Entry 7: "The Parade Overview"
The First Championship Celebratory Parade In Denver From The POV Of Someone There In Person: An Opinion Piece
By: Liz
June 17, 2023
Well, the Denver Nuggets Championship Parade was definitely one for the history books. With anywhere between 700,000-1,000,000 people in attendance, myself and my family included, it is safe to say that Denver knows how to celebrate. What a perfect way to end the perfect season.
I’ll begin by saying this, I envy those who watched the parade on TV, and I say this because you were most likely able to see the parade play out entirely. Whereas people in Civic Center Park could only see bits and pieces on a screen, the other things shown were the DJ’s performing live in the park. However, I will say that the experience of being there in person is definitely something I will never forget as long as I live.
The energy was so high, so many Nuggets fans in the same place was incredible to see. It was easy to tell who was diehard and who was just there for the entertainment, but either way, fans came out of the woodwork to show their support for this team. But, with the amount of people that were there, it became crowded and hot very quickly. There was barely any standing room, and despite the ‘no chairs’ rule put out by the Nuggets, people still brought blankets and chairs to sit on during the speeches.
Now, onto the festivities. We all saw Michael Malone speaking to the crowd. I don’t know about you, but everyone there could quickly tell he had done the most celebrating during the parade. He deserved it, though. He worked just as hard as the players to get them here, even harder, in fact. I personally loved how he got the crowd to say ‘family’ on the count of three as the team does, it was amazing to hear almost 1,000,000 people all yell it out at once. I can’t even begin to imagine how they must have been feeling during all of this.
Jamal Murray kept his speech short, using most of his time to introduce Nikola Jokić. Speaking of Jokić, he dropped an F-bomb during his speech. He said, “I know I said I don’t want to stay for parade, but I f–cking want to stay for parade.” Hearing that in person was insane, the entire crowd erupted in cheers and was jumping around. It’s honestly going to be hard to dislike that man after seeing the way he has reacted during this. He’s been so humble during it all, but celebrated (like he should) in Las Vegas, NV, with the team after the parade concluded.
Also, Bruce Brown and Malone may have very well confirmed his return for next season. Brown asked the crowd, “One more year?” This, of course, warranted a massive reaction from the crowd since there has been speculation about whether he was going to be wearing a Nuggets jersey next season or not. Malone said, “Is Brucey B. going anywhere? Hell no!.. We’re running that sh!t back!..”
Amidst all this, there was one joke that seemed to take the internet by storm. It was Vic Lombardi’s Lakers joke during his introductory speech to Michael Malone. He simply said, “He came into this world as the son of a coach, but in these playoffs, he became the Lakers’ daddy!” It’s harmless in reality, but Lakers fans took this to heart. Even Lebron James had something to say about it. I personally don’t care what Lebron has to say or even that he compared himself to the sun (corny, by the way), I’m just happy that Vic disturbed his European vacation.
Anyway, I’m going to end this quickly by saying that, overall, the parade in Denver was a massive success. It was perfect, a beautiful conclusion to the best season in franchise history (so far). Next year’s parade is going to be even better.
Side Note: I won’t be posting another article on here until training camp begins in September, but I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who has supported me doing this blog. You are all appreciated and hold a special place in my heart. Cheers to a wonderful season, and I’ll see you in the next one.
Sources:
Hundreds of thousands of Nuggets fans gather at parade in downtown Denver: "An amazing feeling"