“A lot of biblical references here,” Mark Urycki of member station WCPN tells our Newscast unit, “when you talk about King James, who was known as the Chosen One, and then the Second Coming. … To deliver this championship is something very special.”
Urycki says he spoke to a season-ticket holder from the suburbs who said that driving into town for the parade felt like a “pilgrimage.”
“I talked to several people yesterday at the hotels telling me that it’s all Clevelanders, Ohioans and just Cavs fans from around the country who are flying home just to be here for this parade, because they kind of want to be part of this shared experience,” Urycki says. “It’s very emotional for people.”
Beautiful weather, plus high hometown emotions, fueled enormous turnout for the parade.
How big of a deal is this parade?
Cleveland city courts — and this is true — are waiving fees and forgoing arrest warrants for anybody who misses a court date because he or she was at the celebration.
The AP notes that back in 1964, when Cleveland last won a major championship, there was no special city party.
“After all, championships were routine,” the wire service notes. The Browns had won seven titles from 1946 to 1955.
Decades later, things were very, very different.
“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,” the AP writes. “They lost to Atlanta.
“A parade for second place.”
But that was then. This is now.
And today, Cleveland’s a city of champions.
