A Rambling Case For Celtics Fans
With the possiblity that Allen Iverson might be coming to Boston, a common theme has sprouted among mediatypes: Oooooh, the Celtics could be relevant again! Steve Bulpett wrote it. Jackie McMullen wrote it. The radio guys wrote it. Bill Simmons mentioned it. If AI comes to the Celtics, they will mean something again. What these mediatypes don't realize is that, while the Celtics may not mean anything to THEM, they do mean something, to a lot of people.
First, everyone seems to think a big star like Allen Iverson will get people excited for the Celtics. The Celtics already have a big star. Someone out there is keeping Paul Pierce consistently in the top 10-15 in jersey sales across the NBA. Pierce is a legitimate NBA star,a perennial all star, and, for a stretch last year, played better basketball than anyone else in the world. The media didn't care. We did.
And it wasn't only Pierce. Celtics fans got legitimately excited about the team's young talent last year. Delonte West, Ryan Gomes, Kendrick Perkins and Gerald Green weren't going to win anything last year, but that didn't keep Celtics fans from enjoying what they had. Look at the statistics. For the last two months of the season, even though the Celtics were a fringe playoff threat at bet, the"Garden" was sold out every night. Night in, night out. Look it up. Sellouts. Just to watch young kids who played hard and were getting better. WEEI spent all their time discussing Adam Vinatieri and Jeremy Reed. They didn't care. We did.
On Wednesday, I woke up to hear Sean Grande and Rob Bradford filling in for Dale and Holley on 'EEI (Holiday weeks are the best time to listen to 850. Don't get me wrong. I love 4 guys screaming over each other about how bad Julian Tavarez is as the next guy, but if you want anything else, the main guys need to be on vacation. I swear if you surveyed a thousand Boston sports fans and had them listen to a normal Big Show and a show with Rob Bradford, Tom Curran, Sean Grande and John Wallach, I can't imagine more than 100 would want to hear the Big Show.) Anyhow, hearing Celtics talk on the radio made me want to call in and talk Celtics. When I hear the usual Youkilis should be in the all star game banter, I don't feel at all like calling in to WEEI to talk about the Celtics. So, when people say that no one cares about the Celtics, it more accurately means that four fat white guys in a radio studio don't care. If WEEI gave Celtics' fans a venue to talk, we would. They prefer to believe that the Celtics aren't relevant and that has become the prevailing thought.
Celtics fans can't find an outlet on WEEI, but they are out there. They are selling out games. Thousands are talking Celtics on Celticblog, Celtic Nation and other places on the web. When the Iverson rumors began and the draft was hours away, Celticsblog crashed: too many people were visiting the site at once. All for a team thats "not relevant."
I watch every game that I can. I spend ten dollars and get to as many games as I can. I check the box scores. I read the papers. I write about the Celtics on here, probably to a fault. But I care about the Celtics, just like I care about the Patriots and just like I care about the Red Sox. And I know I'm not alone. Because I remember the excitement of Rick Pitino's first draft. I remember a packed Fleetcenter ushering in the "new era" with a win over MJ's Bulls. I remember Jim O'Brien injecting new life and the city responding with sellouts. I remember eating, sleeping and breathing the 2002 playoff run. I remember high-fiving hundreds of people after the comeback game, not wanting the night to end. I remember the Fleet rocking through two overtimes in 2003 despite facing a 3-0 defecit to the Nets and knowing the season was over. I remember spending two hours pirating a radio feed out of rural Indiana online so I could hear game 2 of the illfated 2004 playoffs. I remember Game 7 in 2005 being as loud as any basketball game I have ever attended, Carrier Dome included. I remember watching Sportscenter every night the Celtics played this spring just to see what Pierce did. I remember two hours ago checking to see the summer league box score. And I know I'm not alone because I have a bunch of friends who have the same memories and I'm sure there are thousands of others. Maybe Allen Iverson will get John Dennis and Pete Sheppard to believe that the Celtics are worth talking about. Maybe Pierce, Iverson and the kids will march to the NBA Championship and captivate New England Red Sox style. Maybe then the media will recognize Celtic Nation.
Then, maybe the Celtics will be relevant. Maybe they won't be. Either way, I'm a Celtics fan for life.
First, everyone seems to think a big star like Allen Iverson will get people excited for the Celtics. The Celtics already have a big star. Someone out there is keeping Paul Pierce consistently in the top 10-15 in jersey sales across the NBA. Pierce is a legitimate NBA star,a perennial all star, and, for a stretch last year, played better basketball than anyone else in the world. The media didn't care. We did.
And it wasn't only Pierce. Celtics fans got legitimately excited about the team's young talent last year. Delonte West, Ryan Gomes, Kendrick Perkins and Gerald Green weren't going to win anything last year, but that didn't keep Celtics fans from enjoying what they had. Look at the statistics. For the last two months of the season, even though the Celtics were a fringe playoff threat at bet, the"Garden" was sold out every night. Night in, night out. Look it up. Sellouts. Just to watch young kids who played hard and were getting better. WEEI spent all their time discussing Adam Vinatieri and Jeremy Reed. They didn't care. We did.
On Wednesday, I woke up to hear Sean Grande and Rob Bradford filling in for Dale and Holley on 'EEI (Holiday weeks are the best time to listen to 850. Don't get me wrong. I love 4 guys screaming over each other about how bad Julian Tavarez is as the next guy, but if you want anything else, the main guys need to be on vacation. I swear if you surveyed a thousand Boston sports fans and had them listen to a normal Big Show and a show with Rob Bradford, Tom Curran, Sean Grande and John Wallach, I can't imagine more than 100 would want to hear the Big Show.) Anyhow, hearing Celtics talk on the radio made me want to call in and talk Celtics. When I hear the usual Youkilis should be in the all star game banter, I don't feel at all like calling in to WEEI to talk about the Celtics. So, when people say that no one cares about the Celtics, it more accurately means that four fat white guys in a radio studio don't care. If WEEI gave Celtics' fans a venue to talk, we would. They prefer to believe that the Celtics aren't relevant and that has become the prevailing thought.
Celtics fans can't find an outlet on WEEI, but they are out there. They are selling out games. Thousands are talking Celtics on Celticblog, Celtic Nation and other places on the web. When the Iverson rumors began and the draft was hours away, Celticsblog crashed: too many people were visiting the site at once. All for a team thats "not relevant."
I watch every game that I can. I spend ten dollars and get to as many games as I can. I check the box scores. I read the papers. I write about the Celtics on here, probably to a fault. But I care about the Celtics, just like I care about the Patriots and just like I care about the Red Sox. And I know I'm not alone. Because I remember the excitement of Rick Pitino's first draft. I remember a packed Fleetcenter ushering in the "new era" with a win over MJ's Bulls. I remember Jim O'Brien injecting new life and the city responding with sellouts. I remember eating, sleeping and breathing the 2002 playoff run. I remember high-fiving hundreds of people after the comeback game, not wanting the night to end. I remember the Fleet rocking through two overtimes in 2003 despite facing a 3-0 defecit to the Nets and knowing the season was over. I remember spending two hours pirating a radio feed out of rural Indiana online so I could hear game 2 of the illfated 2004 playoffs. I remember Game 7 in 2005 being as loud as any basketball game I have ever attended, Carrier Dome included. I remember watching Sportscenter every night the Celtics played this spring just to see what Pierce did. I remember two hours ago checking to see the summer league box score. And I know I'm not alone because I have a bunch of friends who have the same memories and I'm sure there are thousands of others. Maybe Allen Iverson will get John Dennis and Pete Sheppard to believe that the Celtics are worth talking about. Maybe Pierce, Iverson and the kids will march to the NBA Championship and captivate New England Red Sox style. Maybe then the media will recognize Celtic Nation.
Then, maybe the Celtics will be relevant. Maybe they won't be. Either way, I'm a Celtics fan for life.
posted by Chris Ahl at 2:50 AM
1 Comments:
I'm impressed with your site, very nice graphics!
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