Taking The Cast Off
by Jeff Clark on Oct 19, 2007 5:00 AM EDT
in Boston Celtics Articles
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Twenty years is a long time. Sure, it isn’t 86 years or anything, but when you are talking about a team with the most titles in the sport, that’s a ginormous drought. Sure, the team that made it to the Eastern Conference Championship was exciting in its own way. But other than that, since Reggie Lewis tragically passed away, what kind of success has this team really had? Does winning the Atlantic Division a few years back even count? Through all of this, through the brief ups and long, long downs, I’ve been a fan. I wore my fandom like a badge of honor. I knew that someday my team would repay my loyalty with another banner.
But I have to confess, now that we seem to be on the right path, I don’t know what to do with myself. I just have very little idea what it means to be the fan of a winning basketball team anymore.
I was raised on Bird, Parish, and McHale, but they slowly limped away and sure enough, they never did walk through that door again. The duo of Pierce and Walker was fun for a while. They at least made things interesting. I wanted this team to win so badly that I looked past their faults and soaked up their strengths like a sponge. To this day I’m a big Antoine Walker fan, which is a little like admitting to still having a crush on Kirsty Alley. It’s not that I would ever want him back on the Celtics. I just love him for making my life a little more interesting for a few years as a fan of the Celtics.
The string of rejects and retreads that have donned a Celtic uniform through the years almost tarnished the legend and legacy of what it meant to wear the uniform. We’re talking Mark Blount, Vin Baker, Joe Forte, Jerome Moiso, Dwayne Schintzius, Travis Knight, Eric Montross, Todd Day, Acie Earl, the list goes on.
So of course I started looking for diamonds in the rough. I was so sure about Kedrick Brown. I just knew that Marcus Banks was our point guard of the future. All Sebastian Telfair needed was a change of scenery. Gerald Green is going to "get it" any day now.
As the losses mounted, the mentality changed. By now you know the drill. We were the fanbase best known for rooting for losses to improve draft position. We sold out games that were lopsided routs just because we wanted to be able to say "I saw Al Jefferson back in the day." We were cool with it because in our minds, we didn’t want to be sort-of good for year after year. We wanted to go for it all. We were hoping for that big payday when we’d get really good again and if it took taking 5 steps back to make a great leap forward, so be it.
We’re Boston fans; all we care about is the banners. Right? So why does it feel so unfamiliar to be back in the title hunt?
Have you ever broken your arm or had to have a cast of any sort? Remember what it was like to lose the ability to function normally? Remember what it was like when you finally got the cast off? There’s that moment when you have the full range of motion and the ability to move your arm just like you used to be able to, but for some reason your muscle memory can’t quite remember how. That moment. That’s where I’m at right now.
I remember expecting to win every game. I remember rooting for the Lakers to make it to the Finals so we could play someone worth fighting. I remember knowing that every year we had a really good shot to add another banner to the rafters. I just don’t remember it vividly. It’s kind of a fog right now.
I’m hoping that it is like riding a bike and once I start getting a little momentum going, my feet will find the pedals and it will all come back to me in a snap. In fact, I’m kinda counting on that.
I don’t think I’ll have to worry about "moral victories" and "good losses" anymore. Lottery day won’t matter much this year. Draft day will be fun, but it won’t be the most important day of the year anymore. Draft Express will be a great place to research guys at the bottom of the first round, but it won’t be my daily morning read from April to June anymore (sorry Eric).
Instead, we’ll be looking ahead to the competition and wonder about matchups and gameplans. When the team wins, we’ll actually break down some of the things that went wrong and how we can still improve in the next game. When the season starts winding down, we’ll have to start tracking these things called "home court advantage" and "seeds." It’s a whole new world.
The thing is, after the cast comes off and that moment of hesitation passes, you stretch out, flex your fingers, and you can’t help but smile. And before you know it, you’re shooting baskets and enjoying all the things you used to take for granted. This is going to be a lot of fun.
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Huh … hadn’t really thought about that before.
Vin Baker starts in Milwaukee gets traded to Seattle and onto Boston then ….
So Ray Allen is playing for the Knicks next? Huh
How odd is that? Didn’t see that at all. What’s it been four months since Ray joined us. How’d it take that long to see he followed the same path – Rookie in Milwaukee to fame and fortune in Seattle to Boston for a run.
Omen?
Nah … right? Nah nah it’s all good.
the 80-92 celts never were a lock- there was always the lakers who as much as i hate to say it, were a better team in that era. the 70’s c’s as great as they were the same- that great knicks team. 50-60’s were the cat’s meow. this team will be more like the 70’s c’s than the 80’s juggernaut.not too bad. we just came out of the desert and boy are we thirsty.
The impending season IS going to be a lot of fun, but I must remind myself that they haven’t won a regular season game yet…so it may be a little harder for your feet to “find the pedals” than you think.
There are a lot of good teams waiting to play the new Celtics, and those team are going to certainly “get up” for when the new Celtics stroll into their building or vice-versa, when they need to visit the C’s at the TD BankNorth Garden.
I’ve always seen the green glass as half full of Kool-Aid…still do.
But they years of turmoil, flapping in the wind, and straight-up losing, have made me a little hesitant to go all in…
I never followed basketball until 2003, when I had a roommate who was a diehard Celtics fan. I started watching because I liked the drama, and the athleticism of Davis and Banks et al. I never thought winning was supposed to be the point.
Now that the team promises to be so good and old and new fans are coming out of the woodwork, I’m not sure what I feel. I was part of a very special (if not especially smart) club when I was rooting for a losing team. But any schmuck can â€" and probably will â€" root for a winner. Do I want to belong to that club?
by festoonic2 on Oct 19, 2007 7:51 AM EDT reply actions
festoonic2, it’s too bad you didn’t see the ’80’s Celtics, especially the ‘86 team with the best from 1-8 in the world. Hall of Fame Center Robert Parish was backed up by Hall of Fame Center Bill Walton. Two of the best passers the game has known, Bill Walton and Larry Bird were on the same team. Basketball then was a symphony. Your base point is basketball as a scratched up 78 record. (Google it). It’s only three pre-season games, but Celtic basketball is a symphony again and it’s beautiful to watch.
I think the realization of what this team is to what it was really came to me durng the Minny game. For a while I lost focus and found myself watching Minny more then I was watching the Celtics, until I regouped myself and realized our guys are the ones winning in the Green Jerseys. That game showed me the transtion this team has made. I was born in 79, and by the time I caught on to the Celtics most of the glory days were over ( NESN charged back then so never really got to see them ). To be honest I caught on to basketball more as a Bulls/Jordan fan. Athough I kept an eye on the Celtics never really caught on to them until the year me and my friend had tickets to all the playoff games the year of the greatest comeback win, which prob. was the year we started to really go down hill. All that being said, I am anticipating my gretest year/years as a Celtics fan starting this year.
Nice piece Jeff, but ya forgot one thing about the cast coming off….scratchin away all that dead skin that has built up. I see the first 10 or 15 games this year as being the hoop equivalent, where our new team has to work through “chemistry development” etc before they can really gel and start to abuse a bunch of their opponents the way we all are looking forward to.
Its gonna be so nice.
by twistedmisfit on Oct 19, 2007 8:33 AM EDT reply actions
very nicely written Jeff. It is hard not to be giddy. The bike analogy is a good one. Sometimes in the last few years I felt like was sitting on the handlebars of a blind man’s bike instead of peddling myself.
mcpu40 – excellent post
My Dad coached some semi-pro Triple AAA baseball in the early 1960’s. As a little kid I was always around a baseball field shagging fly balls or trying to be involved with the players. I got hit in the mouth once with a baseball and it bloodied me up some. My dad made me come right back out and play while my mouth was still bleeding. He said if I didn’t I would be afraid of the ball from then on. So I did. In sports, and in life, you just have to keep comimng back know matter how much the pain of losing or getting bloodied up is. And when the winning starts you are so glad you never left thhe field of play or left your team you love.
Thanks for the article and I hope the winning is about to start. We all deserve it.
Antoine Walker to Kirstie Alley is a hysterical comparison. I have to agree though. I have a lot of the same feelings. Being a Cs fan all these years has been like being in a bad relationship (giving more than getting). I sometimes felt like the last kid who believed in my superhero (he can still save the day) but no one was listening to me. I think unconditional love for a sports team can be a beautiful thing. Not always a healthy thing but a beautiful thing. And having seen the darkest of the darkest nights one can better appreciate the brightness thats ahead of us. Here’s to a healthier relationship with our beloved team in green.
It’s sad to think it’s been 20 years….. oh living hell with this team… always hoping and praying…
I understood the M.L. Carr era and was okay with it… But once Rick Pitino came in, I was excited right up to the point where Red wasn’t allowed to be part of anything and then all our BAD LUCK started to snow ball…….
It took us years to recover from Mr. Success is a Choice…. Just thinking back to that dreadful summer where he signed Travis Knight… and we had to let Rick Fox and David Wesley
If he did had kept these two, signed Ben Wallace (and been patient with them) and focused on building this team we wouldn’t have suffered for so long…. to this day I have never forgiven that man…..
Danny did have a plan and I’m glad he stuck to it.
I was born in 79 as well. When I got into basketball I was a Lakers fan because my uncle, who introduced me to the game, convinced me that Magic was the greatest player ever. We had a lot of fun being Lakers fans in Boston.
I didn’t become a Celtics fan until Bird was laying on the floor beside the bench for most of the game. Then Bird and McHale left and I had to root for Alaa Abdelnaby and Sherman Douglass (still love that floater). I remember how excited I was when we got retreads like Blue Edwards, Xavier McDaniel (remember the X-man shoe commercials!), and ’Nique. I was so clueless.
But, I’m trying not to go crazy. Not only have we only played pre-season games, but we haven’t even played teams that are good. I know, I know, Toronto deserves respect because they won the blah blah blah. We all know that we’re at a different level now. I want to see us play Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago. Then I want to see us play the Spurs, Mavs, Suns, Jazz, and Rockets. If we’re still putting on a clinic against those teams, then I’m selling my children on the black market and buying playoff tickets.
Migit I agree that it is only the Preseason and the teams we beat were not that great, but those wins and by how many points is not what I’m excited about, it is the basketball IQ that I am seeing that excites me. Such as passing, ball movement, coming off picks properly, talking on def., being patent for the right shot, etc. etc. The only thing that I see this team doing wrong is sometimes overpassing causing turnovers, which I chalk up to the chemistry building aspect. One thing I love is hearing on the sports websites how Rondo isn’t a good PG for this team and House can not run the point. I think these 2 guys are going to surprise a lot of people this year, I know what Rondo is capable of, and from what I have seen so far House looks like a decent PG himself, not just shooting but passing and defencivly. May even be more of a PG then Delonte West was.
Because I’m viewing this season in the realgm of ‘I want a title run’ the regular season isn’t going to mean a whole heck of a lot for me, with the exception of injuries. I really think there’s about 6 higher eschelon teams out there, with us being right at the bottom of that upper eschelon (but with the four best teams all being out West I’m okay with that). Given that I really see a 2-3 year window to possibly get the ring I’d much rather see us as the 4th seed with everyone healthy going into the playoffs than getting guys injured late and coming in as the second seed.
The most interesting thing about the league as a whole this year is there really isn’t more than 6 or 7 teams who I’d consider playoff locks and 5-6 teams who I’d consider lottery locks. That leaves about 17 teams jumbled in the middle. One injury to a star of one of those top 6 teams and they fall right into that middle pack.
If we lose a couple games here or there because we’re limiting minutes, that’s okay as long as everyone stays healthy.
by Scotty on Oct 19, 2007 9:54 AM EDT reply actions
Ancient Red said: Danny did have a plan and I’m glad he stuck to it.
Right on Ancient Red -
Danny did collect and develop the young talent to deal for his stars. Just when I thought the cupboard was empty ‘’Oops he did it again’’ it seems he has found intriguing youth. I know it’s only preseason and these kids aren’t going to get half the opportunity as the previous group but somehow I feel they will be turned into future acquisitions.
Am I drinking Kool-Aid, or does anyone else feel the same way.
I never rooted for the Lakers to make to Finals. They were the one team that could beat us, especially with Magic. Magic was the greatest clutch player I ever saw.
by The Real Large James on Oct 19, 2007 12:08 PM EDT reply actions
Good article which has brought out good posts. Migit gets award for mentioning Blue Edwards. Man, we had a lot of “bad old days”. I didn’t care much for Todd Day but I loved Sherm Douglas and must confess I liked Dino Radja. As much as some of you guys annoy me (Brickowski!!!!) I know who was posting last year and there will be a lot of fun this year for the posting veterans. We are likely to see many “come latelies” but the more the merrier.
Pitino was such a loser.
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