That parade was epic!
First the bad:
Unfortunately, I had the bright idea, with my sister and her boyfriend who drove up from DC, to go to Mall b. BTW, I am an NJ native who's liked the Cavs since 1997 when I was ten (you may remember I went to my first Cavs game last playoff opener). Her boyfriend is a Lebron fan, and she knows how much I've loved the Cavs since she was a pre-schooler, so she wanted to be there for us. Kudos to her for the support.
So we got to mall around 10:15 AM and slowly fought our way towards the front. It was beyond miserable out there. I couldn't take many pictures - just staying in a huge crowd for hours - literally from 10:30 until 5:00, when it was over. Was too exhausted, hungry, and weak after - couldn't go and have a good time. We were only 15 feet from the front barricade when the players were speaking but still couldn't even see the stage and watched on screen for the most part.
You can see some of the pics that I took at @dave.marcus on IG - but I haven't looked at most of them yet.
Now the Good:
But I will always value that experience, and walking the parade route before going to mall B, seeing the hoards of people, taking a bunch of photos of guys with makeshift Larry O'Brien trophies and Tyrone Hill jerseys. At mall B were thousands of us, physically miserable but loving it because it was for our Cavaliers. People were sharing water with tired children, taking turns sharing chairs to give each other a seat. There was a football making its way from one part of the crown to another. Fans joked throughout the day, and while there were a few unpleasant people, I can't imagine folks getting along better, especially not where I'm from. It was great, all things considered.
And it seems like the people who stayed on the parade route had the most fun!
I had no clue that the Cavs would have each player come through in small groups! How great was that?! In Miami, and in most celebrations I've seen, the players ride in a couple of huge vehicles, in larger groups, not interacting with fans. This was so personal, so great. Dudes were dancing, the energy was on fire. What a day! I'm starting to appreciate it more and more as my body recovers from a Tuesday with no food or drink until 8pm and a Wednesday day full of flight delays and other travel stress.
The serious:
While I love the personal nature of the celebration, I think we dodged a bullet, no pun intended. I'm used to NYC - which of course has 35,000 police officers at its disposal - and how well they manage a crowd. When I was walking Lakeside pre-parade and saw that there were no barricades on large stretches of parade routes, I was in disbelief. I have HUGE issues with NYPD tactics, but if I'm to come back next year (when we win it), I hope they bring in support so that things can be more orderly. In light of the shooting (I was only a block from T.C. when it happened), you see how quickly a situation can start. In fact, I was walking up Ontario not long after the shooting an a bunch of people started running and screaming. I started too, and pretty soon 40 or 50 of us were sprinting. People were hiding behind columns in the valet area of the Horseshoe. There was no dense crowd there, but it shows how a situation can very easily end up like Mecca without the right crowd management, and without better directing the flow of people.
BUT ANYWAY I love you all. I love the Cavs. I love Cleveland. And I love feeling like a fucking champion. (I even ordered the limited addition gold coin haha)
And while I couldn't get my hands of a championship shirt in Cleveland, I'm headed to the NBA store in NYC to buy a few . They said they have plenty!
