SFO777

Although I grew up in Montreal, I consider Cleveland my adopted home town. We enjoyed our 12 years in Cleveland but one can only take so many cloudy winters on the shores of Lake Erie. After the kids graduated from high school, we moved west. But our sporting hearts are still in Cleveland…. die-hard Indians, Browns and Cavs fans. Why else would we show up Sunday morning to watch a Browns-Steelers game at a seedy Denver Browns backers bar that looks like it’s right out of Parma? Man there are a lot of ex-Clevelanders in Denver!!



Four years ago, I went back to Cleveland for LeBron’s first game back after joining the Heat and booed with 20,000 others. An amazing night… until the tip. :







Some great signs that night.





So we suffered through four years cheering for every team that played Miami and loved it when the Spurs embarrassed the Heat last year. But all was forgiven and tears shed for Cleveland when LeBron decided to come home.



Since Clevelanders don’t have many Championships to celebrate, we look for other great moments. So I decided to make LeBron's first home game back a bucket list trip for our 3 sons. LA and SF sons are taking red-eyes while SFOJr and I catch a 6AM AA flight to Chicago.

DEN-ORD
AA 1028
737-800
6:00A-9:10A
October 30, 2014

Excellent MIA-based crew offered PDB service, juice or water.
Choice of Quiche Florentine or Steel Cut Oatmeal, one of my faves.



Another post 9/1 downgrade, dried fruit instead of fresh fruit.



Steel cut oatmeal was great. Biscuit good.





Jr liked his quiche.



Beautiful sunrise.



Nice pic of Chicago.







Next up: Cleveland goes crazy for tonight's game.

Short hair Francis

Woohoo on another SFO777 Trip Report ^^^

Shouldn't you get ready for Lake Effect Snow yet SFO777, I still remember one of those 2010 PIT MRs where I was getting buried in Erie, PA and it was 1st week of Nov

Ok, I have slightly better teams to celebrate as a Canucks, Seahawks, and Mariners Fan

At least the Seahawks destroyed the Broncos last Super Bowl

And you not complaining as much about AA food is a new one

Madone59

On behalf of Daniel Gilbert's world wide - it was good to have you in Cleveland

SFO777

ORD-CLE
AA 4334
E75
11:10A-1:20P
October 30, 2014

One of the most fun flights in months, made memorable by our personal motherly FA Flo, who made us the "Flo Special" Bloody Mary. Wow, talk about strong. Had us in stitches and tagged Jr as a "player" who needs to find the right woman and settle down. LOL.



An on time arrival at close in A3 and we were in a taxi shortly thereafter.



After dropping our back-packs off at the downtown Marriott, we headed over the to west side to meet the rest of the gang at The Great Lakes Brewing Company.



After a "few" local beers, we walked back downtown via the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge.







And by the Q.







Back to the hotel for a bit and then we headed out to join the growing crowd and festivities...







Pre-game concert by Lamar Kendrick and Imagine Dragons.



Too many people to even get close so we decided to go across the street and enter the arena.



New super HD jumbotron. Pretty cool.



Lots of celebs in the building.









And The King.







And Usher singing the national anthem.













And the signature chalk toss.



Unfortunately, after all of the anticipation, not a great game for LeBron. It's going to take a while for the team to gel.



More celebs with Beiber getting the loudest boos of the night.







After the game, on our walk back to the hotel.









All in all a great day despite the loss.

SFO777

Thanks Francis. No snow, missed it by two days.
The AA breakfast was OK. It's just the rest of the meals that are the problem.

LOL. I'm sure it was for Dan. Ha.

Thor3

Cleveland can have some great fall weather until that shallow Lake Erie freezes. Then it acts like a freezer making anything downtown "brisk".

Glad you had a great time with your sons. What a great experience for all of you. Thank you for sharing your trip with us.

I will be back to my roots in CLE next week to visit family. I hope the weather holds.

SAtraveller

Thanks for this SFO777

It's funny how sports heroes can mean little to you if you don't live in the region. Our British colonial influences prevented us from ever being associated with basketball - don't know the rules, the big players, even the so-called celebs (except Bieber, the twit). I'm sure you found your experiences similar when you visited a cricket game in one of your TR's.

Overall very enjoyable and different, thank you.

Short hair Francis

Boo, I was hoping to see some snow.
I agree, I'm not loving the Dougie Diet either

Hey, I know hockey has Ice Girls, where are the Basketball Cheerleaders, should bball games have them???
Even my High School back in the day had them for Basketball games

Where are the hotel pics? They can't be that Compton LOL

Looking Forward to the NEXT SFO777 Trip Report ^^^


I agree fully, lucky I wasn't living on the Windward side of the Lakes back in the day.
Amazing you can drive 10 miles and go from 1 inches > 4 feet of snow

I know I wasn't brave enough to kiss anybody at the Falls in Jan
20-30F plus 20 mp/h wind chill = Frozen Stuck-Together Lips

CosmosHuman

My hometown, CLE. It's a shame they lost, but there are maybe 70+ more games to go. Glad you had a nice time. I work downtown and that day it was madness out. So many people....not enough bars!

FlightNurse

The real fruit had been missing for a while, even before Sept 1, just a FYI. My PHX-MIA flights haven't had fruit for almost a year, except for the dried stuff. Like you its still one of my fave breakfast.

SFO777

After a few more drinks in the Marriott bar, I went up to the room to try to get some sleep before our 5:15AM wake-up call. Barely awake, we piled in a taxi at 6AM for the 20 minute ride to the airport. Funny cabbie who told us the real scoop in the Marriott, apparently a popular hotel for hourly stays. And what is that god awful perfumey smell in the hotel? Supposedly they use it to cover up the sewer smells. TMI-TMI. And then there his story about Tara, a local member of the world's oldest profession, who occasional can't or doesn't want to pay for her taxi rides. Apparently the barter system is alive and well in Cleveland.

CLE-DFW
AA 2429
A319
7:15A-9:05A
October 31, 2014
Continental Breakfast

First time on the 8 seat AA A319 and hopefully my last. Wow, are these seats uncomfortable. Please just shoot me if I have to fly on this plane again. Only two rows of First in a tight cabin with awful slider seats. Personal entertainment system at each seat is the only positive about this plane. The bad news today was that the audio malfunctioned so it was silent movie day. The good news is that AA credited each of our accounts with 5,000 AAdvantage miles for the audio failure.





Like PIT and a bunch of other apparently unimportant AA markets, AA does not have a catering deal at CLE. So we get the Continental Breakfast. Not even fresh fruit or baked goods.





The cinnamon bites were tasty but more like a dessert. Friendly DFW-based FA even opened another package and heated them for Jr. ^



Nothing says AA First Class more than a milk carton with a straw.



Finally some good luck today as we arrived at C25 and our connecting flight was at C19 directly across from the C Admirals Club

DFW-DEN
AA 125
MD-80
10:15A-11:15A
October 31, 2014
Dougie's Snack Basket

Thank god for the old MD-80s and comfortable recliner seats. Short 80 minute flight featuring a couple passes of the snack basket. Took one for the team, although the croissant as a snack was actually fresh and edible.





We were back in Denver 29 hours after we left... exhausted but happy to have made the trip and to have been a part of Cleveland sports history.

SFO777

Thanks very much Thor3.

Thank you SAtraveller. How true about regional sports interests. Like the cricket frenzy in India and the sub continent.

Apparently we missed the snow by two days. Ha.
The Marriott was not worry of any pics. And that smell. Ugh.

Thanks happymom2008. It was amazing to be a part of the excitement. Obviously, the players were feeling the emotion as well. They looked much better the next night in Chicago where they won in OT.

I haven't had for about a year so that would be about right. Unfortunately. I guess $1.2 billion in quarterly profits is not enough to get rid of the vending machine food.


For more pics and an HD version of the report, please visit SFO777.com.

arlflyer

Ugh, major laptop crunchage alert for guy in 2C. Not exactly a spacious first class product...

exmike

Never thought I'd see pictures of cleveland in the TR forum. Spent 4 years there for med school. Like you, I had to leave for warmer pastures, but I still have a soft spot for the city. Drove past the Jake and Q (or whatever it was called in back then, gund?) every day to the hospital.

Genius1

Thanks for the short report, SFO777 ^ The catering on your outbound flight doesn't look too bad - I like the new AA tray setup, although the dried fruit and carton milk isn't very premium. Catering on your inbound looks woeful.