LeBron welcomed back on special night in Cleveland

LeBron welcomed back on special night in Cleveland 

Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James tosses chalk in the air before the start of an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014, in Cleveland.

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Carried onto the floor by an emotional ovation building for years, LeBron James is back where he began.

He's home.

Introduced to a deafening roar from Cleveland fans, James was welcomed back Thursday night by a city desperate to end a championship drought that's about to turn 50 years old. James came back to try and end it, and his journey is underway.

At 8:08 p.m. all was right in Cleveland again.

That when James, the last starter announced, walked onto the floor in a Cavs uniform for a regular season game for the first time in four years.

Nearly four months since proclaiming "I'm coming home" and shifting the NBA's balance of power, James is again playing in front of family, friends and the Cleveland fans who had their hearts broken when he left for Miami four years ago.

This is a homecoming like no other.

"None of us should take this moment for granted," a relaxed James said following Cleveland's morning shootaround at Quicken Loans Arena. "This is probably one of the biggest sporting events ever. I don't feel it, but I know it is."

A crowd of 20,000-plus fans - with some paying as much as $5,000 for a ticket - packed the Q, which was updated during the offseason with a gigantic, fire-spewing scoreboard to welcome home James. The Akron native came back to his hoops roots hoping to deliver a title to Cleveland, a city that hasn't finished on top in pro sports since 1964.

Before taking the floor, James huddled his teammates in a hallway and told them that "tonight is special." He then gave a playful tap to owner Dan Gilbert's son, Nick, before walking onto the court that was his for seven seasons.

The pregame festivities ended with James going to midcourt and performing his "chalk toss" pregame ritual with fans tossing paper confetti along with him.

James, who has won NBA titles and Olympic gold medals, knew this season opener is a little more special.

"I understand how much I mean to this team, to this franchise, to this city and to this state," he said. "It's a different feeling, but I'm still as calm and excited at the same time because it's the first game of the season."

In the hours leading up to tip-off, thousands of fans gathered in the streets outside the arena. This was a party four years in the making.

Across the street from the Q, a 10-story-tall banner of James was unveiled in the same spot where one hung during his first seven seasons with the Cavs. The spot became a symbol of civic pride until that night in July 2010 when James announced he was leaving for Miami. In the hours after his decision, some angry fans burned his jersey and others hurled rocks at a banner that would be removed a few days later.

On Thursday, the new banner - showing James with his arms outstretched wearing a jersey with "Cleveland" where his name would normally be stitched - drew fans who posed for photos the same way they did when James was here last.

Chrissy Pavlik of Wadsworth, Ohio, and her brother, Brad, were among the fans who didn't have a ticket for the game but wanted to be downtown to celebrate.

"I grew up playing basketball and LeBron was always one of my role models, so when he left I was devastated, crying, throwing fits," she said. "To see the banner back, we drove into the city and I was like, `Check it out, dude.' It's so cool. We're very, very happy."

Along East 4th Street, fans wearing James jerseys and broad smiles mixed with patrons lined up to get into overflowing restaurants and bars and a free concert featuring hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar and the rock band Imagine Dragons.

As they filed past, Barry Harris, 55, of Cleveland, was filled with pride. A lifelong Clevelander, he had never seen his city acting quite like this.

"It's amazing," Harris said as his twin brother, Larry, snapped pictures of ESPN's SportsCenter set. "I've been waiting 55 years for this. We got LeBron. We got Johnny (Manziel) Football. We got the Republican National convention coming in two years. We got casinos. It's huge. We deserve this."

James' return has Cleveland fans believing their tortured run of sports misery, which includes a series of close calls with nicknames like The Drive, The Fumble and The Shot, could be over.

James is the one to end the curse.

"It's got to be him," Harris said. "It's got to be LeBron. It was his destiny to come back and finish his career off here. No place else."

Bob Conga, American Musician and Model

Philly Graffiti Artist Lamont Nelson Makes Tribute To Power WVSR 1360 Radio Station And Musician/Model Bob Conga by Writing Their Call Letter And Name

Philly Graffiti Artist Lamont Nelson Makes Tribute To Power WVSR 1360 Radio Station And Musician/Model Bob Conga by Writing Their Call Letter And Name 

Lamont Nelson is a graffiti artist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.   His latest art project, though, takes on a decidedly different side of the city than the one that most commonly appears on city walls.

Nelson creates handwriting letters and shapes and sizes to pay tribute to Black Americans who have accomplished features such as social awareness through means of journalism or music dealing with Africa and American history.

His latest graffiti art handwriting letters praises the well established radio station on the internet called Power WVSR1360.us and singer, song writer, conga instrumentalist, and fashion model (amateur), Bob Conga.  Both the radio station and musician are top topics on the East coast areas these days.

As for Bob Conga, formerly a musical artist who played alongside the late great Grover Washington, Jr., and his music career is resurfacing as far as the Dominican Republic Caribbean areas.  

Meet the Graffiti Artist, Lamont Nelson, who spends his day off giving writing to the Internet radio station powerwvsr1360.us and conga musician and model, Yeadon, Pa. singing star, Bob Conga.

He brings the city of Philly and borough of Yeadon population into focus by visualizing and depicting their dreams on their cursive and print letter surroundings. A wheelchair-bound man sits on a castle wall; a homeless man has a makeshift tent structure; a school kid goes to a school that has no school supplies; a man or woman doesn’t understand their own African history. These issues and more are transported into an image so small that it could fit into a music cd case.

Lamont Nelson talks to each of his subjects, asking them for their story and background.  Rather than money, he asked for support of more Black independent creative artistic leaders like radio station Power WVSR 1360 or Bob Conga to be able to come forth for the community.

Most of the subjects Nelson writes graffiti about are happy to participate. He seems to be able to translate any name or title into a fine piece of handwritten art which can be given as a small gift when he is all done.

Overall, the artist feels that his graffiti work is changing the way in which people look at the issue of homelessness, lack of education, and appreciation for just being able to write or print but also changing how people feel within themselves.   Nelson is taking something that appears to be so simple to do, something that is overlooked as nothing of importance and artistically transforming it into something with meaning that people can enjoy and become deemed to be worthy by.

Lamont Nelson is also working on a gallery where you can view his music cd sleeve size art –there’s graffiti writing on the front and the back- and he has set up a facebook page to draw new attention to raise money to travel to children schools in both Philadelphia and Delaware County with his work and provide music cd size graffiti packages for the school age children he meets along the way.

Noel Helps Sixers Beat Hornets 106-92

Noel Helps Sixers Beat Hornets 106-92

 
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Nerlens Noel had 10 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots in his first home game with the Philadelphia 76ers, who beat the Charlotte Hornets 106-92 in a preseason matchup on Wednesday night.

Noel was acquired in a 2013 draft night trade with New Orleans for All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday. He played 31 minutes in his second game after he missed last season with a torn ACL.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/