Cavs holding ‘moment of celebration’ for Fred McLeod in home opener is great approach

Fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers will never forget late play-by-play announcer Fred McLeod, who died suddenly last month, and the team holding a “moment of celebration” for him is a great approach to honoring him in the home opener on Saturday.

It was so tough to hear when Fred McLeod, who was a part of the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ play-by-play broadcast alongside team legend Austin Carr for the last 14 seasons coming into this season on Fox Sports Ohio, passed away suddenly last month.

McLeod always brought so much excitement to every telecast when he was doing play-by-play for the Wine and Gold.

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It didn’t matter what the circumstances were, whether the team was involved in a rebuild, as was the case in 2018-19 and in the first post-LeBron James departure years, or whether the team was of course, right in the thick of the NBA Finals with James, Kevin Love and others leading the way in contending years from 2014-15 through the 2017-18 campaign.

With all that he brought to Cleveland’s broadcasts, and because McLeod was so hard-working, and seemingly loved by everybody in the local media, current and former Cavs players and so many others, it was the right thing for the Cavaliers to do in terms of naming their media work space after Fred.

Additionally, as Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor pointed out, when the work is completed there in Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the team “eventually hold an official dedication event” to commemorate McLeod.

Along with that, it’s really good to news to hear that the Cavs, who will be honoring McLeod (who was 67 when he passed) during the team’s home opener on Saturday against the Indiana Pacers by having a “moment of celebration,” for Fred, as Fedor highlighted.

That’s a great approach by the Cleveland Cavaliers, as McLeod was such a glass half-full kind of guy, and the Wine and Gold/Cleveland lifer would have loved the Cavs doing that.

As Fedor hit on, instead of a traditional “moment of silence” for honoring an individual who recently passed, it was really spot-on by the Cavs to “commemorate McLeod in a unique way — one that matches the uplifting, energetic and positive approach that McLeod brought to Fox Sports Ohio since 2006.”

Fedor then noted that a video tribute will also be played during that celebration, and I’m sure fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers, along with McLeod’s wife, Beth, and their family, will be so appreciative of this approach taken by the team to show how much Fred meant to so many.

I really hope that on Saturday, star big Kevin Love, and others, such as rookie guard Darius Garland and third-year wing Cedi Osman can help the Cavs get a win over the Indiana Pacers, to rebound from Cleveland’s 94-85 loss to the Orlando Magic in the first game of Cleveland’s 2019-20 season, where the Cavs only shot 37.1% (per ESPN).

Additionally, to further add to McLeod’s celebration, it should give fans and the team some juice that the Cavaliers will also be wearing their mostly similar 1990’s “Classic” throwback uniforms, per the team, in the home opener.

Hopefully, in relation to one of his coined phrases, Saturday can result in ‘A Wine and Gold winner!”‘

Furthermore, it’s awesome to hear that Cavaliers will be honoring Fred just how he and his family would’ve wanted.