I have a friend that for the purposes of this post I'll call my New England Sports Fan Friend. We've watched the 2004 Red Sox win the World Series together, much of the Sox's 2007 World Series victory, the 2004 New England Patriots Super Bowl victory and the 2007 New England Patriots Super Bowl loss.
After that loss, I said, "We'll have to get together for soon. Maybe for a Celtics game." He said: "Maybe we should get together for something other than a sporting event." We were both totally shell-shocked, and it seemed like a good idea. Perhaps, I reflected, we would benefit from an emotional de-investment in sports. But that never happened. On Friday I found myself back at the New England Sports Fan Friend's house to see if the Celtics could close out the Pistons.
It was tough to guage what would happen. The Celtics struggles against the Hawks and Cavaliers were perplexing. On the other hand, in recent years the Pistons had established themselves as the talented team that didn't have the energy to get out of the conference finals and collapsed at the worst possible moment. I had no idea who would prevail in such a contest -- the team with the surprising struggles, or the lazy Pistons with the bad habit of falling apart at the most inopportune time.
Things appeared grim heading into the fourth quarter, when the Celtics were down by 10. So grim, in fact, that my friend and I became engrossed in a conversation about who the most commanding rock vocalist in the world is. (This followed a slightly-less engrossing conversation about who the best character actor in the history of the movies is. When you have a lot of male friends and a compulsive listing habit, as I do, you can easily get sucked into conversations like this.) Bono? Eddie Vedder? Thom Yorke? We were so engrossed that it took us a few minutes to realize what was happening: The Celtics had collectively grit their teeth, dug in, and were mounting a thrilling comeback.
As the minutes wound down, the New England Sports Fan Friend and I pondered our good fortune. "Is it true?" he asked. "Are we really going to be playing for our third championship in a year?" Then he asked me which I'd rather have: the 2007 Super Bowl victory or Celtics and Red Sox championships in 2008. I thought about this. Maybe the Super Bowl? After all, that was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to go undefeated in the regular season and then win the Super Bowl. Which is why losing was so painful. On the other hand, I've long hoped for a Celtics revival and winning a third World Series this decade would certainly be nothing to sneeze at. When it comes to sports championships, is more better? Or is it better to have a season for the ages? Anyway, I'm still thinking about this. All I know is, the next couple weeks are going to be fun and crazy and intense, and it's hard, right now, to imagine trading Boston-L.A. for the Super Bowl. But I'm not exactly thinking in the long term. All I know is that I feel positively giddy.
Footnote: Can I just say how much I really like Rodney Stuckey, the rookie Pistons guard? He appeared totally unfazed playing important minutes in the conference finals, and certainly showed more composure than the ever-combustible Rasheed Wallace. With his terrific play, he supplanted Tayshuan Prince as my favorite Piston. Every time he took the floor, I eyed him warily, because he seems to have a killer's instinct for making big shots in crunch time. Kind of like that assassin the Celtics will face in the finals, Kobe Bryant.
