Hello again. Well, what a season and we finally raised the 17th Banner that has eluded us for far too long. Finally!
Now they're the champions, I must share this story with you:
I was born in 1984 when the Celtics won the Championship against the Lakers and I was 2-years old when they won their last one. My dad was a fan of the Celtics and became a bigger one with Larry Bird on the team. I always would seek the approval of my dad, so I cheered the Celtics and I would mimic his cheers like Go Bird! Go Chief! Go MacMale (I couldn't pronounce McHale well). Larry Bird was the first celebrity name I ever knew. I never saw him win a championship and I never saw the Celtics win a championship. Only through old footage and stories I learned of the dynasty. Larry Bird became my favorite player through dad, but after watching him play through old footage and watching the least-athletic, non-jumper and slowest man and whitest man on the court play like he did, you couldn't help but CHEER YOUR HEART OUT for the Legend. To this day, he remains in my heart the greatest to ever play the game.
However, as I got old enough to understand championships and playoffs and NBA glory, Larry Bird ended his twilight years and retired. I wept as if he had died. Then Len Bias and Reggie Lewis (a favorite of mine) died as well and I thought that was that. In a way, dad even stopped watching NBA games on TV when the glory faded into memory. We relied on ESPN classic and old basketball books to read the stories of Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Tommy H., and Sam Jones, not to mention the old tapes of the Magic vs. Bird duels.
I for one, like many my age, grew up during the Jordan era, and everyone's favorite team was the Chicago Bulls and everyone's favorite player was Michael Jordan. I was bullied in school and as if I didn't fit in enough, I said the Celtics were my favorite basketball team, favorite sports team period. I actually remember for one of my birthdays at school, Mom had the Celtic logo cake made for me and my classmates and many asked why I didn't have a Bulls cake. They all told me that the Celtics were no good and I didn't want to believe them. They told me that Larry Bird couldn't play (downright cruel) and that Jordan was the best. For years and years and years, I heard this, but I never budged. The Celtics were still the greatest. That's the beautiful thing about the heart of a child when it comes to his favorites...not matter how much you struggle and no matter how much you lose, they'll always think they're the greatest and the best.
Then there was the infamous 15 win season (I think it was 96). For the first time ever, Mom and Dad, for Christmas got some tickets to a Charlotte Hornets vs. Boston Celtics. Unfortunately it was that season, but I didn't care. I was finally going to see the green jerseys for the first time in my life. I'll never forget that game, the Celtics played their hearts out and took the game to double-overtime only to lose by a single point. I cried and cried, because they came so close. My bullies, who knew I was a Celtic fan, mocked me for being a loser and rooting for losers. You would think a kid would say he was a Jordan fan and say "Celtics suck" just to fit in. But turning my back on them felt like turning my back on family or even my dad. I couldn't do it.
Then I had to live through the Lakers-Kobe-Shaq era. The same people who wore Jordan jerseys traded them in for Kobe and Shaq jerseys, and I was still wearing my 6-year old Celtics hat, cause they didn't sell any Celtics merchandise here in Virginia where I'm from. Again, I endured the Celtics were no good and the Lakers rule! I think that hurt even worse than the Jordan era. Also as a kid, I knew who the enemy was and they wore purple and yellow. That's never changed. I was old enough to know that the teams were mediocre and Paul Pierce, God bless him couldn't carry a team like Jordan could, even though he was the greatest Celtic who played in a long time.
Last year, I watched a few NBA games, and I sorely waited for a Celtics game to be broadcast. They never were. I saw LeBron, Kobe, Tim Duncan, Shaq, Dwayne Wade and etc. It was tough. It was like when I was a kid when I had to wait for Ernie Johnson on TNT to provide the scores of the games at the end of a broadcast to find out if the Celtics won or not. They were never on TV. I was saddened about that as well. But like last year, I never gave up hope and I thought it was a fool's hope.
When we got Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, together with Paul Pierce, I was just excited to think "Great, I'll get to see some TV games!" Never did I think about them winning the title, it has eluded this team so long, I never dared get my hopes up.
Game after game-they dominated. I saw the Bobcats/Celtics game Live when Ray Allen hit the buzzer beater and it was the first game I saw with them winning in Charlotte, which made up from the Hornets defeat which was a one point defeat as well, only the Celtics won this time. Then one day, I decided to save up some money, I bought a ticket online, booked a room, and bought an airline ticket to go see my first game in Boston. I wanted to cheer with the home crowd. I wanted to see the banners and I wanted to see the retired numbers of the legends who roamed the floor in the past. It was the greatest experience of my life so far. They played Chicago and they were blown out by our boys. I guess I took it as revenge against the people who told me the Bulls were better than the Celtics. Sure they didn't have Jordan, but it was still good enough for me.
When they made it to the Finals, no one was giving them a chance against the Lakers. But I always believed if they played the team ball this club is known for and always have been known for, they could do it. Well they did it. It was unbelievable. At first, I jumped through my house and the halls with mom and dad smiling with me. Then after jumping up and down, I sat, looked at KG, who was crying and shouting "Anything is Possible!" He was weeping and I started to shed tears as well...but it was for joy this time. Fans my age or around it understand where he's coming from. He had never won a title before and most of us never experienced one before with the Celtics.
It was at this moment I began to reflect when I started saying "Larry Bird" with a 4-year old voice and saying the "Celtics are the Best" during the year when they were overshadowed (along with the rest of the league) by Michael Jordan. I remember the tough times and I remember when Larry Bird made his final farewell speech. I remember when I thought this was the top and there was never going to be another one. When you root for a team for this long and you finally experience what your dad got to do back in the 60s, 70s and the 80s. I can now experience the Celtics as Champions. Now Dad and I have even more in common as Celtics fans, we've both seen the Celtics crowned as Champions.
To me, this wasn't just a great season for my favorite team, but in a way, taught me that anything is possible and if you work hard enough and stick with something long enough, you WILL find your place in the sun or in this case, a place in the rafters.
For many years, I went through some tough times pulling for the Boston Celtics, but I was never ashamed to say loud that the Celtics were my team and they always will be. Forever and ever.
That's why I wept after winning this title. I hope that the Truth, KG, and Ray know what they've done not for themselves, but for us too.
But for me...the Celtics are not the greatest right now.
...they always were.
"Only if you've been in the deepest valley will you know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain." --Richard Nixon.
(This quote sums it up for me).
Topic: Tears of Joy (Read 1976 times)