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Guardians home opener, Cavs clinching No. 1 seed gives father-son duo special day | Ulrich
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- Guardians home opener, Cavs clinching No. 1 seed gives father-son duo special day | Ulrich
CLEVELAND — Michael Maghes took his son, Salvatore, to the Guardians home opener Tuesday afternoon and later walked across Gateway Plaza to watch the Cavaliers clinch the No. 1 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference at Rocket Arena.
What else could possibly create a more classic Cleveland sports day for a parent and child to experience together?
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Well, football — of course, football — but at least the Guardians played in football weather, defeating the Chicago White Sox 1-0 amid temperatures in the 30s at Progressive Field before the Cavs beat the Chicago Bulls 135-113 next door.
The Guardians (4-6) prevailing with a walk-off walk and the Cavs (63-16) clinching against an opponent with seven players ruled out because of injuries or rest is also fitting in a way.
After all, any seasoned Cleveland sports fan worth his or her salt has a sense of humor and too many scars to take ugly wins for granted.
Maghes, 45, is one of them. He grew up a rabid Cleveland enthusiast in Stow, where he mowed grass or shoveled snow into lines to form a makeshift football field in his family's backyard. He was a quintessential Northeast Ohio kid of the late 1980s decked out in a Browns uniform and helmet pretending to be Bernie Kosar or Webster Slaughter. He rooted for the Cavs at the old Richfield Coliseum and even rubbed elbows with "the Bad Boys" from the Detroit Pistons one time at a nearby Holiday Inn.
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Now Maghes has a family of his own.
Michael Maghes and his son, Salvatore, attended the Cleveland Guardians home opener at Progressive Field on April 9, 2025, before going next door to watch the Cavs clinch the No. 1 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference with a win over the Chicago Bulls at Rocket Arena.
There's a saying about parenting not being easy but being worth it. The same concept is certainly applicable to raising a Cleveland sports fan.
Whether kids are playing in youth leagues or cheering for their favorite professional teams, sports can provide lessons about success and failure. Loyalty, patience and resilience can be instilled. Appreciating joy and coping with agony are part of the deal.
Cavs playoffs: Cleveland Cavaliers clinch No. 1 seed in Eastern Conference
Maghes and his wife, Tina, are fully engaged in running a sports-crazed household in Fairlawn. Tina is a teacher in the Cuyahoga Falls City School District. Maghes is one of the owners of Café Arnone in Fairlawn and Sal's Gelato in Akron's Merriman Valley . Those businesses also have a presence at Progressive Field. A Café Arnone stand is on the first-base side of the stadium for the third consecutive season, and a Sal's Gelato cart will return to the third-base side later this spring.
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Salvatore, 9, who goes by Sal and has his name on the gelato shop, routinely watches sports on TV with sister, Siena, 7, unless bedtime interferes with seeing an entire game. Awaking to discover a win before heading to school is a priceless feeling.
In recent years, it's been a good time to be a Guardians and Cavs fan.
Cleveland's baseball team has made the playoffs in six of the past nine seasons, including last year when the Guardians advanced to the American League Championship Series under then-rookie manager Stephen Vogt before falling in five games to the New York Yankees.
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Sal was 6 months old in 2016 when the Cavs won their first NBA title and ended a nearly 52-year championship drought among Cleveland's major pro sports franchises. He was a sleeping infant when Akron native LeBron James and Co. defeated the Golden State Warriors in Game 7. His mom was too nervous to watch. His dad unleashed his excitement by yelling into a pillow while Cleveland's second of four consecutive trips to the NBA Finals culminated in a long-awaited triumph.
"That victory tastes so much better because you have the highs and lows [in Cleveland sports], and it's just a parallel of life," said Maghes, a 1998 Stow High School graduate.
In coach Kenny Atkinson's first year with the Cavs, they're on the verge of beginning their third consecutive postseason. It will also be their third since James left Cleveland for a second time in 2018.
The expansion-era Browns are a different animal than the Guardians and Cavs of this century. The Browns have qualified for the playoffs twice in the past five seasons after making just one postseason appearance from 1999-2019. They were also the most disappointing team in the NFL last season, finishing 3-14 after setting their internal expectations on contending.
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And although all three Cleveland teams played a postseason game during the same calendar year in 2024, the Browns haven't won a division title since 1989. The Guardians won the AL Central last season, and the Cavs clinched the Central Division on March 11.
A general view of the Cleveland Cavaliers championship banner at Rocket Arena during a game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Chicago Bulls on April 8, 2025, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Some people warn their kids to avoid the heartache of Browns fandom, yet Maghes isn't among them. He's committed to showing all three Cleveland teams unconditional love. It's how he was raised, and he's passing the tradition down. Last summer, Sal was thrilled to collect autographs from Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward and David Njoku during Browns training camp in Berea.
"When [my son] wants to turn the TV off in the first quarter of the Browns [game] because they're playing like crap, I say, 'You've got to watch it. This is what being a fan is. They can come back,'" Maghes said. "And he's playing the sport, too. So I'm like, 'You've got to understand that you're not going to give up in the first quarter because you've got three more to play.'"
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Another message worth sending to a younger generation: It's acceptable to admire players who represent other franchises, but the hometown team takes precedence.
"It's good to have a Jayson Tatum USA shirt, but we're not wearing Celtics jerseys when [the Cavs are] playing them potentially in the playoffs," Maghes said. "Like, 'Kid get that out of your closet.'"
Michael Maghes and his son, Salvatore, attended the Cleveland Cavaliers game on April 9, 2025, when the Cavs clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with a win over the Chicago Bulls at Rocket Arena. On the same day, the fans were at the Guardians home opener.
To be clear, Maghes keeps those conversations lighthearted.
And let's keep this in perspective: Sports are supposed to be fun and offer an escape from life's problems.
However, sometimes it's not so simple.
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Although many pro athletes are great role models, others don't meet the bar. If you're a parent whose kids are younger than teenagers, how do you broach the subject of the infamous trade the Browns made in March 2022 and all of the debate it generated?
Again, it's not easy raising a Cleveland sports fan.
But it's worth it.
The memories the Guardians and Cavs created Tuesday were reminders for Maghes and his boy.
"It's really fun to kind of see it through his eyes," Maghes said.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cavs take top seed, Guardians win home opener on special Cleveland day
