I've been here since the spring of 2008.
As someone who fell in love with the Boston Celtics during the 1969 miracle title run, I have obviously been through some highs and lows. Red quickly rebuilt the team after Bill Russell retired and I spent my high school years enjoying my all-time favorite Celtics era of the Cowens-Havlicek-JoJo team that won two titles. The worst lows were the late 70's when John Y Brown tried to single-handedly destroy the team, followed by the long trek through the 90's that was created by the loss of Bias and Lewis, the two core superstars Red had drafted to follow the Bird era. Those tragedies would have crippled any franchise and the attempt to recover by hiring ego-maniac Rick Pitino made things even worse. Kind of a John Y Brown Part 2 disaster.
So then the acquisition of Garnett and Allen to join Paul Pierce was not a move I supported at the time. But I remember as the season went along and the team was excelling, I very slowly let myself start to care again. That was the same time I joined this Celtics community. That team should have won 3 titles, but bad luck hurt us again when Garnett injured his knee during the title defense season. Still, I look at him as the guy that brought the franchise back to its traditional championship culture. Except for Kyrie Irving, almost every player since that 2008 season has been someone I was proud to have as a Celtic. Now, this current group needs a couple of Auerbach-like acquisitions to give us a second title window once Jayson Tatum returns. BTW, I love the way Tatum has traveled with the team this season while recovering from his injury. Kyrie couldn't even bother to attend home playoff games while he was out.
Forgive my rambling, but the thread title reminded me of the year I let myself fall in love again with my Celtics that coincided with joining this board in 2008.
Thank You everyone for sharing your love of our team and for enjoying the success of the past 17 seasons while also helping through the tough times as well.