Sports

Championship parade in Cleveland. Shirts optional

Bob CollinsBob Collins Jun 22, 2016
31

If we didn’t know better, we’d think that Cleveland Cavalier J.R. Smith and former Minnesota Timberwolves player Mo Williams were trolling Pioneer Press columnist Joe Soucheray by going shirtless during today’s mammoth parade for the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers in the city by the lake.

Soucheray, the Pioneer Press columnist stirred up Twitter — to our delight — because this picture is an assault on the writer’s senses.
Cleveland Cavaliers' Tristan Thompson, second from left, J.R. Smith, center, and Kevin Love, right, celebrate as they arrive at the airport after winning Game 7 of basketball's NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors the previous night, Monday, June 20, 2016, in Cleveland. Cleveland won 93-89. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

When you see these guys hold a Stanley Cup or a Larry O’Brien Trophy or the Vince Lombardi Trophy or the Commissioner’s Trophy in baseball there can be no doubt that you are witnessing relief of the highest order. And down on the field or on the rink or on the court a player might even tear off his jersey and twirl it around his head. But these were the Cleveland Cavaliers returning home with the city’s first title of any kind since 1964. They had done all their serious celebrating.

Am I asking too much that when you get off the airplane for the photo opportunity that you at least wear a shirt?

SB Nation, which documented the Cavaliers’ side trip to Vegas on the way home to Cleveland, estimated that J.R. Smith lost his shirt sometime around 4 a.m. Like so many things, the shirt stayed in Vegas.

Over to you, Twitter.

The Cavaliers and their fans don’t seem to think the shirtless players diminished their championship.

As for Smith, he doesn’t seem like a bad guy at all.