Roll call thread for the loyals fans.....

[Barry Lird]

Well, if this is roll call, then consider me checked in. Me, and my several thousand posts under a different screen name

So proud of the team, and Danny, Doc, and ownership too, all of whom took much crap over the last couple of years.

Just a tremendous performance by the guys last night. Devastating. What a punctuation point on an incredible season. 39 point win. Wow

It's good to be green.

[JN]

Loyal diehard fan since June 2008. I have waited so long for this.

[sully00]

This is so damn great, for me the 80's weren't how they were remembered by others.

My first real clear Celtic memory is dancing on a bar after the '81 Championship (I was 7)

But even clearer was the '82 "BEAT LA" loss in Game 7 to the Sixers.

And I got to tell you I remember '85 and '87 so much clearer than '84 and '86. The wasted chances, the lost opportunities, the tragedies, and then the 90's.

But this, this is so much different. This isn't just beating the Lakers, great in itself, but to beat Phil Jackson and stop him at the gate of tainting the legacy of what a truly great coach is, with is cherry picking opportunities, front running, and one foot out the door routine. Add to that beating Kobe, not that it is like beating Jordan himself, but it in a way it is better because it destroys that false idol of Jordan that has kind of screwed up basketball for the past 15-20 years. Jordan was a complete and dominant player but all anyone seemed to take away was the style, the hot doggin and scoring, not the substance.

But not this time. This time a team that played like Riley's boys of the 90's on the defensive end had the offensive package to go with it and shoved that triangle right were it belongs.

Go Celtics.

[jsimon]

Well I haven't posted all year, but I sure as sh*t deserve to be here. What a year, what a team, Jefferson who?

[Celtic Kangz]

Well I haven't posted all year, but I sure as sh*t deserve to be here. What a year, what a team, Jefferson who?

What he said. Good to see you back, Simon. Enjoy.

[jsimon]

What he said. Good to see you back, Simon. Enjoy.

I can't stay, working too much, but I took a peak in once in a while this year. Watched every second of basketball of course, and haven't enjoyed a year like this since high school. I still feel like '84 was tops on my list, but maybe that's just because I was 13 at the time and much more impressionable. This was better than '86 though, I have to say...

[bceltic55]

I can't wait till the draft and next season. This is great and all of us can now say positive things about our team.

[31to6]

Euphoria. Wish the Finals were 2-2-1-1-1 so we could've done this in 5!

I haven't posted much this season - because I loved it so much - but two of my most recent ring prescient:

After the won in Dallas in March:

In 20 years of rabid Celtics fandom, I've never seen a team nearly this good. Wow is this season an honor to behold.

Not to jump ahead, but if PP wins Finals MVP (and I think he will if we win it all), I'm going to just lose it. So proud of that guy.

Time to upgrade my location from "2nd class NBA" to the penthouse!

..and before the playoffs started, on a thread about "Your favorite moment of the season":

Garnett's scream. That's when I went from thinking "this [new roster] just might work" to "holy #$ this is going to be something special." And it was. The whole season. And it all traces to one thing and one thing only - KG's ridiculously-intense passion for this game - epitomized in that scream.

I mean, how many other 'stars' would put themselves out there like that? At the time KG was letting himself be filmed doing that, Kobe was sulking for a trade. Screw the Kobe MVP bandwagon. In anything - sports, business, otherwise - if a leader puts themselves out there like KG does - authentically and with the skills to back it up - amazing things happen. And they did. What an awesome season.

Huge props to all the quality posters here. Even when not posting I appreciate this forum!

[jbs]

I started following the Celtics in the 1986-87 season. It has been a long wait!
What I'm happiest about with these Celtics is that they are a genuinly great bunch of guys that deserve everything they get.

[Banks2Pierce]

Love all you guys.

I now know that all those hours of my life I put into this team was well worth it. I feel vindicated.

I am putting the money I won on the team winning the championship(1800) towards season tix.

[Maple Green]

I am Celtics fans since birth, my father, grand father, brothers and cousins. I am true Green Blood on my viens. for thick and thin, I have 101 reasons

I am happy for 17th title which is overdue.

[Albin]

It took my heart a long time to feel like we had an elite team. My head was saying we were among the best teams after we got KG, but it didn't *feel* like we were an elite team - not like I felt back in the 80's. The team is flawed, but they aren't fatal flaws.. but those flaws kept my heart away for a long time. It had been broken too many times.

Those of you at least as old as seeing the 80's, know the *feeling*. I suppose for the young Patriots fans around, you know the feeling too. The feeling that our team *should* be winning every single game, the feeling that our team belongs in the playoffs, the feeling that our team wins the Eastern Conference Finals, and the feeling that unless we make it into the finals and *win* the Championship - the year just wasn't good enough.

For awhile, it felt like we were pretenders, that we hadn't been together long enough, that something just wasn't right. Then, somewhere along the way, that changed... and for me, it didn't happen until very recently. It was after we won Game 6 in Detroit. Things really started coming together, and this team grew up right before my eyes in the playoffs.

You never, never, never know how a team is going to perform in the playoffs until they are actually there. In the first couple of rounds, the team just wasn't good enough. But then... they changed. They "got it". They became a championship team. They played like Champions play.

When we won game 6 against Detroit and made it into the finals, I felt like we belonged, and I felt like we should be winning the whole thing. I wasn't surprised, I wasn't shocked, I wasn't blown away that we were there. I wasn't like a kid in a candy shop. It really, really, felt like we belonged there again. It really felt like the old days. I saw what the team had become, and I felt the same excitement and nervousness of being on the brink of winning... and knowing that it's not a fluke... knowing that we deserved it.

And wow, did that feel good. The swagger and confidence of a true champion - you belong, you are the one who needs to be knocked off the throne.

After we won last night, I lit up a cigar and sat outside on my porch. As the smoke wafted up and was illuminated by the moonlight, all was right with the world. Everything is as it should be. I savored that moment as long as I could, and I'll remember last night for the rest of my life.

It's good to be Green. I couldn't be any happier for Paul Pierce right now. He *finally* played like I knew he could play. I've been saying for a long time that he should be a triple-double threat every single night he steps on the floor. He stepped up to the plate, and hit it out of the park. But what makes me feel hopeful for the future - is that Paul can get even better. I think he has finally surpassed the quality of his 2002 season, this one was probably his best. I really hope that the confidence he's gained throughout these playoffs, and his growing maturity, can take his game to the next level... and yes, there is a next level.

Sincere congratulations to everyone on the team - you guys did it. You did it.

(Sorry to be so long winded, but as you guys know, I'm not around much anymore to share my thoughts)

[DelMonte West]

I'm still hangin' around!

Been really busy the last few weeks, but I've enjoyed the hell out of the Finals. Game 4 was the biggest adrenaline rush I've ever felt watching a game, but last night was even better. It still hasn't even hit home yet...everything seems so surreal, even 7 months later...

I love this team...Danny, Doc, here's to you...

Loved how LA was thoroughly trashed last night! Fans called out by the announcers, Phil (badly) outcoached, Kobe (badly) outplayed by the criminally underrated Pierce, ESPN hacks served a heaping helping of humble pie.

Damn, this is too sweet. I'm going to be grinning like an idiot on Draft Night; boy, have we come a long way or what?!

(this is the second time I've posted in this thread, but the first didn't show up)

[wigglestrue]

I was barely aware of basketball during 1986, and I really started following the team in 1987.
What a long, strange wait. So worth it. R.I.P. Len Bias and Reggie Lewis.

I love you all, even Tom and Pete and Gonzo.

[giambijuice]

i just want to say thanks to doc and danny and thanks to the owners for sticking with them. i knew danny could do it. i loved seeing all the old time celtics there. russ is my favorite celt of all time and they all show so much class. i just want to say that this one's for lenny and reggie. i'm sure doc says this one's for his dad and sugar ray says it's for his son. alot of people think it's for red. this one was for a lot of people. more than 24 hours later and i still feel emotional about it. thanks again celts management.

[Prophet_C]

Where's Celtic Thug?

lol

[bruno sundov]

This is insane. To be there was one thing. It was if it wasn't really happening. Just amazing. This is a distant second to my son being born.

[Spin Move]

HOLY SHNIKEES QUICK REPLY IS BACK...

Shabuya sha sha shabuya roll call

My name is spin move, I remember losers like vin bakers
nothing is better, than takins the title from the lakers

Shabuya sha sha shauya roll call

[cinnamon]

Thanks, sully00, for inviting us out-of-town loyal Celtics board lurkers to include ourselves on the roll call.
I'm blown away by all the 16-year, 22-year and even 49-year fans on this board and in this thread --- that's some really amazing staying power. It's partly what makes me a little nervous about the idea of posting instead of simply reading when I call the board up each day. I've only lurked here on a regular basis since Rajon Rondo's first exhibition game as a Celtic.
I really didn't mind all the losses last year, when Pierce was out with his injury, because when the team was likely to lose anyway, it gave the young guys such a great opportunity to make their mistakes, learn and develop --- especially my guy Rondo.
I was so happy when he wasn't traded away last summer, and when Ray and KG signed. I immediately found myself filled with championship hopes because the vets were such unselfish and highly skilled and experienced guys, and since they obviously had a great desire to work with the young guys and pass along what their experience had taught them.
My son's favorite player has been KG since his draft out of high school, and it was incredible that our favorite players were suddenly on the same team and looking like likely contenders for the rings. It has made basketball conversation this past year absolutely thrilling in our household.
I wore my blindingly green Rondo/Celtics shirt for the first and last finals games, and was happy to have developed a great attachment to most of the guys on the team.
The last game and its aftermath have been enormously emotional experiences for me. I continue to get tears in my eyes at certain points watching it again on my PVR.
After two seasons, the old timers here might not think much of this, but I am very happy to sign this roll call and feel like part of this splendid troop of fans.

[Bad-Thoma]

I remember watching Larry Legend on my black and white 13" in my pj's when I was 7 or 8 years old, rooting for the Chief... I went on teenage hiatus in the 90's, I was never home to watch basketball, always playing sports or getting in trouble, then in 01' I was living in the mountains here in VT and caught an early december celtic's game.... hooked again... haven't missed more than 10 to 15 games total since then all told... it's been 48 hours since the win and my face still hurts from smiling...