Cavs-Warriors Game 7 memories: Bedlam at Dick’s in Mentor, and the best walk ever | Opinion

Some of the best moments of your life are with family and friends.

Weddings, birthdays, graduations ... you name it.

Some of the best moments of your life can be just as enjoyable on your own, but more on that in a bit.

First, a look back. Where were you at about 11:30 p.m. June 19, 2016?

That date will live in infamy in Northeast Ohio.

At about that time, LeBron James made an epic block to set up this: Kyrie Irving’s 3-pointer for the ages that was and will forever be the shot heard around Cleveland.

Those plays helped seal the 93-89 victory that completed the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history ­— and made Cleveland a championship city for the first time n 52 years. The Game 7 victory was a rally from the Cavs being 3-1 down in the series.

ABC’s Mike Breen said it best: “Cleveland’s long sports nightmare is over. The drought is over.”

Kleenexes everywhere went into overdrive throughout the area when James hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy moments later and screamed, “Cleveland, this is for you!”

For some Cavs fans, it might be difficult to look back because right now the natural instinct is to only look forward. James’ free-agency period is set to begin on July 1.

It’s OK to look back. Enjoy the moment. Search YouTube for Game 7, and savor the heroics.

Remembering where you were, and who you were with make the memories more special.

Yours truly was working in the office that night with the likes of longtime News-Herald staffers Howard Primer, Robin Palmer and others producing the next day’s print editions and updating our website and social media platforms. It was a tremendously busy night.

As a media outlet, spreading the news is always better when the news is good. The bigger the news, the bigger the headline. We went with “FINALLY!” which I thought summed up that night.

For me, though, things were just getting amped up.

Prior to Game 7, Dick’s Sporting Goods emailed a notice to the media of after-hours sales of NBA championship merchandise in the event of a Cavaliers’ victory.

So I drove to Great Lakes Mall, thinking a scattering of fans would be lined up to get their hands on some gear. I was wrong.

Had Mentor policed wanted to fill out their June 2016 quota for speeding tickets, staking out Mentor Avenue in the early morning hours of June 20 would have sufficed. Cars zoomed past mine, and upon arriving at the parking lot in front of Dick’s, people sprinted from their cars to get a spot in line, which snaked around to the side of Macy’s, parallel to Mentor Avenue.

At least 2,000 were lined up, waiting for the doors to open at Dick’s, but that was likely a conservative number.

Mentor resident Donald Lavrich was the first in line that night.

“It’s Christmas,” he said. “I’m buying everything.”

The doors opened well after midnight, and after the excitement had settled down a bit, I made a decision I thought I might regret. Do I drive into downtown Cleveland to watch the celebration unfold? After a few minutes, I thought to myself, “Heck yeah!”

The catch was executing that plan. Many exit and entrance ramps off the shoreway and highways were blocked off because of traffic overflow.

Experience growing up on the west side served me well. I avoided the highways, and took West 25th into the Flats area. Amazingly, I faced little to no traffic, and found a parking spot with little trouble.

The walk into downtown Cleveland took a while, but no one was in an hurry on this night/early morning. The closer I arrived to downtown Cleveland, the buzz continued to build. By the time I arrived near Tower City, the feeling of joy, relief and excitement oozed into your feet all the way up to the your head.

It was Christmas, the Fourth of July, your birthday, New Year’s Eve, Opening Day in baseball, the Ohio State-Michigan game, a cold beer on a 90-degree day, that first cup of coffee in the morning all rolled into one.

People danced in the streets. They hung from windows for some reason. People of all races and colors hugged, and high-fived. Everyone was your best friend.

Cleveland police officers watched, and smiled. Incidents were few and far between.

It was beautiful to watch, and the best walk I ever took. Given a choice, I would have preferred someone special by my side, but I didn’t mind.

It was almost 5 a.m. upon walking into my home, but there was no way I was going to sleep just yet.

I cracked open a beer with a smile on my face.

I could only think of one thing: “Cheers to all of us, Cleveland.”

2016 Cavs championship stories