The Tale of an Unlikely Sports Fan: 14 Years in the Making (Phone photo)

So I moved to Boston 5 years ago from Seattle, a product of playing punk rock in the early to late 80's in Boise, Idaho, my home town. Eventually, I moved to Seattle in the late 80's and had a pretty good run in the music scene. Not exactly the makings of a sports fan.

 

In the 90's, the Seattle Super Sonics began to light up just as NBA basketball had a resurgence in popularity and the music scene even was caught up in Sonics fever, following Shawn Kemp and crew, even to the point where crusty punk friends of mine would go out of their way to find sports bars on tour on Sonics game nights.

 

I was in a band with a guy who would eventually become a hardcore NBA fan himself. I am not sure but assume his fever started during that '94 Sonics season as well.

 

But then it would be years until I cared about NBA or professional sports again. It didn't fit; millionaires, macho, self-indulgent ego maniacs playing a child's game. I was an artist, a musician, I possessed what a producer friend called "indie credibility". But a good friend who was into NBA ball (but Soccer even more) turned me back on to basketball. Then I moved to Boston.

 

Boston, Massachusetts, home of THE NBA basketball team, The Boston Celtics. But those days were long over when I moved here in 2003, and the Celtics were considered one of the worst teams in the NBA. Magic Johnson and the Lakers had effectively ended the reign of the Green in 1986. Larry Bird leaving put the final nail in that coffin.

 

In 2003, I was staying in an extended stay hotel (in Waltham, MA) payed for by the company I moved here for until I found a place. I had cable. I had ESPN. I started watching Celtics games then.

 

I was intrigued. They had heart and never quit trying. They played as a team, unselfishly. One of the things that always bothered me about NBA basketball was the whole superstar thing. It reeked of record labels exploiting black men in hip hop, perpetuating a false image, ignoring thousands of black men with heart and integrity. And the superstars themselves were unbearable conceited fuckheads making millions and rarely sharing the ball (looking your way, Kobe Bryant!!).

 

Then came the Detroit Pistons and the San Antonio Spurs, winning as a team, where there were players who obviously stood out, but whom lifted their team mates and even the bench to new heights after years dominated by the Chicago Bulls but mostly Michael Jordan (the superstar that really turned me back off of basketball...every year it was 'who will lose to the Bulls this year?' BORING!)

 

I had a moment at work around the time I started watching more and more basketball. I hadn't commited to the Celtics (yes I was that green-no pun intended-as a sports fan) I liked San Antonio. I liked Detroit. I hated LA (something that never changed!).

 

So I was in the kitchen at work, and this hardcore Boston woman, a colleague (as a side note, there are far more hardcore women sports fans in Boston than anywhere I have been) and I talked basketball once, and I said "I like San Antonio allot,"I said "and Detroit."

She looked at me and asked "Shoppin for a basketball team, ah ya Wayne?" Damn. She was right. I had to pull for one of the worst teams in NBA. That was just the way it was; local pride.

 

So I did and did not look back. And I watched games and every year I watched more and more and began to care more and more. It was exciting and horrifying, a major mixed reaction until I realized that the NBA was my reality TV (a good friend once called the NBA "WWF for yuppies", and I couldn't really argue) so who gave a fuck what any of my peers thought? Everyone else was watching people win money by eating donkey penis at the time, for Christ's sake (but not admitting they watched)!!

 

Paul Pierce. Damn, as I watched...I realized how good he was. How much heart and drive he had. He was one of the best scorers in the NBA eventually. Here he was surrounded by rookies who often played like college ball rookies. Why the hell did he stay with Celtics?? Pride. Dude was from LA, and here he was, determined to retire in the green uniform. What BALLS!!

 

I stuck with the Boston Celtics, through thick and thin, as they broke my heart year after year, once even winning the Atlantic Division (whatever the hell that really is. Ever hear anyone say "Yeah man, I really think the South East division will dominate. The Atlantic division too..." No. East. West. C'mon. man!). They would get 20 point leads and piss them away. It was the only team where the fans wouldn't leave the stands if their team had a huge lead in the 4th quarter. They knew. They knew their Celtics. They would fuck it up. We knew it. But we watched. And hoped.

 

Last year, it was almost too much to bear. Worst record. My girlfriend asked me once "why do you watch them? They are just gonna lose." Damn. Why? Don't know but I kept doing it, hoping against hope, like the Red Sox fans did, "Wait til next year" was the joke. "Wait until 1985" was my joke. It wasn't really a funny joke. I also wrote another I will admit here; what do the Celtics and a pastry chef have in common? They both make allot of turn overs.

 

People wanted Doc Rivers out. They didn't go to games. I worked with a guy who was a Celtics cheerleader and he got me amazing free tickets. Once, in 'the Halo' at the very top of what was then The Fleet Center, where rich people watched like detached Gods. But no one was up there!

From that lofty perch, I watched the Sonics, of all teams, then also one of the worst teams, beat the Celtics. It began to hurt!

 

Pierce started looking pissed, never smiled, more often scowled. One year a game ended with him committing an unnecessary foul out of frustration. It was getting ugly. He was talking about finally leaving the C's. We were sad. The Red Sox won the World Series for the first time in 86 years. I hate baseball but it was something else all the same. Then the Patriots dominated. Something was in the water, but the Celtics weren't drinking it.

 

After the Patriots lost the superbowl, a hush fell over New England sports for a bit. Then The Big Three on the Celtics. What have we here? What the hell is that on Pierce's face? Oh shit...it's a smile!! Hmmm. Could they mesh together? Would the bench fit in with them?

 

I won't go through the whole story, you all know it now. I have maybe set a record for a picture note in Flickr, but I can't help myself. Guess it is a blog now. So I won't go through the whole story...but it is a great story. One of classic sportsmanship overcoming all, of sweat and hard work and unselfishness winning the day, one game at a time. Everyone on that team was part of the victory in some way.

 

I am moving to the North West this summer and it was a great send off. On game 6 night I dropped my iPod on a subway train floor as I rushed to make the game on TV. I didn't notice it was missing until the train doors slipped shut and the train sped off. I had officially become a superstitious Boston sports fan as after I calmed a bit I thought 'Is this a bad omen?' Silly.

 

For the hell of it, at work the next day, I called the MBTA lost and found to see if someone turned in my iPod. And someone did!!! I took the train to the JFK stop to pick it up. I thought of how amazing that was in this town that someone took the time to turn it in. In my head, I heard Kevin Garnett yelling in his interview on ABC directly after the victory; "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!!"

 

Done