{"id":34069,"date":"2016-06-21T08:00:21","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T15:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/cleveland-celebrates-as-title-drought-ends\/"},"modified":"2016-06-21T08:00:21","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T15:00:21","slug":"cleveland-celebrates-as-title-drought-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/cleveland-celebrates-as-title-drought-ends\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleveland celebrates as title drought ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND<\/strong> \u2014 More tears. Only this time, tears of joy.<\/p>\n

Cleveland\u2019s championship drought, crossing 52 years, generations and noted by a long list of near misses, is over at last.<\/p>\n

On Father\u2019s Day, LeBron James, the kid from nearby Akron raised by a single mother, brought the title home.<\/p>\n

As the final seconds of Cleveland\u2019s 93-89 victory at Golden State in Game 7 ticked off on the giant scoreboard inside Quicken Loans Arena, 18,000 fans, some of them strangers when Sunday night began, cried, hugged, screamed and shared a moment many of them have spent a lifetime dreaming of.<\/p>\n

They then linked arms and shouted the words to Queen\u2019s \u201cWe Are The Champions,\u201d a song that seemed reserved only for others.<\/p>\n

For the first time since 1964, when the Browns ruled the NFL, Cleveland is a title town again.<\/p>\n

With James leading the way and winning MVP honors, the Cavs became the first team in NBA Finals history to overcome a 3-1 deficit.<\/p>\n

Call it The Comeback.<\/p>\n

At 10:37 p.m., Cleveland finally exorcised decades of sports demons \u2014 the painful losses given nicknames like \u201cThe Drive\u201d and \u201cThe Fumble\u201d and \u201cThe Shot\u201d \u2014 and became a title town for the first time since Dec. 27, 1964, when the Browns won the NFL championship. Along the way, there had been so many close calls, so much heartache.<\/p>\n

Like the Warriors, those days are history.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never ever thought I would see this happen,\u201d said Tim Lovell from Canfield, Ohio, who sat on the 50-yard line when Denver quarterback John Elway broke Cleveland\u2019s heart with \u201cThe Drive\u201d in the 1986 AFC Championship game. \u201cI tell you what, with about two minutes to go I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I\u2019ve seen \u2018The Drive\u2019 and I\u2019ve seen \u2018The Fumble\u2019 and I\u2019ve seen Michael Jordan kill us with \u2018The Shot.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As Lovell spoke, his 18-year-old daughter, Marisa, wiped her eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is history,\u201d she said. \u201cI cried real tears. It was overwhelming and breathtaking to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the game, fans poured out of \u201cThe Q\u201d onto Huron Road for a party that could last for days. A few climbed aboard a fire truck and a bus and up trees and light poles. Police reported a few arrests and a car with its windshield smashed, but there were no major problems, just unbridled happiness \u2014 52 years of frustration released in one cathartic crescendo.<\/p>\n

And on Wednesday, Cleveland will host a parade, one that\u2019s been planned for a lifetime.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur fans, they ride or die, no matter what\u2019s been going on, no matter the Browns, the Indians, the Cavs, and all other sports teams,\u201d James said. \u201cThey continue to support us. And for us to be able to end this, end this drought, our fans deserve it. They deserve it. And it was for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be the biggest party Cleveland has ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

True to the team\u2019s postseason motto, Cleveland was \u201cAll In\u201d for Game 7. Fans packed the bars, restaurants and even garages around the Q. It got so congested the Ohio Highway Patrol blocked several on-ramps into downtown hoping to contain the crowd.<\/p>\n

There was no holding Cleveland back though, and at the watch party fans roared with every good pass, every made shot. They groaned when Kevin Love missed an easy layup and agonized when Draymond Green, who has become Public Enemy No. 1, was left unguarded for open 3-pointers throughout the first half.<\/p>\n

And during the final nerve-wracking minutes as the Cavaliers and Warriors traded baskets in an epic struggle, some fans couldn\u2019t bear to watch. They buried their heads in their hands or paced. There were even a few huddled in prayer, looking for divine help to bring a Cleveland team to the finish line.<\/p>\n

Charlie Wilson and his 18-year-old son, Alec, spent the last moments in each other\u2019s arms. Transplanted Texans, they understand what this means to Cleveland.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than basketball,\u201d the younger Wilson said as tears rolled down his cheeks. \u201cThis is the most unbelievable night of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the hours leading to tip-off, fans braced themselves for a night to remember.<\/p>\n

This was as close as any Cleveland team had been to a title since the Indians lost Game 7 of the 1997 World Series and there was a strange boldness sweeping through the streets of a city that has endured economic and social ills for decades. Decked out in wine and gold, Northeast Ohioans came to witness history.<\/p>\n

As his wife, Jennelle, kept an eye on their 4-year-old daughter, Ed Twardziak of Broadview Heights expressed confidence the drought would end.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had that attitude for a long time, \u2018Woe is me. Only in Cleveland kind of deal,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI think a lot of that has been put behind us and everyone is more optimistic. It\u2019s going to happen, right? It\u2019s bound to happen. Why not now?\u201d<\/p>\n

In Cleveland, there\u2019s no more waiting till next year.<\/p>\n

Next year arrived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND \u2014 More tears. Only this time, tears of joy. Cleveland\u2019s championship drought, crossing 52 years, generations and noted by a long list of near misses, is over at last. On Father\u2019s Day, LeBron James, the kid from nearby Akron raised by a single mother, brought the title home. As the final seconds of Cleveland\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-34069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34069"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=34069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}