It’s been over three months now, and I am still pinching myself.

How about you?

Some days I still wake up and ask myself if it was all just a dream. Well, Cleveland, we all know it wasn’t a dream. It’s real. In fact, it’s as real as anything I have ever experienced in my entire life.

Being down 3-1 against the team with the fewest losses in NBA history in a single season was very real. Winning Game 5 at Oracle arena was real. Winning Game 6 at the Quicken Loans Arena - also real. LeBron’s block - real. Kyrie’s shot - real. K-Love’s stop - real.

The Cavaliers defying history by winning three straight games (two of them in Oracle) to win the 2016 NBA Championship and deliver Cleveland, Ohio its first professional championship in 52 years, or 18,802 days, or 451,258 hours, or 27,074,880 minutes, or 1,624,492,800 seconds - yep, real.

But of all the real stops made on this incredible journey, the thing that felt the most real was looking into the eyes of the 1.3 million Cavalier fans who came from parts near and far to celebrate this monumental moment in Cleveland history at the downtown Championship Parade.

Seeing the joy in everyone's eyes after lifting the burden that had plagued northeast Ohio for over a half century was everything and more than all of us here at 1 Center Court have always dreamed about.

This championship has always been about more than basketball. It's about the memories of the sons, the fathers, and the grandfathers. The daughters, the mothers, the grandmothers. Over the 11 seasons we've had the honor of owning the Cavaliers, the stories we've heard always had the same theme: “I was with my father when ____,” “I was with my grandmother when _____.” “I’ll never forget the look on my uncle’s face when _____.”

And now finally, the precious memory will be “I was with _____ when the clock expired in Game 7 of the NBA Finals and the Cavaliers brought Cleveland its first professional title in 52 long years!"

This championship has touched the collective heart and soul of this great, hard-working Midwest town, boosting the confidence of our entire community. If Ty Lue can rally the Cavaliers back from the brink of another ‘almost’ season and overcome the insurmountable odds of being down 3-1 in the NBA Finals to one of the best teams in history, then just maybe we can overcome some of the many long-time challenges we face as a city and a community. There is nothing more symbolic than sports, and as strange as that may be to some, nobody can argue with the positive effects and impact that winning can have on an entire region.

Every single one of us in the Cavaliers organization, from our astute and savvy GM - David Griffin - to Moondog, was fueled by your spirit and refusal to never stop believing. Thank you for being the source of all that motivated so many great people to work together to reach our collective dream. It's fans like you and all of the other Wine and Gold members that are the leaders of our incredible fan base. Without you, this entire life-changing experience simply does not happen.

So this city is no longer “Believeland.” It is now “Achieveland.”

It's good to win. I say we keep doing it. Let's keep ‘Larry' where he belongs - on the shores of Lake Erie right here in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.

You ready to do this again?!

Dan G.

Majority Owner
Cleveland Cavaliers