I’m going to take a minute and totally diverge from my usual subject matter……
Tonight I watched the Celtics win their first championship since 1986, and all I can say is wow. I have always been a fan of baseball but have acquired a new found respect for basketball. Watching Kevin Garnett literally cry tears of joy brought up a lot of emotions for myself. It made me pause and reflect on the impact that sports can have in a person’s life.
Sports never had a large impact in my life until I reached college really. My first emotional sports experience happened during my freshman year when I watched the Yankees defeat the Red Sox in 2003. I was shocked that I could get so angry and upset over something that should otherwise seem trivial. By my sophomore year I moved in with three girls I didn’t know before, one of them happened to work as a ball girl for the Red Sox. This also happened to be the year the Red Sox won the World Series since 1918. I watched the biggest come back in sports history as the Red Sox came back from a 3 game loss, winning 4 games in a row in the ALCS. I watched them make history again when they played the Cardinals and win another 4 straight games, winning the World Series for the first time in 86 years. I had seen the curse broken. I can’t even explain the emotion that it brought out in me. You can’t walk away from seeing something like that and not gain a life long appreciation for sports.
Of course three years later I watched them win yet another World Series. Which honestly, was surreal. Unlike the first championship I saw them win where I was cheering and yelling, this second victory left me starring blankly at the TV in awe. I couldn’t believe we had done it again. It almost didn’t feel right. It made me think of a night during the playoffs when I was still in Arizona and my roommate and I had gone out drinking after one of the games. We were wearing Red Sox shirts and a guy yelled at us “fucking Red Sox fans”. We turned around in shock. We went over and talked to this guy and were like “wtf would you say that dude?”. He was like “I’m a cubs fan, fuck the Red Sox”. After years of yelling unsolicited obscenities at innocent Yankees fans, were we now doomed to suffer the same fate? Were we really getting to be good enough to be hated by other fans? I wasn’t so sure if I was ready to be the asshole fan of the new ‘hot shot’ team. I rather enjoyed our under-dog status, it made it more meaningful to win. But ultimately, you’re not really going to hear me complain. We totally deserve to be the asshole team that everyone hates, it happens when you get to be fucking awesome!!
This year I entered into my 4th official fanatical fanship Red Sox season. I only missed watching 4 games in the first month of the season. Until I watched them lose a game against Tampa Bay. It was ridiculous. They let them gain two runs in the 8th inning and then it was over. I was so mad I didn’t know what to do with myself. I decided to leave and head to a friend’s house and try and improve my mood. Most of the kids there were watching basketball, a sport that I never paid attention to. I ended up recapping the game for someone and had to think of my aggravation all over again. I decided that night that maybe I should take a break from watching baseball. I was seriously getting depressed about it. Ortiz had been hitting shitty and that is always a killer for my mood. Nothing could make me happier than seeing him slam one out of the park. It hurt me to see his frustration every time he was at bat. So I resolved myself to checking the scores after the fact and reading the recaps in the paper on the way to work in the morning.
I never watched basketball before in my life really. The only memories I have of it are watching sometimes with my grandparents while eating popcorn. The only member of the Celtics ever I could name was Larry Bird (and then a few months ago I added Kevin Garnett to the list but only because I had to make a trophy for him at work). My roommate is a huge basketball fan. I caught the first 4 games of the finals with him. There is definitely something to be said about starting to watch a sport consistently. By the 2nd game I was definitely starting to pay attention more to what was going on. It was awesome to see them win the championship. It moved me to see players and coaches alike get so emotional. I’m now inspired to learn a little bit more about the game in terms of rules and stats and who knows, maybe I will even try following it next season. I’ve tried to get into football but it just hasn’t happened, so I’m still searching for that winter sport to distract me.
All in all, I think I’m ready to return to my Red Sox. Tonight I remembered what it was like to feel happy about sports and not angry. I realized that in the last 5 years they have played an increasingly more important role in my life and I can’t imagine living without them. Especially now that I am not in school they provide something to look forward to, something to watch and see develop, something that can evoke emotions in me that few other things can. Following sports is my new extracurricular activity. There is always a game to watch on TV if I have a lack of anything better to do. Sports can bring people together. They can inspire people to better their lives and work harder to achieve what might seem to be impossible.
In conclusion, thanks to J-Man’s enthusiastic outbursts and a well played series of games by some amazing athletes I am for sure now a fan of basketball. I can now name a few more players, and while I am not sure about all of the rules quite yet I am inspired to take on a new team to follow and support.
Thank you Celtics for being amazing!!!!!!
and as always
GO SOX!!!!!!
The fact that you can remember watching it with you grandparents and eating popcorn is the biggest reason I love the Celtics and sports in general. Sports do 2 things for me:
1. They make me feel like I am apart of something bigger than myself. I was in a bar in FL watching the Celtics blow game 6 of the semi-finals and I overheard a girl saying “did the sox win tonight?” So I turned around and told her “yeah, they won both games” (it was a double header vs the Brewers). She woo!’ed and we clinked glasses and struck up a conversation in which I found out she was from MA and went to school down there. Something as simple as asking the score of a game connected me to someone I never would have met in a million years. We had a connection, as small as it was, for a few seconds over our team. And I have had that happen a number of times over with complete strangers.
2. Its how I connected with my dad when I was a kid. I can remember watching Celtics games with my dad when I was 6 years old. I remember the day Reggie Lewis died. I remember my dad reenacting his collapse on the court in the middle of the living room to try and explain what had happened. I remember sitting down as a family to watch the Larry Bird: Living Legend VHS tape he got from Sport Illustrated (my family has never bought anything from a TV before or since). I spent every Sunday of the Patriots season playing catch on the front lawn during half time (weather permitting). I can tell you for a fact that I am not the only one who has stories like this. I don’t think of 3 championships, that gross mustache, or one of the best shooters of all time when I think about Larry Bird. I think about the stories my dad told me about him and the times we spent watching his retirement ceremony on TV. I think about the passion my dad had when he talked about him, his laugh when he talks about him telling the crowd at the championship rally that Moses Malone does eat shit. This is why I plan on getting that tattoo. Not because of a basketball player from Indiana, because of what his playing was able to give me an my dad.