Here We Go!!!

The Coach slept about 16 hours total in three days this weekend as New York was yelling at me for not being out like I used to.  Combine that with running five-star basketball workouts on Saturday and Sunday you end up with some serious exhaustion.  When you are out in New York you of course meet a lot of people, some you enjoy talking to, some you want throw out the nearest window after speaking with them for two minutes.  Instead of making someone Axel Foley (Beverly Hills Cop circa 1984!) and spending a night in the 1st precinct downtown I continuously nod my head while my mind wanders to the many positive things in my life.  One of them of course is our Celtics basketball team that we are lucky enough to have back, healthy, motivated and from all indications finely tuned up and ready to be public enemy number one to every other team in the NBA.


Tomorrow night has been on our calendars for a long time.  The night the Celtics lost game 6 in Orlando which could have pushed them through to the conference finals is the night I started to think about how this team needed to add some pieces and of course get healthy for next season.  Coach had a terrible feeling about going into a game 7 last year on those tired legs and with that paper thin bench.  The guys were simply out of gas.



Well, Danny came through, just like he did when he turned it all around in the summer of 2007.  Just like he did when he stole Rondo in the draft, just like he did when he urged everyone to be patient with Big Perk and just like he did when he ignored the media and stuck with Doc Rivers.  Now he has added Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels to a second unit with Ed House and Big Baby.  Danny has put the Celtics in a position to have another magical season in pursuit of the franchise's 18th championship banner.

Do you all remember how long we sat on the 16th championship banner?  Forget the years for a minute, and think about what you have experienced in your life between that championship feeling.  In 1986, Coach was not even a Coach in Training yet.  I was 8.  I was not even good at ball yet.  But I was drawn to what I was watching.  Elementary school, the awkwardness of middle school and high school went by and our team went from aging contenders to tragedy, to saying goodbye to the Garden and then just to flat out BAD.  To have to listen to all the Knick fans and Chicago front runners was torture.  The tease of Pitino while so disappointing at least lead to Antoine and Paul giving us all something to smile about, but that too would never get to a point where you believed this team would ever win a championship.

Then it happened, committed ownership and Danny Ainge came up with a plan.  It was not always clear what the plan was, as Jiri Welsch, Mark Blount and Sebastian Telfair were all quite confusing but they did it.  They gave us everything we ever could have asked for and imagined.  Watching Paul Pierce be the great all round player we always thought he'd be, witnessing Kevin Garnett play with that passion and intensity, admiring the work ethic and clutchness of Ray Allen along with having guys like House, Posey, Brown, and Davis play invaluable roles has been marvelous.  All this while knowing Rondo and Perkins will be part of the long term future.

So while we hope this success lasts for decades to come lets enjoy every moment of this current team and this season.  Lets appreciate the fact we have committed ownership, a great front office and a very strong coaching staff.  Lets get that CHAMPIONSHIP back.


Tomorrow night it begins: 2010, Get it Back!!!