Here's my best recollection of the day today...
Arrived at my (poorly) chosen spot to watch the parade at around 8:30. I parked close to The Flat Iron Cafe and walked up. No problems going there or back. I ended up on East 9th almost across from the Galleria. There were a bunch of people who were there really early that grabbed choice seats (or so they thought). I found two older ladies in motorized carts and my friend and I grabbed spots behind them knowing they weren't standing anytime soon.
Weather was warm but there was shade where we were, so it wasn't so bad. As the sidewalk and parts behind were filling up to capacity, randoms would be walking back and forth in the street. It was finny at first as they pretended to be in the parade, but after a while, those people started to congregate and just stand in the street. Now there was a second line of people about 6-8 feet in front of us going 5-6 deep. First of all, it sucked because these bastards didn't put in the time to get a good spot, but they grabbed one anyway. Secondly, as was mentioned before, they totally impeded to flow of the parade. At one point, the mounted police went side by side down the street getting people out of the way. The problem was that once they passed, those people went right back to their old spots. In general, the cops did nothing. How there weren't those portable metal fence sections around the parade route is beyond me.
The parade was cool enough when it was moving. We got to see:
-Urban Meyer, Thad Matta, and Gene Smith go by.
-Jim Brown - he was giving some sort of speech, but his microphone wasn't working. We gave a sympathy clap, pretending to hear what he was saying.
-Gordon Gund went by and nobody around me noticed who he was. I yelled, "Congrats, Mr. Gund!" and he totally looked at me like I was the first person to realize who he was. I waved but felt like an asshole for doing so.
-Vehicles with people nobody knew went by several times.
-The Larry O'Brien trophy has no friends.
-The players, except for Moz and Kaun, rode on trucks with an entire entourage.
-Lebron was really hard to see. He was way too low. That sucked.
My friend and I said "fuck it" and moved into the street to get closer to the action. Of course, there was trashy girl sitting on her BF's shoulders. We were heckling her. It was like, "Ummm...you're 35. Get the fuck out of the way."
Anyways...for as crappy as some of the management of the parade was, I am so glad that I went. I am also so glad I decided to leave my kid at home.
Here are some pictures:
ESPN 850 Tent
Here are the assholes starting their line in the street:
The mounted cops that looked cool but did nothing:
Can you see the opening where the parade goes? That's because it wasn't there.
Go Buckeyes!
Hey the Monsters mooched on the parade crowd:
Cavs Girls:
I know I'd be smiling if I were standing there too...
This girl was hot, so I took some pics of her too...
