It Ended Once The Big Man Fell
Perkins fell to the floor in a massive heap and just like that the championship was no longer ours for the taking. The Man Child, Andrew Bynum came crashing towards our enforcer, forcing his knees to buckle. And, in an instant, fortunes changed.
The 2010 championship team was a bitter sweet time for every Celtic fan but I may need to clarify. Let me begin with a disclaimer. I want you to know that this is not an article as to why I am a fan. Because, as you delve deeper, reasons are moot when you are a sports fan. You are a fan because you just are. It is like asking why you love your spouse. You can list a thousand reasons but at the end of the day you love your spouse because you just do. It is as simple as that.
Like many my age, the 2008 championship was the apex of my fandom. An exploding supernova that was preceded by years of mediocrity after a long forgotten golden age. After being memerized by Larry Legend in the 80s it was swiftly followed by the utter disappointment of the Eric Montross led celtics. Then came the Rick Pitino show. At first, it seemed like a shining beacon of hope with all the big promises and a lot of Ron Mercer. Alas, it ultimately was nothing but a mirage with only the indominable Paul Pierce standing tall at the end of it all. And in 2008, standing with that well deserved ring.
After the glory of 2008, came the disappointment of 2009 as an injury to Kevin Garnett derailed any title aspirations. Then, 2010 came and hope sprung anew but it was quickly dashed as the once proud champions limped to the playoffs as a 7th seed.
When the playoffs came, a switch was flipped and they were back to their old form, bruising and cruising to victory after victory. Culminating in a rematch that the Celtic nation have all been waiting for. We were back at the finals and we were up against the Los Angeles Lakers. Everything was going as planned until that injury to Kendrick Perkins.
The 2010 finals was iconic. Star crossed rivals dueling one more time, one seeking retribution and the other seeking immortality in Celtic lore. It was glorious but unexpectedly there was a feeling that this might be it. The last hurrah! The finals rematch was going to be the turning point. The end was certainty, and it was on the writing on the wall. The beginning of the downfall for KG and the gang was going to be a masterful triumph in its final defeat. This was their last stand and you know they will be going down swinging.
And, swung they did. With masterful clubbing of the LA Lakers for three quarters, he final triumph seemed inevitable but exhaustion embraced Sheed clasped on for the death roll. This was it! Not a final swan song. They will remain relevant for a couple more years but this was the turning point. The death of a dynasty was coming. Like a creep and with he Laker’s leading with less than a minute left, you could hear the heavy breathing behind the corner. It was over.
That year may be a devastating event to any Celtic fan but it was partcularly hard for me because that year was a time of a significant milestone in my life, it was the year my father died.
My father was never a Celtic fan, in fact this madness only ran through my blood. He wasn’t even a basketball fan. He was however a Celtic in his own way. The values that make a celtic a celtic was ingrained in everything that he was.
His pride in everything he did was unequalled. It was borderline madness, really. He was also the hardest working man that I know. I could go on forever on how he embodied what it was to be a celtic but good would that do? He is gone.
Again, his is not a story of why I became a fan of the Boston Celtics. This is a story of one of the hardest times of my life. I just lost the man I looked to whenever I felt lost and unsure. A phone call one lazy Sunday afternoon made sure to change that forever.
I was hanging out with my family, when my cellphone rang, an ominous ring. On the other line was what can only be explained as gasps of panic as the person on the other line struggled to explain that my father was having a stroke.
I flew! I have never driven faster in my life.
I arrived as the neighbor’s was pulling out making their own flight to the hospital with my father lying down at the back of their beat-up van. I caught up with them at the hospital and saw my father as they start sticking that infernal plastic tube down his throat. As he struggled, I felt all hope escape my body, leaving a weakened and desperate soul. At that point I knew, I just knew, that I was too late. In less than a week, he died in the hospital bed and just like that he was gone from our lives forever.
Sitting in the funeral home, I quickly realized that grief was a lonely island with a million tourists but with a population of one. Mourners came day after day, friends of my father’s mostly. A lot of consolers came, none successful. The closest thing that could take my mind of his horrible event was the 2010 finals. For a couple of hours every other day, there was something more than just this white casket in the middle of the room. As real as the finals were, this was my escape from my painful reality.
The team did well to reach the finals that year but when they lost in game seven, the disappointment hit hard. It was not comparable to what I went through but with my loss, but there was the familiar permanence, the feeling that things will never be the same again.
It may seem like that this is a testment to how the 2010 celtics marked a defining point in my life and ushered me to fandom in a not so subtle nudge. But, no. I did not become a fan as an escape from my father’s death. Obviously, I was a fan before that.
This is an article of how my fandom helped me through a difficult time in my life even when the end result was still painful. I was a fan before and after the 2010 finals I will probably be a fan for life. For a moment, it was mre than just a sport. It was life
Despite everything, in the end, it is still a game and the Celtics is just another sports team. But, with everything I went through that painful summer, this team was my team. This was the team I rooted for and appreciated even in defeat. The 2010 Boston Celtics was my Boston Celtics, even if it was close to the end. They are now gone, but they will forever be part of me and who I am.
https://www.celticsblog.com/2017/6/8/15761288/it-ended-once-the-big-man-fell
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