Cleveland rocks as Cavs roll in triumphant parade

Combined dispatches

CLEVELAND

Workplace productivity across Ohio reached historic lows Wednesday.

Three days after the Cavaliers captured the NBA title, an estimated 1.3 million revelers shut down Cleveland for a championship parade achingly held elsewhere for the past 52 years.

Fans lined the length of the 1.3-mile parade route – from Quicken Loans Arena all the way to East Sixth Street and Lakeside Avenue – by dawn and kept coming, They choked the streets as many as 30 deep, climbed trees and cast-iron fences, and hung out of office windows and parking garages and over highway overpasses. By 11 a.m., with the procession set to begin and the city at a standstill, many simply abandoned their cars on the side of I-77 and finished the pilgrimage by foot.

For perspective, there were more people in downtown Cleveland than there are at Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

Anything to catch a glimpse of LeBron James and their other conquering heroes.

Welcome to Cleveland. City of champions.

“You guys are unbelievable,” James told the crowd at a culminating rally at Mall B. “I love all of you.”

“It still hasn’t hit me that this has happened,” said James, who delivered on his promise to bring a championship to his home state with a magnificent playoff performance.

“It’s so surreal. For some crazy reason, I feel like I’m gonna wake up and it’s going to be Game 4 again.”

Moments later, James cradled the shiny, golden trophy in his arms like a newborn. This was his baby – and Cleveland’s.

While the crowd at Mall B waited patiently for the Cavs to arrive at the rally, they watched replays on giant screens of Cleveland’s epic Game 7 finish over the Warriors.

During his remarks, owner Dan Gilbert revealed that general manager David Griffin had written to players after Game 4, telling them not to give up.

“He said, ‘This is going to happen,”’ Gilbert said.

This new prosperity will take some getting used to. James, who shattered Cleveland’s heart in 2010, but returned four years in later in singular pursuit of a title, remained in a haze Wednesday.

For so long, Cleveland had been defined by its sporting failures. The Drive. The Fumble. The Shot. The Decision. The city had not celebrated a major sports title since Jim Brown led the Browns to an upset win over Johnny Unitas’ Baltimore Colts in the 1964 NFL championship game.

The Cavs chased down history by overcoming a 3-1 deficit to beat Golden State in a wild seven-game NBA Finals.

But on a sun-kissed summer day in this football-crazed town, everyone was a Cavaliers fan and Northeast Ohio wrapped its arms around a team that came together and defied the odds to win it all.

The city’s first championship parade since the Indians won the World Series in 1948 will long be remembered for a crowd that halted the procession, forcing police to use bicycles and a horseback unit to create enough space for cars, bands and floats to pass. The swarm spilled off the sidewalks, people packed so tightly that fans could reach into the vehicles and high-five their heroes.

Fans packed in 50 deep in spots along the 2-mile parade route, and snarled traffic badly enough to delay some outgoing flights at Cleveland’s airport because crews couldn’t make it to their planes.

Some fans camped out Tuesday night to get as close as possible to the parade route, which began near Quicken Loans Arena, the Cavs’ home.

Fans stood on rooftops, portable toilets and clung to ledges on parking decks hoping to get a glimpse of the Cavs and James, who rode in a Rolls Royce convertible with his wife, Savannah, and their three children.