Warriors’ Parade: Lit for a champ

Like Draymond Green told Mistah Fab and former Warrior turned NBC Sports Bay Area Analyst Kelenna Azubuike on the makeshift podium, he and the Golden State Warriors are “Cut From A Different Cloth.”

It is evident in the way they play the game, the way that they bond as brothers during the season, and yes-in the way they party.

When I learned that the Warriors were going to axe the rally at Lake Merritt, I had my doubts about how exciting this parade was going to be. In my opinion, I always believed that the rally was the best part of a championship celebration. You're watching and listening to the speeches-waiting for candid moments and candid soundbites, interested in their summaries of the season and how they let loose after a well earned and deserved journey. I thought that the Warriors’ decision cheated fans out of that experience.

That was until I saw Nick Young and JaVale McGee hop off their parade bus to absorb the love of the Oakland crowd. Until I saw Jordan Bell downing some Hennessy from a fan. Then seeing Stephen Curry slipping past security and run to the crowd and him receiving a champagne shower from fans, convinced me that the team made the right call.

The parade was truly interactive in every stretch of the imagination. Seeing the fans so excited and showing tons of love to and for these men is an underrated part of what makes this title run the sweetest thus far. In this parade, I didn’t see the newly inhabited Silicon Valley stuffiness that’s in Oracle on some occasions. I saw the essence of Oakland and Roaracle out there and it was everything greater than amazing.

The interviews pre and in the middle of the parade gave the celebration a bit of the rally vibe without going to Lake Merritt for an extra hour.

In case you were wondering about my pick for Parade MVP? Well, I have two MVPs here in “Swag Champ” and Bell. Again both of them to me embodied and embraced interaction with the fans and just represented the joy of the culmination of this long journey with keeping “Larry” in the Bay.

We need to do this again next year for sure.