Pardon me for getting a bit sentimental here.
My 30,000th post. Some of you already know this story so bear with me. Back in the spring of 2007, I had toyed with the idea of going all in on Celtics season tickets. The Celtics were headed for the lottery but things were looking up with Oden & Durant being the top prizes and the C's having the 2nd best odds. I walked into the Celtics ticket office the day before the lottery and ended up touring an empty Garden and locking down two season tickets in Sec. 311. The hope was that the Celtics would get either Oden or Durant and I'd be there for the climb back to glory.
Fast forward 24 hours and the Celtics ended up with the 5th pick in the lottery. I was utterly devastated and wondered what the heck I had just got myself into. Spent the next week or so in a daze. One day, I was reading articles linked from the old BostonSportsMedia.com website (Shout out Bruce Allen) and came across an article by Jeff Clark of something called Celticsblog. Discovered the whole community and the rest was history. 16+ years later, and the blog is still here as CelticsStrong. I think that speaks to the community here and the passion of the posters when it comes to the Celtics. We share that unique bond. Message boards certainly aren't what they once where back in the 2000s but this place is still going strong. I was 26 when I joined this thing and here I am, on the verge of turning 43 next week, still floating around on these forums.
Met a lot of good people on here. Just want to shoutout people like Roy, Edgar, Wdleehi, and IndeedProceed who decided to bring me in as a mod about 6 months after I joined. Jeff & the late Bob Day who were the OGs and had the vision to develop CB. The legendary FLCeltsFan who has been the backbone and staple of this community with her game threads. Gouki who has been a great addition to the staff. Redz, the constant joker & person who can lighten up any situation. Former staff members like Chris, Nickagneta, Fafnir, Drucci. & Kiorrik who always provided unique perspectives. Steve Weinman who I've had the pleasure of meeting in real life several times. Seeing his growth from CB writer all the way to assistant GM of the Chicago Bulls makes me so proud. And Byennie, who helped keep this site alive after SB Nation decided to drop us. We won't be here today if it wasn't for you. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone but meeting people along this journey has been a blast.
Most of all, I just want to thank all the members here. Past & present. You have made this place special and continue to make it special and visiting it is always a part of my daily routine. Looking forward to sharing that next championship or two with you and hope I can get another 30K or so posts in along the way.