It Means So Much

(Today I watched game 6 of the 2008 NBA finals - Celtics 131 Lakers 92 - on DVD. With the Celtics eliminated from this years playoffs, I needed it. I also re-read an email I sent to my Celtic-loving friends last June 18 after the Green won their record 17th title. With that championship, Boston now leads Los Angeles 17-9. That's right, Minneapolis has 5. Here's the email.)

Hello again my hoop-loving friends,

This morning I find myself in exactly the same place I found myself the morning after the Red Sox beat the Yankees in 2004, and, a week later, after they beat the Cardinals for their first World Series title of my life time. I’m preparing my breakfast as I listen to WEEI recapping our beloved Celtics’ 17th NBA championship victory and it hits me. I’m overwhelmed with emotion. Tears pool in my eyes and it’s like a pressure valve has been released. A twenty-two year wait is over. A forty-three year-old man stands in his kitchen and lets it out. It’s like Paul Pierce, the newest indisputable great Celtic said after game 4, "...just watin’ to exhale." We were all waiting with you, Paul. I stand there wondering, Why? Why does it mean so much to us? It just does...

It Means So Much...

All the screaming at the TV. All the late-night phone calls. All the "What the hell are they thinking?!" outbursts. All the second-guessing. All the comparisons. The ups and downs. The daring to hope. The urges to give up on them. The sleepless nights after both wins and losses. The satisfaction in seeing Kevin Garnett embrace Celtic past in the form of the greatest winner in team sports history, Bill Russell.

It Means So Much...

Just as the ‘04 Red Sox did by beating the Yankees 10-3 in game 7, these Celtics rewarded us, after damn near killing us, with a complete annihilation of their arch enemy and national darling Lakers with a thrashing so complete and fulfilling it left no doubt as to who was the better TEAM was. You can have you’re Best Player On The_______ (fill in your own stupid galactical euphimism here). Remember the line by Brain Dennehy in Rambo, "The best man lost, and he doesn’t like it!" Sometimes the victory is enhanced by who you beat. So long Phil, Kobe and the rest of you Lakers.

It Means So Much...

There will never be an NBA like the one we knew in the 1980's. But, in many ways this championship means just as much as those ones did. It’s about perspective. It’s about having been able to witness something spectacular and wanting to witness it again. It’s about bringing three amazingly unselfish players together in a league that rewards selfishness. It’s about bringing three supremely driven athletes to the right situation on the most appropriate team to accomplish what each so dearly lacked. It’s about the satisfaction of seeing those three, along with their heavily maligned coach and the best supporting cast in the league, renew the greatest tradition in basketball. As Larry Bird once pointed out (I’m paraphrasing here) "When you get to Boston, they look at you like you’re just another player if you haven’t won a championship."

It Means So Much...

I believe special mention should go out to Sky Bar and Mr Fio. I’ve always followed the NBA and I’ve always followed the Celtics, even during the crap years. But Sky Bar and Mr Fio FOLLOWED them with the devotion of a dog-lover caring for a two-legged mongrel. Way to go, guys. I admire your dedication.

It Means So Much...

I’d forgotten what an excruciating grind the NBA playoffs are. And to see this team play it’s best in the clinching game of the finals was worth all the late nights and frustration when they weren’t at their best. To see Kevin Garnett play that monster game we were all waiting for him to play. To see Ray Allen set records from 3-point land after Moe Howard Odom poked him in the eye. To see series MVP Paul Pierce play a terrific all-around game. To see Rajon Rondo flying all over the court. To see the bench contribute like they did. To see the clueless looks on Kobe’s and Phil’s faces; grab your seating assignments and boarding passes, guys, no parade this year on whatever planet Kobe’s the greatest on. It was a near-perfect performance - the biggest blowout in a finals-clinching game.

It Means So Much...

I remember a Bob Ryan column written during the idiocy when people were trying to name the Patriots a dynasty for winning three Super Bowl titles. He pointed out that the Ming Dynasty lasted nearly 300 years. Anyway, he went on to argue that there are really only three "sports dynasties"; The New York Yankees; The Montreal Canadiens; and your Boston Celtics. The biggest problem with the Celtics, he wrote, was that, unlike the Yankees (2000) and the Canadiens (1993) they hadn’t renewed their dynasty in such a long time. Well now they have. And it means so much.

It Means So Much...

Mike Sr and Mike Jr, you two have had perhaps the best nine months any two sports fans could have. And it is only through my love for you that I can feel good for you since your Giants kept my Patriots from giving me the best nine months ever. Michael, your son is growing-up at the rate of one championship per season - I know you know, that’s pretty special.

It Means So Much...

So, I thank you, Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Kendrick Perkins, Rajon Rondo, Leon Powe, James Posey, Glen Davis, Eddie House, Tony Allen, Brian Skalabrine, Scott Pollard, PJ Brown, San Cassell, and Gabe Pruitt for bringing it back.
And thank you to my hoop-loving friends, Michael, Mike Sr, Sky Bar, Mike Grenier, and Brendan on The West Coast for celebrating this great team with me, because as we all know...

...It Means So Much...

-Jeff