Forgiving Grady Little, Sort Of

Yesterday, the Boston Celtics vanquished the Cleveland Steamers, er Cavaliers, to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. I, not being a basketball fan or watching any basketball whatsoever, saw this as no surprise. I was actually happy (since these means I might be able to score Red Sox tickets). However, the fans around here are treating this like it’s as shocking as the Giants beating the Patriots.

I’m a sports fan. I watch the Sox, the Pats, college football, World Cup Soccer, and various other things and make a fool of myself rooting for my favorite teams. I grew up in New England and went to college around here. I just don’t get the Boston sports fan. I understand the fatalism, but that should have been injured after the Rams/Pats Super Bowl and killed after the 2004 World Series. Yet, after Game 4 of the Cavs/Celtics series, people were walking around bemoaning the fact that the Celtics suck and they can’t match up and they need to “get it together”. The Celtics were the best team all year long, but had some defensive liabilities on the floor (cough * Ray Allen * cough). LeBron James is, arguably, the best player in the NBA. What do you think was going to happen? LeBron wasn’t going to roll over and the Celtics seem more than willing to grab their ankles when they go on the road. However, the Celtics still had home court advantage, and that seems to be a monstrous advantage.

Yet, no one wanted to think about that. They were too busy crying about the injustice of it all. It seemed to be happening wherever I went. Does this happen elsewhere? Not the whole “I love sports with a passion” thing, I get that, but the whole fatalism of it all, expecting the worst from your sports team. That doesn’t make sports fun. People were wandering around work like someone had shot their dog. I had that look once that didn’t involve a firearm and a beloved family pet. It was after Game 7 of the ALCS in 2003. The infamous Grady Little Game. There is still a part of me that gets a little bitter thinking about it. But I realized something that night, or a few weeks later when I finally got over it. It was a flawed team that didn’t deserve it. The fact that they got that far was a miracle in itself. Plus, I didn’t have fun watching that series. I was all tense and angry, just waiting for the worst to happen. How is that fun?

It isn’t. But I learned something a year later during that 2004 ALCS. Just watch a team you love and that is all the fun you need. It was Game 4 and the Red Sox were down 3-0 to the Yankees. I thought about not watching, but I thought to myself “you know what; I’m going to watch because I want to see the best Red Sox in my lifetime finish their season.” Eight games and a World Series trophy later, I saw my team walk away winners. The lesson I learned was to never give up on your team until it’s all over, because you never know. All the bandwagon jumpers need to learn that lesson, or they might jump off the bandwagon too early.