How did you become a Celtics fan?

[CelticSooner]

My Dad was a C's fan and I followed suit. Been a fan since like '91 or '92. Only really got to see the original Big 3 late in their careers. It was tough through most of the 90's I must admit.

Same here - got it from my Dad, but I started watching in the early 90's.  I was a HUGE Reggie Lewis fan.

Yep. The future was looking bright with Lewis at the helm then tragedy struck.

RIP Reggie

[CaliCeltics]

Growing up, (in California mind you) my step-dad always had this celtics license plate. He said he got it when he first came to the country (he's from El Salvador) he bought it because he had been watching them a little back when he was a teen, so he stayed loyal. When I saw the license plate, he told me that this team was the greatest ever, and i'd be smart to follow suit (he wouldn't judge me for liking a different team) and then, from there I started watching the team, and although they weren't the greatest in the earl 2000's, I still like the team, and ever since I've been a fan. 

[CelticsFanNC]

  I live in North Carolina now but I lived in Vermont back when I started following the NBA and playing basketball in the mid-70's.  My Dad was a High School basketball coach back in those days.  He grew up in upstate New York and lived and died with the Knicks.  When he talked to me about basketball he told me he hated but also respected the Celtics.  That piqued my interest I guess.  He had pictures of Bill Russell, Willis Reed and Wilt Chamberlain in our den that I remember fascinated me even before I really started following the NBA.  I remember watching the NBA Finals(on tape delay) with my Dad in 1976.  He told me to play the game the way John Havlicek played it and told me to watch how he never stops moving.  The Celtics won those Finals and I was hooked.

  Interestingly enough as a Coach my father talked a whole lot about his own teams hated rivals, Red Auerbach and Bill Russell, the way they played the game and how they changed the way the game was played.  He loved Larry Bird even though he hated the Celtics and still does.  I think the great respect he had for the Boston Celtics and how they have always approached thee game when they have been successful made a huge impression on me and how I look at the game.

[diconzo]

I really got into basketball about 2 years ago, but I had always been a Sox/Pats/Bruins/Celtics fan because I live in Maine. I was born into that square of sports teams and now I could never root for any other team against those four.

[Redz]

I was born & raised in Massachusetts so it came pretty easy. 

I was born into being a Celtics fan.

Ditto.  Having a sports crazed father helped too.

[Redz]

I'm from the Philippines. Back in the 90's, most of the people there who watches the NBA are either Bulls fans or Grant Hill or Penny Hardaway fans.

When I saw Antoine Walker play, that's when I got hooked. Then Ron Mercer came along and I got a little more hooked. Then Paul Pierce, and then I bled green.

This why Toine deserves a little more credit than he gets.  Sure he became a bit of a joke toward the end of his career,  but for a while he was the only real glimmer of hope this franchise had.  He carried the torch through some ugly years, and was the leader on a team that made a memorable playoff run. 

[gar]

From Philly and grew up with Dr. J, Mo Cheeks, Moses Malone. Witnessed them sweeping of the Lakers in '83 (“Fo Fo Fo”). Malone had 23 rebounds in the final game and was a Beast pure and simple (sorry Perk).

Moved to Boston in '86 and got hooked right away. Watched from the rafters of the old Garden when I could (dust hanging just above your head). Don't know how I  lasted through the difficult times that followed; but loved Reggie, Mercer and toine's shimmy. Not a huge Pierce fan initially; but he has definitely earned a lot of respect over the years with how he battled and kept us in all those games during the lean years. Paid off big time in end. Now I'm banking on #18.

[SHAQATTACK]

My Daddy was crazy about Russell and Cowans and Bird.  Real basketball , as he used to say.  We watched every game we could back then.  Good stuff. 

[GreenFaith1819]

It was 1981, and as a bright-eyed pre-teen I became enamored with a guy named Larry that seemed to play the game on a much higher level than everyone else.....

The rest is history.

[feckless]

I'm from upstate New York most everyone a Knicks fan but as a kid in the '60s you could just see how great Red, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Heinsohn, The Jones's, Satch were.  Charisma, team, hustle, out think, play the game right, stood for civil rights, first black coach, other teams still keeping racial quotas.  Thanks to the internet I don't have to scavenge every day for a Globe and Herald, saves me lots of time and money.

[throwedoff]

Back in 2001 I was 9 years old nd I was aspiring to be in the NBA so I wanted to model my game after somebody. Kobe, Vince Carter, AI, nd Tmac were some of the most popular players at the time but then I watched the sixers vs Celtics and automatically became a HUGE fan of Pierce. At this point in time I was super unathletic was an average ballhandler all i could do was shoot so I modeled my game after Pierce nd thats how I was first introduced to the Celtics been a fan ever since

[Prof. Clutch]

Born and raised in Boston, my dad was a huge C's fan so I caught the tail end of the 80's Championship teams and that was that.  I fell in LOVE and never looked back.

[indeedproceed]

My old man was a fanatic in the 80's and early 90's, but I was too young (I'm 27 now) to really appreciate it.

I was a huge anti-Jordan guy in the mid to late 90s (I guess you would call me a Stockton/Malone guy, but the Dream, Barkley, the Sonics, Shaq..anyone but Jordan.), when people asked me my team, I'd say Celtics, but I didn't really care that much about a team. I remember my collection of Dana Barros, Dee Brown, Dino Radja, and Eric Montross cards. Ugh.

When Toine and Pierce came along, we started watching again (me and my old man). I followed, but not too intently.

Then, sometime in 2004 or 2005 I fell in love again. I dunno what it was, and I know it sounds crazy, but I swear I was more passionate about this team when it was down in 05/06 and 06/07 than I have ever been while it was up. An Al Jefferson jersey still hangs on my wall (and I assume my Big Baby will go up there next season when he signs somewhere else).

So yeah, my old man made me a fan, but it was Perk, Al Jeefe, Delonte, Gomes, and Gerald Green (High54Life!) that brought me to this sorry saloon.

[GreenEnvy]

Grew up in NYC and was originally a Knicks fan during my adolescence (from like 8-13 years old). Once the lockout came and the Knicks blatantly overpaid Allan Houston and handcuffing the franchise, I was sick of the front office and basketball in general. Didn't even watch them in the Finals in '99.

After not watching the NBA for a couple seasons, Jordan coming out of retirement piqued my interest a bit. Started casually watching the game again. My brother came home on leave (USMC) with his friend from Boston and we were talking sports and he started talking trash about the NY teams and we got onto basketball. He was talking Paul Pierce this and Antoine Walker that.

Fast forward a couple weeks and I just happened to be flipping through the channels and lo and behold the C's are playing in MSG and I watched Paul Pierce just torch them to the tune of like 45 points. He was doing it all. Slashing, mid-range, FT's, treys, you name it. He had me from that game on.

From there I started following them online and whenever they played the Knicks or Nets or were on nationally. Then in 2004 I started buying the League Pass to catch every game. I would say I have missed maybe 10 games in the last 7 seasons.

Basically, Paul Pierce humiliating the Knicks the first week or two of the season in 2002 is why I am a Celtics fan.

[hardlyyardley]

1947....my dad took me to a Celtics/Toronto Huskies game....then going for double headers with a Globetrotter game as a warm up...then being about 12 and taking the T on many Sundays to the Boston Arena game......as a young married man in the early sixties walking up to the ticket office on game night to see a Celtics/Lakers final

Being at both the Jabbar skyhook  double overtime game in the 74 finals and then the triple ot game on 76.....then getting season tickets Bird's rookie year.

So I bleed green and have for years....don't take the losses as seriously as I used to and still have nightmares about Jerry West