It’s been two weeks since the Celtics destroyed the Lakers to win their 17th Championship and it still doesn’t seem real.  

 

Either it hasn’t sunk in yet, or maybe I’ve just been too far removed from the Celtics in the last 15 years for it to really have an impact.  Likely a bit of both.

 

Part of the problem is that I haven’t had anyone to really share this with.  I was in China during the first four games of the series and haven’t really spoken to any of my fellow Celtics fans since the end of the Atlanta series.  Sully, Regan, Mike, Rook, Dennis - where are you?  We need to share in the victory!

 

There have been a few people at work who have been congratulating me - but none of them can really relate.  No one here grew up in the Bird-era Celtics, watching 40+ games on TV every season and reading the recap of every game in the paper the next day.  I love the Patriots and Sox, but basketball was always my favorite sport and the C’s were always the team I lived and died with.

 

Basketball and watching the Celtics were the backbone of my childhood friendships.  Sully and I played countless basketball games in our driveways.  On the weekend, we would watch the Celtics first half and then run outside to shoot at halftime -- even if it meant shoveling snow off the driveway or wearing a big mitten on one hand while dribbling and shooting with the other.  Then when that hand froze, we would switch the mitten and play with our off hand.  It was these countless ice-games that started the destruction of my ankles.  By the time I was 16, they were cracking on every step.  

 

Mike Blackett and I became friends over basketball.  The Blacketts became my second family over beef terriyaki, peking dumplings and pork fried rice from the Fortune Garden while watching the Celtics.  Wow, I really miss those days.  

 

It’s hard to imagine how different my life would have been like without the Celtics.  They were a constant in my childhood.  As much as anything else, they defined me from age 10 through high school.  I knew every player, their scoring, rebounding, heck - even their field goal percentage.  (Yeah, I didn’t socialize much.)

 

The Celtics were how my dad and I bonded.  We watched and talked our way through 13 seasons together.  My dad didn’t talk about much, but we could talk about basketball.  The Celtics were part of our life together right until the end.  I remember watching the Celtics while sitting with my dad while he as comatose in his hospital room at Mass General, holding his hand and talking about the game - the Celtics being the only think I could talk about without crying.  

 

The Celtics were always such a huge part of my life.  

 

So this Championship seems a little empty compared to numbers 14, 15 and 16 because I haven’t really had anyone to share it with.  The best memories of the season were:

    1)  Talking about the Garnett trade with everyone when it happened.

    2)  Going to the Celtics/Spurs game with Mike and Regan

    3)  Watching Game 7 vs the Hawks with Sully

Watching the Celts destroy the Lakers in game 6 was great, but it wasn’t as good as those other moments.  Sitting in front of the tv by myself and then telling my wife that the Celtics won isn’t the same as having someone who cares as much as you do, watching along with you.  I really, really miss that.  What I wouldn’t give to have some of my Boston friends living in the same city so we could share in these games together.

 

So yeah, the Celtics winning was great.  But it was so different than previous Celtic championships that I haven’t quite processed things.  See, the Patriots and Red Sox NEVER WON when I was in Massachusetts, so their recent success has all been new and not comparable to previous experiences.  But the Celtics this year - it reminded me of so much of my life growing up. So much that I miss today.  Another reminder that I wish I had been a better friend throughout the years.

 

So wrapping up: Great Celtics win.  So happy for Garnett.  Very impressed with Pierce and love the player he has become.  (Did anyone know we was this good?  The ability to step up? The individual defense?)  Amazed with how key Posey was.  Thrilled with the future potential of Powe, Rondo and Perkins.  Baffled by Doc Rivers’ player rotation but no longer second guessing him.  Ecstatic not only that Kobe lost, but that he got shut down in the process.  Beautiful.  Better season than I ever imagined when the team was put together, and honestly a better season than I thought the Celtics would ever have again in my lifetime.

 

And I really miss my friends.