I've been a fan of winning teams before. During my college years, the Yankees won the World Series 3 of 4 years. (1996, 1998, 1999.) Of course, they also won in 2000, but I was a working man at that point. But the nature of being a Yankees fan in New England is a weird one. The only games you get to see are the Yankees/Red Sox games, or the random ESPN games. With a sport like baseball, you only get a true feel for a team by watching the teams day in and day out. I remember watching game 7 of the 2004 World Series with a friend of mine who was a huge, huge Red Sox fan. He had literally watched or listened to every single Red Sox game that year. His experience watching that team, who he had seen play 176 games, was entirely different from mine, watching maybe 10 Yankees games the first time I saw them win the Series. Also, I was a freshman in York Hall, and while this might surprise some of you, I remember being ferociously over-served that night.
Anyways, my point is, that I've never followed a great team, and been able to watch them day in/day out. Yes, the Pats are great, but as I've said before I am more of a bandwagon Pats fan than anything else. If they started losing tomorrow, I wouldn't care. Plus, football generally bores the shit out of me. (Other than, of course, fantasy football. Which is a whole nother story.)
I do follow the Celtics though, and this years team looks to have the potential for greatness. I vaguely remember the last Celtics championship, but I had no investment at that point. Since I can really remember, and since I have cared, the Celtics have been generally awful, with the occasional burst of mediocrity. Even their run into the Eastern Conference finals a few years ago was not an exercise in greatness, it was an exercise in, well, watching a successful train wreck.
This year's team though, is legitimately good. At times, many times, they are actually great. I really don't know how to root for a basketball team playing like this. Last night, for example, the Celtics lost their first game of the season. They played hard, but just didn't have it. They were on the road, playing a good team, and lost by 2. They even had a chance to win on a Paul Pierce three at the buzzer. In years past, this would have been a moral victory in many ways. Now? All I could notice was everything that went wrong this game that hadn't gone wrong the previous games this season. What's wrong with me? The Celtics have already won 8 games, they only won 24 last year. I should just relax and enjoy the ride, right? Easier said then done. Now I want them to win every game, and to look great doing it.
Oh well. While I may not know what I am doing in this new sort of fandom, I am enjoying it. I'll learn.
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I'd say the Red Sox are the only team I would watch if they were awful. But it is a lot of fun watching the Celtics play this year. Lots of ball movement, unselfish play.
They didn't deserve to win that game, but they could have. Don't forget Tony Allen missing that wide open lay up in the 4th quarter.
On another note, Boston used to be a basketball town. If you watch episodes of Cheers they are always talking about and watching the Celtics. In that world, the Red Sox were a team that Sam Malone used to pitch for... and did they ever mention the Patriots?
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