Somewhat OT: What a Celtics title would mean now

[wigglestrue]

Had the Pats won last night, then the-Celtics-winning-a-title would have been hoped for (by Boston fans anyway, since many Celtics fans aren't Boston fans) as the completion of the trifecta, the third leg. Now, I wonder how much has changed, if the stakes have been altered. Our recent (and sinful) regional arrogance just got dropkicked in the nuts. Anyone (like me) who (foolishly) had developed the feeling that the three Boston sports teams, including the Celtics, were somehow fated to win the title...just had that feeling ripped out and smashed to pieces. This city's fanhood is going to be in mourning for months. Now I know, I know...even this reeks of "entitlement", but it's really not entitlement. People here are truly devastated, and the 3 SB and 2 WS wins in recent memory can only mitigate the pain a little bit. I think a lot of our arrogance was just misplaced relief that we (seemingly) weren't ever going to experience bitter, vicious disappointment again. "Thank god we never have to go through that **** again". Not so fast, says a vengeful God. The AFC title game last year, as much as it sucked, barely registered with me. Now of course, it's resurrected and bundled with last night as part of a back-to-back monumental heartbreak. This isn't quite as horrific as the '86 WS or the '03 ALCS. But it's pretty close.

Anyway...now instead of being the third piece of the big shiny "Three Party" puzzle, the lesser piece at that...I think a hypothetical Celtics title would be its own animal. It would be an enormous lift, like a baby that's born soon after a loved one dies. I think as the playoffs approach, people will look more and more at the Celtics and instead of saying "Finish what the Red Sox and Patriots started" now they'll be saying something like "Save us, please!" or even more desperate, like Halle Berry, "Make us feel good!" I'm know I'm being over-the-top. It's a result of how I feel today: Under-the-bottom.

[chakdaddy]

It's nice for Celtics fans who aren't from Boston, now the pressure won't be on the Celtics, I won't get the ultimate heartbreak of the two Boston teams who I don't care about winning while the Celtics fall short, if that's how it turns out. (especially more painful since I am a Cleveland Indians fan, and the Red Sox killed that dream - on my wedding day no less.)

Now the Celtics season and its eventual outcome is about the Celtics, not about Boston. "This one is for Terre Haute" or some such instead.

[wigglestrue]

It's nice for Celtics fans who aren't from Boston, now the pressure won't be on the Celtics, I won't get the ultimate heartbreak of the two Boston teams who I don't care about winning while the Celtics fall short, if that's how it turns out. (especially more painful since I am a Cleveland Indians fan, and the Red Sox killed that dream - on my wedding day no less.)

Now the Celtics season and its eventual outcome is about the Celtics, not about Boston. "This one is for Terre Haute" or some such instead.

I totally see what you're saying about what it means to you and other Celtics fans who don't root for other Boston teams. My condolences on the ALCS, btw -- I'm in one of those moods where I'm finally sympathetic to the pain of fans whose teams were beat by my teams. But dude...the eventual outcome of the Celtics season, especially if it's best-case-scenario territory, is still going to be very much about Boston for everybody in the world except the relatively small universe of non-Bostonian C's fans.

[sully00]

While I am a Pats and yesterday really sucked, football isn't nearly as meaningful to me as basketball and baseball. It is far more hit or miss and random than the other two. To have a championship for a season decided on one game has always seemed like less of an accomplishment. Rarely does a team steal a NBA championship and while it can happen in baseball it is still pretty rare.

I am a Yankee fan and not a Red Sox fan so I don't have much bleed over of one Boston team to another. I have actually never understood how you could have that Red Sox fan psychosis and at the same time believe in the ghosts in the rafters what a duality.

Anyway there is certainly a lesson to be learned about counting your chickens, and while I don't know that the team did the Patriot nation certainly did.

[ParticleMan]

I am a hardcore Pats-Sox-Celts fan but I just don't think the SB bothered me as much as it seems to have much of Pats Nation. We got beat. It's not like we got jobbed by the refs, or gave it away, or somehow squandered it. A lot of things went right for us to go 18-0, including some luck. Well, it all ran out, the Giants got the breaks, no, they made their breaks by playing tougher and harder. So we got what we deserved. Sucks for us, but I can move on. I guess the fans who are really hurting are the ones who did feel some sense of entitlement, or destiny, or whatever. I guess I never did. Frankly, I thought we were fairly fortunate to go 18-0. It would have been nice if the magic had lasted one more game, but it didn't. Oh well.

As for the C's, all I can say is it's damn good to have something meaningful to follow between now and summer.

[greenbeans]

anybody else just take a long, quiet walk after it ended?? it was like my dog got tossed intpo a woodchipper in front of me.

[Al n' Perk No Layups!]

As a Giants fan, this could be the best sports season ever. Hell, it already is.

[wigglestrue]

I am a hardcore Pats-Sox-Celts fan but I just don't think the SB bothered me as much as it seems to have much of Pats Nation. We got beat. It's not like we got jobbed by the refs, or gave it away, or somehow squandered it. A lot of things went right for us to go 18-0, including some luck. Well, it all ran out, the Giants got the breaks, no, they made their breaks by playing tougher and harder. So we got what we deserved. Sucks for us, but I can move on. I guess the fans who are really hurting are the ones who did feel some sense of entitlement, or destiny, or whatever. I guess I never did. Frankly, I thought we were fairly fortunate to go 18-0. It would have been nice if the magic had lasted one more game, but it didn't. Oh well.

As for the C's, all I can say is it's damn good to have something meaningful to follow between now and summer.

I think there's an important distinction. Just because a lot of fans had been caught up in the illusion of "destiny", does not mean that they were feeling entitled. Although, some were both. And some were neither. Anyway, when a team goes 18-0 and breaks all kinds of records, you'd be a strange species of Pats fan if you didn't believe in some kind of destiny...before last night. And I think for the Sox-Celts-Pats fans among us, there had to have been some childlike sense of "magic" or "destiny" or whatever that led one to think that all three were going to win titles. And it would have been one thing had the Pats lost 20-7 vs. the Chargers two weeks ago...but to come within inches and seconds of being the greatest football team of all time...that's a whole 'nutha level...took fans to the absolute brink and cruelly ripped it away. I really can't imagine a fellow Pats fan with a functioning heart not feeling absolutely crushed by last night, in a way that only a few Red Sox losses have crushed us. I admire you if you don't feel crushed, I wish I had whatever it is you have. That said, I'm going to assume that most people feel like me, and this city is going to be severely sports-depressed for months. I think a C's title would now be a much bigger deal than it would have been had the Pats won. This city now almost needs the Celtics to win to heal, to restore our sports-related happiness, whereas before, if the Sox and Pats had completed parts 1 and 2 of the trilogy and the C's just fell short, it wouldn't have been as big a deal (to rabid Celtics diehards like us it would have been, but overall, no -- most Boston sports fans would have gotten over it fairly easily).

[wigglestrue]

anybody else just take a long, quiet walk after it ended?? it was like my dog got tossed intpo a woodchipper in front of me.

That's a good way of putting it. I've been comparing it to watching Santa Claus get stabbed to death on live TV. The long walk, yeah, I took it...in the unbearable absence of cars honking and people revelling, the almost total silence was oppressive and just made me way more depressed.

[wigglestrue]

As a Giants fan, this could be the best sports season ever. Hell, it already is.

If you and other Giants fans could maybe lay off this thread for a while, that'd be really cool and very much appreciated. Just asking for a favor, thanks. Congrats though. Must feel awesome.

[GuyClinch]

I was pretty crushed - but let's be honest despite what the haters will tell you having your team go 18-1 is more fun then say being a fan of the Dolphins. Yes they got outplayed in the most important game and that was really an awful feeling but overall for a fan I think the year was pretty enjoyable.

The all or nothing aspect of sports is exaggerated. If your a football fan its great if your team can be in meaningful and important games each week and I appreciate the Pats organization for giving me that much..

It's the same with the C's - I hope they win it all this year. And I expect they will win it all this year. But if they don't it's a HECK OF ALOT BETTER ALREADY then last year or even the last half dozen years..

pete

[DelMonte West]

It's the same with the C's - I hope they win it all this year. And I expect they will win it all this year. But if they don't it's a HECK OF ALOT BETTER ALREADY then last year or even the last half dozen years..

pete

Amen.

Much as I was disappointed, I can't honestly say I was crushed. Sure, I'm sick of the old fart Dolphins and their neverending circle-jerk and self-absorbed ego-inflation, but the whole Spygate stuff really put a stain on the whole season for me (I don't care how much or how little it helped...there was NO NEED or excuse for that crap). That's all on the head coach so maybe it isn't fair for the Pats as a whole, but it just wouldn't have felt as enjoyable as it should have if they won last night. Sort of like a messed-up form of buyer's remorse, for lack of a better description.

I just started channel-surfing after the game instead of watching the interviews, and came upon a Robert Kraft interview on CNBC from a couple months ago. The interviewer talked about the whole scandal and you could tell it REALLY bothered him. He talked about what an honorable businessman his father was and how he talked to Bill about how his actions went in the face of what he wanted his organization to stand for. It was followed by an interview with John Kraft and he said it bothered his father even more than he let on.

I don't know how to wind this all up but I just don't feel all that upset anymore. It's just hard to get as attached to a sport that's only played once a week, as compared to every day (Sox) or every other day (Celts) during the regular season.

[wigglestrue]

Much as I was disappointed, I can't honestly say I was crushed. Sure, I'm sick of the old fart Dolphins and their neverending circle-jerk and self-absorbed ego-inflation, but the whole Spygate stuff really put a stain on the whole season for me (I don't care how much or how little it happened...there was NO NEED or excuse for that crap). That's all on the head coach so maybe it isn't fair for the Pats as a whole, but it just wouldn't have felt as enjoyable as it should have if they won last night. Sort of like a messed-up form of buyer's remorse, for lack of a better description.

Eh. Never felt that way about Spygate myself. At all.
Had the Pats won last night, nothing would have diminished it.

[GuyClinch]

Yeah Spygate never bothered me. It's much ado about nothing. You can't expect teams to not try to intercept and decipher signals. That's why they went to radio's in helmets on O and that's why they use signals on D. There is no "honor" system is football..

Pete

[bruno sundov]

-= original quote snipped =-



If you and other Giants fans could maybe lay off this thread for a while, that'd be really cool and very much appreciated. Just asking for a favor, thanks. Congrats though. Must feel awesome.

I would tell them to take a flying leap of the empire state building. just as they would to you, if you said this on the NY board. You know how it feels. to win the superbowl you have had that feeling more than other team besides the cowboys over the last 20 years.

[GWVan]

My condolences to you pats fans. I've been there. I was once a Bills fan, but then oddly enough I stopped caring about the NFL for a few years - until a local team - the Jaguars - came into being.

That being said, I'm kind of happy that if the Celtics get to the finals all the hype will not be about the Boston threepeat of Sox/Pats/Celtics - instead it will be all about the Celtics.

[giambijuice]

Yeah Spygate never bothered me. It's much ado about nothing. You can't expect teams to not try to intercept and decipher signals. That's why they went to radio's in helmets on O and that's why they use signals on D. There is no "honor" system is football..

Pete

spying has been going on in football forever.


the celtics winning a championship would be huge for me right now.

[Tenbomber]

The media manufactured this whole "perfection" deal and then proceeded to tear it down, each week some new distraction and new obstacle emerged on the scene.....makes buisness and sales for their sponsors....

Better for fans to simply ignore all the BS and enjoy the ride as long as it lasts....

I enjoyed the Pat's run same as I enjoyed the Red Sox World Series victory and the Celtic's turnaround thusfar....

Hey, no matter what happens with the C's, is there a better sportstown than Boston?

I think not!

We are all lucky to have such great Boston teams and there's simply no reason to be crying in our beer!

The Giants and Eli Manning, Tyree and Burris and the rest of that team were all Super Sunday!

Congratualtions to them! ...They deserved to win!

[sully00]

I have to say the thing that is bothering me the most about the aftermath of the Super Bowl is the yahoos feeling the need to carry on about it. I mean if Giant fan wants to go off, they really don't for the most part and kind of are acting more like lottery winners than anything else, fine.

But to have to listen to some jerk who isn't a fan of either team go on and on about how great this is, as if this now has brought some fulfillment and meaning to his otherwise useless life, is really causing me to have to suppress my violent tendencies.

[bruno sundov]

But to have to listen to some jerk who isn't a fan of either team go on and on about how great this is, as if this now has brought some fulfillment and meaning to his otherwise useless life, is really causing me to have to suppress my violent tendencies.

Don't surpress these things let them out