Cavs fans don’t have to go downtown today to enjoy the team’s historic championship parade: The Tinkham Veale University Center will be hosting a watch party on the big screen located at the building’s south end.
Plus, those wearing wine and gold today will get a $2 discount on lunch at the weekly Wednesday barbecue held just outside the Tink.
“Cleveland’s comeback has captured the imagination of the entire country,” said Vice President for Human Resources Carolyn Gregory, “but few can appreciate it more than those of us right here in Northeast Ohio.”
The last national title for a local major league sports team came in 1964, when the unheralded Cleveland Browns upset the heavily favored Baltimore Colts 27-0 in a windy and bitterly cold Cleveland Stadium. The city did plenty of celebrating that night, but no one organized a formal parade or other city-wide gathering. Word was that people thought the Browns would claim yet more trophies in the years to come—and then they’d have a parade.
After 52 years of waiting for that next championship—including one that slipped away in the bottom half of the ninth of the seventh game of the 1997 World Series—Cleveland fans feel no such complacency about Sunday’s triumph. More than 20,000 people welcomed the Cavaliers home Monday afternoon, including some who arrived before dawn. Local news media reported that downtown hotels were fully booked last night, with parade attendance possibly reaching the hundreds of thousands.
Some members of the Case Western Reserve community are taking vacation time to see the parade and program that follows on St. Clair Avenue between Malls A and B. Given the significance of this championship to the entire region, university leaders decided to give those on campus an opportunity to celebrate too. First, they encouraged people to wear wine and gold today, and second, they arranged for the festivities to be shown live on the Tink’s big screen so that fans could watch the festivities with one another during lunch breaks. Free modest refreshments will be available inside as well, and the Cavs-themed barbecue lunches will be $2 cheaper for those showing their Cavs’ colors.