I'm going to c+p my fanpost, b/c I want to hear how and why you became the obsessive Celtics fan you are.
"I'll start off by showing my age and giving a little context, because I think when you became a Celtics fan truly affects your current experience with fandom today. I was born in 1982. My first Celtic related memory (i.e. the first time I really tuned in and paid attention) was the drafting of Eric Montross. I remember it like it was yesterday on the sportscast; they called him Eric the Red. I still don't know why ( I get the historical reference, but was this really his nickname? Somewhere deep in my subconscious I remember someone calling him Ostertross as well, not sure if it was a dig at him being like Greg Ostertag or something along those lines, but I've digressed). Ok, so they draft Montross, and I'm paying attention. I believe I was going into 7th grade. I had never picked up a basketball, but for some reason I decided to start watching the Celtics. I played my first NBA live game that year, and got crushed using the c's. I watched many games and my mother would bring home the herald and globe from work for me to catch stats, results and get pictures, which I faithfully cut out and stored, not really sure why but I did.
So that team more or less stunk, but not enough to miss the playoffs where they met a young Shaq and actually won a game. Sherman Douglas was my hero of the season, I hoped he'd never leave. I took all of those pictures and made a collage that still hangs on my wall today.
1995 came along and so came a coaching change with the cards set for one of the biggest tank jobs in NBA history, but not for another year. Dana Barros came aboard, I remember excidedly hearing the news on ESPN and not believing it could be true; a 20 ppg allstar coming to the c's as a free agent? It doesn't get any better right? I also attended my first Celtics game that year, and my parents got some pretty darned good seats - the ticket is still on my wall. It was Dec 22, 1995 and three amazing things happened in the game. Todd Day tied Larry Bird's record for points in a quarter, Dana Barros broke the NBA record for consecutive games with a 3 pointer and Dino Radja hit some game winning free throws. I was hooked forever after that game. That year was also the year that I decided I should play basketball. I saved up, bought a backyard hoop and shot and shot and shot and shot. No one taught me how, and some of the bad habits from back then are still with me today. I joined my first team as well, and I was awful. But basketball by the time I was in 8th grade, was an entrenched part of my life.
Then we go through the dark years, worst team ever in the tank job year, but the hopeful drafting of guys like Walker and Pierce and Mercer and Billups and Moiso and so on and so forth. I thought every one would be perfect, and some panned out, some were sent to greener pastures and some were named Jerome Moiso...
Matching my enthusiasm and persistence with the team was my mother's joining the bandwagon. Of course it wasn't much of a bandwagon because generally the team was terrible, but she watched every game (something I never did) and came with me on occasion to games as well. It was a new way of bonding and it was great.
I was going to more and more games and becoming serviceable on the court myself (not great, hardly even good, but I could play the game fundamentally and could hit 3s, in retrospect I never progressed much past that..hmm)
Fast forward to 2008 and its the dream year for a fan like me. Sure the team made it into the playoffs a few times; they even made the Eastern Conference Finals, but this year was special; I just knew it. My mother passed away right as the rumors were floating about KG coming. Ray came first, then KG and I knew it was going to be an awesome year. Every piece of media I could get my hands on, I kept, cutting out pictures just like during my first season. And they won it. After all these years of mediocrity the boys won the title. I knew my mother was watching with the best seats in the house cheering right along. And those pictures? I made another collage, which hangs opposite of the one from my first year following the team.
Being a Celtics fan is truly a great thing. I know some people have been with the team since the days of Hondo and Russ and all that; some came into it with the Big 3; some came into it with the new Big 3. But from where I started, the only place to go was up, and seeing them win that title was about as special a feeling as I have had. And I hope they bring another one in this year, but for some reason I don't think I'll ever reach that height of exhilaration. But like I said before basketball is in my blood at this point and there's no way to get it out (and of course the blood is green).
Thanks for reading, I hope others have stories about how they got into the C's or hoops in general."
Topic: How did you get into the Celtics (Read 9006 times)