the Browns won their last title, beating the Baltimore Colts 27-0 before 80,000 at old Municipal Stadium, there was no major celebration. Cleveland fans simply went home, probably shoveled their driveways and went on with their lives. After all, championships were routine as the Browns, led by coaching great Paul Brown and a roster of future Hall of Famers, won seven titles from 1946 to 1955.
Cleveland’s mantel has been barren of trophies since, and the close calls have gained infamous nicknames: Red Right 88, The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot, The Move and The Decision are a part of the city’s troubled sports lexicon. The Browns lost three AFC titles to Denver from 1986-1989; the Indians were beaten in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series in extra innings; and the Cavs got swept in the 2007 Finals before losing to the Warriors in six games a year ago. Art Modell packed up the beloved Browns in 1995 and moved them to Baltimore.
Cleveland was so desperate for a parade that the previous one held for a sports team came in 1995 after the Indians made it to the World Series for the first time since 1954. They lost to Atlanta.
A parade for second place, so sad.
However, James, star guard Kyrie Irving and their teammates, who survived a coaching change midway through the season and finally fulfilled expectations in the postseason, have taken Cleveland back to the top.
There’s a new nickname — The End.
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Cleveland Cavalier fans line the parade route around the Quicken Loans Arena early Wednesday, June 22, 2016, to watch a parade celebrating the Cleveland Cavaliers’ NBA Championship in downtown Cleveland. The Cavaliers made history by overcoming a 3-1 deficit to beat the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals and end the city’s 52-year drought without a professional sports championship. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) |
