Dub Nation Still in Disbelief
Warriors’ parade caps 40-year quest for victory
2015.06.19 – OAKLAND – For many still in disbelief, the Golden State Warriors finally emerged to celebrate their NBA championship with a victory lap through downtown Oakland, Warriors’40-year quest for victory is over.
“We’ve got to celebrate this trophy like there’s no tomorrow,” Stephen Curry, the Warriors’ MVP guard, roared with Most Valuable Toddler Riley Curry in his arms.
With a crowd estimated as high as a million — gathered along the parade route, then packed between Lake Merritt and the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center for the rally that followed — was the proverbial bandwagon bringing fans from places like Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno the team’s long-suffering fans had waited decades for this moment. Warriors’ convincing 4-2 victory over Cleveland in the NBA Finals made everybody tremendously happy.
This was the fourth championship parade for the Bay Area in five years, but the first in Oakland since the Raiders won the Super Bowl in 1981.
The 2-mile parade route was the final step in a journey that began the season after the Warriors finished their sweep of the Washington Bullets to win the title in 1975.
A true fan Shelly Canales followed the team for years, and then moved to Arizona. So when they beat the Cavs, she and son Ryan, 11, used chalk to write “Go, Warriors!” all over the family’s Ford Flex and started driving to Oakland. “We got lots of honks.”
She set their Friday wake-up call for 1:45 a.m. and secured a prime spot along the railing of the parade route by 4:30 a.m. Ryan didn’t mind the early alarm. He had been a Warriors fan since age four.
Benjamin Franklin, 36, and girlfriend Kimberley Remillard, 34, got up at 4 a.m. and drove from Hayward to claim a spot on Harrison Street. “This is good for our city to be in the spotlight,” he said. “It’s usually for something negative.”
The parade also marked the end of a rough period for the city of Oakland. The same streets that were filled Friday with double-decker buses had recently been brought to a standstill by protesters angry about police shootings in other cities.
During this parade, the only protests came from fans unhappy about the owners’ plan to move the team to San Francisco in a couple of years. As San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee’s car cruised down Harrison Street, fans yelled, “Don’t take our team!”
Children’s Fairyland, a popular destination for Bay Area families, was for one day renamed “Rileyland,” in honor of the 2-year-old supernova daughter Riley Curry of the Warriors All-Star. Riley was hoisted up in front of a hot mic at the rally and given a chance to speak her mind.
“She wants to say something,” Steph said. At which point Riley trilled something unintelligible at the crowd, then clammed up. “Stage fright,” demurred dad.
The lake provided a perfect backdrop for the end of the team’s drought, and fittingly, both Splash Brothers — Curry and Klay Thompson — recalled living in apartments on Lake Merritt after being drafted. Curry mentioned going unrecognized when he walked along the lake in those days. Now his toddler is even more famous than he was when the team was struggling.
“The cool thing about it is, we’re going to suit up in three more months and try to do it again,” Curry told the crowd.
Oakland resident Luis Yanez can relate. He brought his wife, Jackie, and children — 8-year-old daughter Andrea and 5-year-old son Jovani — to the rally at 6:30 a.m. “Seeing the Warriors win the championship is literally the second best moment of my life behind my kids being born,” Yanez said with tears in his eyes. “I never thought in my lifetime I’d see them win the championship.”
JEstevez@EMIsportsCentral.com
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