From the nosebleed section at Quicken Loans Arena to the best seats in the house, Cleveland Cavaliers PA announcer Sean Peebles is living the dream.
The lifelong Cavs fan has been a Wine-and-Gold United member for years and started attending games as a young boy. For years, he's held season tickets with seats up in the rafters for Section 206, Row 10.
So when the chance to interview for the job came up in September, the former voice of the NBA G League Erie Bayhawks jumped at it.
“I figured, why not, and I took a shot at it,” Peebles, whose name is actually pronounced Pebbles, said. “Here I am, sitting courtside at the NBA Finals, working for the team that I love. A dream come true is definitely an understatement for me."
Peebles replaced Olivier Sedra, who was behind the mic for 11 years before heading to join the Brooklyn Nets.
You would think there would be nerves, but Peebles said his fantastic production team and co-workers help those nerves fade into the background.
He doesn’t always stay with the script and sometimes he sprinkles superfandom in his calls.
“When the lights are up, and the mic is live, I mean, I’m going to have a lot of emotion behind it,” Peebles said. “Everything just pours out of me on every big play because we’re watching the best player of our generation play here every single night and I get to sit right here courtside and watch it all happen.”
While his first season with the Cavs has been nothing short of memorable, one of his favorite moments, he said, is when LeBron James jumped up on the scorer’s table in front of him after the Game 3 buzzer-beater against the Indiana Pacers.
“I was hoping he would stick the landing both times because if not, he was going to end up in my lap,” Peebles said, laughing. “But he knows what he’s doing, I trusted him.”
As for his season ticket seats up in the nosebleed section? The father of four is still hanging on to those for family and friends.
