Bandwagon

Wayne Blogged The...Bandwagon
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For as many years as I have been a sports fan, I have hated the "bangwagoners". The fair-weather-fans who jump on board with a team only when success soon follows. And believe me, in Boston, there are a lot of bandwagon-fans...and now, I am one of them.

And it's all because of three men: Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce.

As a kid, I loved two teams: the Boston Bruins and the New England Patriots. Around 1999, the Boston Red Sox joined this list. But I never liked the Celtics. In fact, as a naive grade-schooler, I once claimed that I was a Washington Wizards fan...but I didn't even like basketball at the time.

I'm also the first to admit that I didn't follow basketball until the acquisition of Kevin Garnett. But now, I'm hooked. Like any male over the age of 14 who resides within 100 yards of a television screen, I've watched The Celtics climb their way back into the Eastern Conference Championship. I've cheered, I've fist-pumped...and I am ashamed.

I've become what I've always hated. And while I'd like to think I've earned my right to root for the Celtics simply because I've rooted for a team that plays in the same arena as they do for as long as I can remember, I still feel...dirty.

But how can I not want the Green, White, and Gold machine to win it all. This city deserves it.

I don't only root for the team, I root for the fans. I sympathize with the Celtic-faithful as much as I'm sure they sympathize with me- an always optimistic Bruins fan. I cheer for the guy who watched the 1996 team lose 67 games; the same man who watched last year's Celtics scrum together 24 wins. He deserves to see this team win.

I'm ecstatic about the fact the the Boston Garden (I don't care what it's called now, it's the Boston Garden) is still seeing sports action this late in the season. The sold-out crowds at the Garden bring back a lot of memories of the original Hub (closed in 1995), and those memories also came back to me watching 17,565 people cheer on the Black and Gold in their latest post-season run.

So yes, I'm a bandwagon Celtics fan. And I'm sure, sometime in the future, when dark times once again hit the (not so) Irish legion, I won't be there. But I'm enjoying the ride...