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March 29, 2024

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It feels like home: Group of Cleveland fans enjoys NBA Finals at local bar

Cleveland Cavalier Fans at Boulevard Bar and Grille

L.E. Baskow

Cleveland Cavalier fans watch their team struggle to close the gap in Game 4 of the NBA Finals at the Boulevard Bar and Grille on Thursday, June 11, 2015.

Cleveland Cavaliers Fans at Boulevard

Cleveland Cavalier fans end up quite dismayed by being blow out while watching Game 4 of the NBA Finals at the Boulevard Bar and Grille on Thursday, June 11, 2015. Launch slideshow »

Before I even fully took my seat Thursday evening at the Boulevard Bar and Grill, the guy next to me donning a Cleveland Cavaliers hat smiled broadly and introduced himself.

He must be from the Midwest, I thought. It wasn’t necessarily the ball cap that was a complete giveaway: It was his friendly, down-to-earth demeanor, characteristic of so many residents in Rust Belt or cornfield-saturated states, where cities tend to be older and the skies tend to be grayer — at least in the winter.

As it turns out, I was half right. He was born outside of Cleveland, but his family moved to Las Vegas when he was 4 years old. Now a Southern California resident, business brought him back here for a few days and, more specifically, Google brought him to this bar on Las Vegas Boulevard South when he searched “Cleveland sports bar Las Vegas.”

“I remember The Fumble. I remember The Drive. I remember all that,” said Raimon Chikhani, 40, explaining his Cleveland-obsessed upbringing. “The pain. It’s a lot of pain.”

And there would be more pain that evening. Excited jitters were short-lived inside the bar and restaurant, a Cleveland enclave in a patch of desert across from the South Point. The Cavs struggled to remain in the game and lost to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, 103-82.

But in this building, with Cleveland paraphernalia hanging from the walls, no one had to explain the morose quiet that settled over the dining room and bar. We all got it: Maybe the Cavs’ hard-fought playoff run was just that — another run destined to end without a championship. The best-of-seven game series is even at two games apiece, but Golden State has home court advantage and is a heavy favorite.

Another year Michael Modic could shake his head in disgust.

Modic, chairman of the Neurological Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, remembers when the Browns won what was then called the NFL Championship in 1964. In town for the Keep Memory Alive “Power of Love” gala, Modic joked that he wanted to get as far away from Cleveland as possible during the city’s latest sporting endeavor.

“The sad part is those of us who are from Cleveland know it will be many years before (they win) because they will take us right to the edge and make us suffer,” he said.

And yet here he was sitting in a Las Vegas establishment for Cleveland transplants watching the Cavs miss shot after shot.

His hometown pride, cloaked in decades of sports-related exasperation, reminded me of my dad. My parents grew up in Cleveland, so when we lived out of town for chunks of my childhood, our heritage was never difficult to spot: A Cleveland shrine of city memorabilia adorned our living room wall — a concept my mom never fully embraced from a décor standpoint.

So it didn’t surprise me when my dad sent me a text Tuesday evening, checking to make sure I was watching Game 3 of the series. Of course, I replied.

“Very good … Jackie … I am successful at brainwashing you,” he wrote back.

Yes, indeed. That’s why I jumped at the opportunity to spend the evening in a local Cleveland bar, surrounded by Cleveland people, per the sports editor’s suggestion.

What would other transplants and tourists from Cleveland make of this much-anticipated championship run anchored by LeBron James?

“Even if we don’t get it, it’s amazing we’re even there,” said Flory DelSangro, a Cleveland native and one of the owners at Boulevard Bar and Grill.

Click to enlarge photo

Jackie Valley

His customer count swells with Cleveland and Ohio State victories, especially if it’s the Browns playing. Then they would be turning people away at the door. But on this evening, it was all about the Cavs. He wore a Cavs playoff shirt, and his wait staff — many who hail from Ohio — stole glances at the TV as they served their like-minded customers.

Cheers erupted when fan favorite Matthew Dellavedova lobbed the ball to LeBron for a picturesque slam dunk.

DelSangro, for the record, harbors no ill will toward LeBron. Neither does Chikhani, who donated all his LeBron jerseys to Goodwill after “The Decision.”

“I think he’s cool,” Chikhani said, listing the basketball star’s attributes: great player, family man, role model. “I’m a LeBron fan if he’s on the Cavs.”

Spoken like a true Cleveland fan, Chikhani’s comment hints at our self-serving motivations for forgiveness: If Cleveland has a shot at winning a title, LeBron is the person to make it happen. After all, he’s led a team riddled with injuries this far.

And what if maybe, just maybe, Cleveland did bounce back from this loss and win it all? The next game in the series in Sunday, giving Clevelanders another chance for their elusive title.

“Oh, they’re gonna burn the town down,” said Laben Brittenum, a tourist visiting Las Vegas from Youngstown, Ohio. “I might go join them.”

In Las Vegas, the rest of us Cleveland transplants will be watching, wishing we were there and hoping the city doesn’t actually disintegrate.

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