Complete Euphoria

[celticmaestro]

In the title of this post, I put complete euphoria in caps because that's how this will be remembered. Remembrance Day has caps, Thanksgiving has caps and so on. Now for me, June 17th is the day of Complete Euphoria. This is a post about how I feel and my emotions as a fan and I just want to let you all know.

Allow me to explain. As many of you know, I'm a passionate football (soccer) fan in addition to being a passionate Celtics fan. One year ago, both my teams, Manchester United and the Boston Celtics, particularly the latter, seemed some way off the ultimate prize. On May 21st, United captured the UEFA Champions League for the third time in their history. This moment I found difficult to describe as I was riding the wave of John Terry's misery (he missed the crucial penalty that gave United the win).

Then the focus shifted back to the C's. A series with the Pistons hung in the balance and our title credentials were being questioned. We overcame that, good. Then I see things like "Lakers heavy favorites" and "Celtics can't contain Kobe" and it doesn't help with the nerves. One of my best friends is a die-hard Laker which doesn't help, either. Together we watched games 1-4 before he threw me out of his house after the comeback game and didn't want to watch an elimination game with me.

So I watched games 5 and 6 alone. And I never thought we'd lose game 6, I never want to say these things because of potential jinxing and whatnot, but I never thought we would lose. The game itself was anti-climatic, it was over before it began for me. Just a three hour build-up to Pierce's MVP presentation and the celebrations and watery-eyes. A moment of genuine satisfaction.

For me, 2008 was THE best year ever in terms of sports success; and it has the potential to carry over into one's personal life - the sign of a die-hard fan. Isn't it amazing how when your team does something special, you feel like you can do anything? That is one of the special things about Celtic Pride, to quote KG, "anything's possible."

If both teams repeat next year, it can't beat this. The long wait is over, I had my cake and ate it. And I want more.

[celticmaestro]

forgot to add, the downside is that i slept for 2 hours last night, by the time i hit the sack the birds were tweeting and i couldn't get to sleep so i got up and read some more looked at some more pictures then i went back to bed, had a dream, then woke up and just got up. i'll sleep well tonight.