A Real Page Turner

I've been getting a beat down (verbally) from my brothers lately about the fact that I say I want the Celtics to lose a few games so it goes to 7 games before we win it. They think it doesn't make me a loyal fan. I also find myself cheering for the Celtics when I'm watching, and not wanting them to lose in the moment, although in the back of my mind I'm thinking "I should want them to lose this one."

I've been thinking about it a lot and wondering a. Why I'm shizo and 2. If my brothers are right and I'm not a loyal fan, but I came up with this analogy to help explain what's going on.

Unfortunately I can't use this analogy to help my brothers understand since most of them don't read, so I'm sharing it here.

Ever read a good book? A REALLY good book? Like East of Eden? (If you haven't - I highly recommend picking it up.) It's soooo good that you can't stop turning pages and you want to get to the end to see how it finishes up and to hopefully get to the happy ending. BUT, and this is a big but...you also don't want it to end. It's so good that when it's over you know you'll be left wanting more and wishing you were still enjoying that little pearl.

That's it. That's how I feel. This is the series I've been waiting for and I want to look forward to it for as many nights as possible. I want to draw out the emotion and the excitement and even the despair because it's all part of that I'm engaged and living experience. I don't want it to end....and yet I do want it to end and I want to celebrate a Huge win when it's all said and done.

For the non-sports or book literate--it's like Friends. We all want Ross and Rachel together, but we know when they are it's the end. So there you go - that's where I am right now. And I'm going to savor every moment--and it looks like my wish won't come true anyway.....cause..BIG WIN LAST NIGHT.

So here we go. I apologize in advance. I know most of my "readership" could probably care less about sports, and the NBA, but after Thursday's game it is impossible to contain myself and NOT write about one of the single-best personal sports moments of my life.

The Celtics were down by 24 points give or take for about 3 full quarters or their game against the Lakers. I actually dozed off in the 3rd quarter knowing there was no possible way we (yes, we) could come back. I woke up what felt like about 5 minutes later, glanced at the TV and we were down by...TWO. 2 points!!! Somehow, while I closed my eyes and dreamed of victory, the Celtics found a way to make it really happen.

Thank goodness for Tivo, I rewound and watched the miraculous happen and the Celtics did something that was historical--they came back from the biggest deficit in the shot clock era to beat the Lakers...and on the Laker's home court. Unbelievable.

This is thrilling for several reasons which I will now enumerate:

1. I hate Kobe. (See picture above.)

I hate how over-hyped he's been. And now, bless the media, they are all saying that the Michael Jordan-Kobe Bryant comparisons will have to stop. Michael would NEVER have let his team lose a game they were winning by 24 in the 3rd quarter. Kobe had 2 points in the first half and he threw out all kinds of excuses about being quadruple-teamed---yeah, there was some help side defense---but rarely with the whole team on him. Let's give Pierce the defensive credit he deserves: he shut the fool down.
Here's one of my favorite Kobe quotes post game:

"We just wet the bed," Kobe said. "A nice big one, too. One of the ones you can't put a towel over. It was terrible."

In the famous words of Happy Gilmore, "You wet the bed?" I mean it sounds like he has experience going in to detail about "the ones you can't put a towel over." I wonder when the last time was he tried?

One other quote, "They were determined not to let ME beat them tonight." When did "us" become "me"? Remember all the great press he's been getting about being a "team-guy" now? Throw a little adversity his way - surest way to get to the truth.

2. Redemption. We are winning against the odds.

Everyone picked the Celtics to lose to the Lakers. Everyone thought this would prove that Kobe deserved the MVP (sorry back to him again.) and Everyone was wrong. We've won exciting game after exciting game and will forever have highlight moments like Paul Pierce getting carried off and running back on the court like a champ and overcoming insurmountable odds (24 points) to come back and show we are better than anyone believed.

3. Talk about the biggest season turnaround--from winning what amounted to no games last year to this year (potentially) the CHAMPIONSHIP. You can't write this stuff. Well, maybe you can---hello Hoosiers.

4. I want Paul Pierce to get his loyalty rewarded. 10 years with a losing team--my losing team, just waiting for this day and never asking to go. He deserves it. I want Garnett to get his ring. I want Ray Allen to get his too. I want to see these guys get what they came together to earn. They gave up personal recognition (sorry Kobe--too bad you couldn't learn to work with Shaq) and became a team. They agreed to do interviews in threes and not in ones and they share the ball and give up the individual accolades to strengthen the whole.

I'll stop rambling. Abram already told me he can't read my blogs because they are too long, but Bless the Celtics and bless sports...Where amazing truly does happen.