By John Grindrod
Guest Columnist
They once were surely more appropriate and just as joyous, those parades of yesteryear when teams that won championships made their way through a city’s main thoroughfare to acknowledge the adoring masses who see themselves as integral to the ultimate victory just achieved. On the floats were the players and coaches, well dressed, even, depending on the decade, in suits and ties, and waving while flashing their widest grins.
But, those days seem like so much else that has changed in our modern world, as in so very long ago. That fact was reinforced earlier this summer when I saw some of the video clips of the championship parades in Denver and Las Vegas after the basketball Denver Nuggets and the hockey ‘Vegas Golden Knights won their first-ever championships. For the Nuggets, it took almost five decades, but for the Knights, it took just six years since the team’s inaugural season in 2016.
Despite the fact that these are grown men who are so athletically gifted that they’re paid wheelbarrows of millions, they still revel like kids in their championship achievements. I get that. I really do. After all, surely two things can be simultaneously true, as in, by age and by skill level, people can be adults while at the same time being capable of childlike exuberance.
To the players I say, sure, following the clinching game, jump around and celebrate as the public-address announcer screams championship proclamations, thrust your index fingers toward the heavens and find the nearest media member holding either a voice recorder or a mic and play that familiar card that reads, “No one (a) gave us a chance (b) believed in us (c) gave us any respect” to your heart’s content.
Then, get in that locker room and grab those champagne bottles, pop them open and spray the bubbly everywhere. Stay as long as you like and salute your accomplishments with those who helped you achieve them. You can also grab another of those media types, and find the box that many an athlete feels compelled to check by telling the reporter that no one can ever take that championship away from them.
I’ve wondered many times in my life just who these people are slipping in and out of the shadows looking to steal such championship accomplishments. While I’ve never encountered one of these thieves, they surely must be out there, given the dozens of times I’ve heard athletes express the fear that their championships can be taken.
However, several days after the final championship-clinching game when it’s parade time, how about a different look? While I didn’t watch either parade live on TV, I did see video clips from both.
First of all, I think many would agree that regardless of any achievement, the original euphoria felt on the actual day that the ultimate victory is achieved usually subsides a bit, beginning the day after the achievement, and each of these parades took place a full three days after for the Nuggets and four days after for the Golden Knights. And, I’d think by then, players would kind of be getting used to the term to describe their teams, the term “defending champions.” Many an athlete on championship teams in the off season before another season commences has told the press that yesterday’s victories don’t guarantee the upcoming season’s success and that it’s time to look ahead to the upcoming challenges.
What I saw in the video clips of both parades was a group of players guzzling beers and tilting bottles of liquor, tossing beers to spectators and pulling their shirts off to rock that topless look. And, when it came time for the players to take the mic and address their adoring fans, many of whom were youngsters who look up to them and proudly wear their jerseys, what they had to say was often laced with profanity, including liberal use of what has come to be known as “F bombs.”
In the case of the Nuggets head coach, senior sports writer for the entertainment and pop culture website UPROXX, Robby Kalland, who covered the event, wrote, “Michael Malone set a record for the drunkest coach in recent championship parade history. Now we’ve seen some strong contenders, as Mike Budenholzer [former Milwaukee Bucks coach] in 2021 had enjoyed more than a few and Sean McVay was torched at the Rams parade [after the Super Bowl] that same year, but Malone was on another planet.”
In ‘Vegas, during the Golden Knights’ parade down The Strip, one of several shirtless skaters, William Karlson, delivered an alcohol-fueled, profanity-laced rant for the ages, one so bad that the mic was finally taken from him by a woman I assume was one of the event’s staff.
Wouldn’t it be nice if those we so passionately cheer riding on those parade floats could celebrate as athletes once did without the look of a fraternity beer blast? Is it asking too much to save that look for a final closed-event party after the parade and then allow Ubers to spirit them home?
While I don’t think I’m a prude when it comes to having a few, I do think there’s some merit in something legions of those who birthed us have said, as in that there is indeed a time and a place for everything.
John Grindrod is a regular columnist for The Lima News, a freelance writer and editor and the author of two books. Reach him at [email protected].
