Published June 2, 2010
The Celtics and I have been pushed together by a blend of fate and circumstance.
In 2007, I moved to Boston from Montreal, where there is one cardinal rule: Hockey Trumps All. Canadiens playoffs have rescheduled my grandmother’s birthday celebration, cut short religious holidays in time for us to catch the game and given me valuable experience being part of a mob of dealing with sports-crazed rioters.
As I quickly found out, Boston is much more diverse in its sporting interests than in my hometown. And though I will never, ever root for the Bruins (sorry), I’ve become what I like to think is a pretty reliable member of the Celtics and Red Sox Nations. As I drove over the Storrow Bridge for the first time in August 2007, there was a towering green-and-white logo letting me know exactly whose city this was.
Game 2 of the 2008 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. (Adam Pieniazek/Flickr)
Fast-forward to May 2008. I was more or less stranded in the woods of Northern Maine, training to be a sailing instructor at what was still an empty summer camp. The adjacent town had two main attractions: a pizza place, and a movie theater/sports bar combo with a pretty impressive big screen. Not about to be left behind in ghost camp to be part of my own personal horror movie, I tagged along with the few other early-bird staffers to watch the playoffs, in which the Celtics would triumph over their arch-nemeses the LA Lakers for the ninth time.
Needless to say, I was hooked — as much as someone who knows next to nothing about basketball can be. When the Celtics were on, I’d be thrilled to watch, but I never took the time to memorize the players (aside from Pierce, Garnett and Rondo, my personal crush favorite) or learn about the highs and lows of this legendary franchise.
TGFRB (Thank God For Radio Boston). Over the course of this morning, I have brushed up on more 60 years of Celtics history, most of it in video format. I can only imagine what the rest of the staff was thinking as I sat on the edge of my seat, unsuccessfully battling the urge to ooh and ahh as M.L. Carr won Game 4 of the 1984 finals in the last couple seconds of the game — or swear as Magic Johnson skyhooked his way to a win in 1987.
So, without further ado, here are some of my favorite results from my treasure hunt through the storied past of the Celtics-Lakers showdown:
The Larry Bird/Magic Johnson rivalry: the stuff of sports legends (and NBA commercials)
Former Boston center Robert Parish, on the Celtics dynasty of the 1980s:
[youtube url=”rV3nx0vK2DM”]
And last but not least, a little pump-up video:
[youtube url=”_a-NM_mPSTI”]
What do you love about the Celtics? Got any stories or videos about the rivalry? Share them with us in the comments.
BEAT LA!