Great post Justin. I too was a longtime lurker, and have only posted a few times since I (finally) registered. I’ve always thought about doing a similar post about how I became a Celtics fan, so here goes…
I was never a basketball fan, having not taken any interest since watching the game of the week on TV as a kid when basketball was huge in Australia in the early/mid 90s. However in Jan 2011 I took a 5 week trip to the States and Canada, and I wanted to see an NBA game.
There was a number of games I could’ve seen based on cities I was visiting, so I asked a basketball fan at work which game I should see. Instantly he replied “Spurs at Celtics”, given they were both top of their respective conferences at the time. I messaged my friend in Boston and asked if she could get me a ticket, and whether her and her husband would want to come too. It was a yes on both fronts, as her husband was a big Cs fan.
I bought a Cs shirt while I was at the NBA store in New York (figuring I should have some gear of the home team to wear to the game), and went to the game. In short, it was awesome! I got to see Duncan, Parker and Ginobili versus Pierce, Allen, Rondo and Shaq (KG was out injured unfortunately). Allen shot the lights out (31 pts) and Rondo got a triple double (12 pts, 23 ast, 10 reb). Allen had a chance to ice the game with free throws, but unbelievably missed them both. Spurs had one last chance to win the game, but Pierce got a fingertip to Ginobili’s shot and Rondo grabbed the rebound of the shot that fell short to get the triple double.
Following the trip I immersed myself in everything Celtics (I find it hard to call myself a fan of a team unless I know about the team, its players and its history), and I was lucky to stumble upon Celticsblog straight away. I haven’t posted in the past as I felt (especially early on) that I didn’t know enough about basketball or the Celtics to contribute anything meaningful, but I intend to change that now.
Looking back now I’m so grateful that my friend suggested the Celtics game, and I have a sick feeling in my stomach when I realise that I could just as easy have ended up a Bulls fan, a Knicks fan (ugh) or a Miami/LeBron fan (uuugggghhhhh!)
Cheers,
Rob