Come All Ye Bandwagon Fans

Greech

Attn: All 4 of my Friends who Still Like the NBA

What a great day to be a Boston Sports fan, it really doesn’t get much better than this, does it? The Pats started training camp down in Foxboro last week, the Sox are nearly traded Wily Mo Strikeout, which was one of the top five most exciting moments of the season for most Sox fans but still made a huge move by trading for Cy Young winner Eric Gange, the Bruins…well the Bruins are still allowed to play in the NHL, and if you haven’t heard the Celtics have INSTANTLY become one of the top three teams in the Eastern Conference.

After the NBA lottery, or as I like to call it, the contest to see who has the most balls, didn’t go the Celtics way you knew that Danny Ainge wasn’t going to sit still, there wasn’t anyway he could sit still. On draft day the Celts ended up trading the number 5 pick to Seattle for veteran shooting guard Ray Allen, which at the time I said I was luke warm about, at best. The other move that caught my eye was drafting Glen Big Baby Davis out of LSU. I liked the pick of Big Baby a lot, and at the time I mentioned that the choice might prelude the end of Big Al Jefferson in Boston.

Well, I wasn’t the only one who thought that Jefferson might be heading out of town, and as it turns out, Ainge thought the same thing. (It’s sorta like when Danny called that Wily Mo Pena was going to be a great player for the Sox, only if the EXACT opposite thing happened.) Yesterday the Celts traded Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff’s expiring contract, Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes, two first round draft choices, Bassy Telfair, and Bassy Telfair’s gun collection (has that one been used before?) for ten time allstar Kevin Garnett.

Doesnt that look promising?

This was really the only logical thing to do after the acquisition of Allen. With Pierce and Allen they were a 6th or 7th seed, but with the trio of The Truth, Jesus, and The Big Tikcet, this is a team that will immediately be a favorite to win the East. I already had to restrain myself from buying a half season ticket package that would have cost me about 1200 dollars, and I’m being dead serious. Last year I went to the Garden ten times to watch a team that one 24 games, I’ll be going to at least 20 games this year, and I might even consider bring some of my bandwagon friends if they considering bring their sisters..

For any Celtics fan, non Celtic fan, sorta Celtic fan, you have to love this trade. As Steven A Smith so articulately points out “I LIKE THIS MOVE BY DANNY AINGE, BUT WE STILL TALKING ABOUT THE JV CONFERENCE”. I pretty sure what Steven A. meant was that the Celtics still play in the East, which for the past 10 year has been a far inferior conference compared to the West, but that’s what makes this deal so great. There isn’t a team in the East that will have a better starting five, in fact I’m thinking about convincing Danny to try out for point guard just so I can be in his entourage. And when you look out West, only San Antonio and Phoenix look like teams that are better than us today.

This was a huge price to pay for one guy, but from Ainge’s point of view it had to be done (to save his job) and from owner Wyc Grousbeck point of view it had to be done too (to make the Celtics relevant in a town dominated by the Sox and Pats), and if you are a fan you have to be thrilled (because the Celtics are back, and there will finally be basketball to watch come April and June). Don’t get me wrong, I was a huge Big Al fan (does anyone remember when we used to call Alex, Big Gay Al? BGA? Anyone?), he had a huge season last year and fans in Minnesota will soon realize what a great player they got in exchange for their future Hall of Famer.

Danny, remember to contact your doctor if your erection lasts longer than 4 hours.

In six years, this might look like a foolish and panicked move, but for the next three to five years Celtics fans everywhere are going to be more excited than Danny Mac when Kenny Chesney came on stage with a cut off Sox shirt on. So what if I’ll be paying off my season tickets in monthly payments over the next year or two, at least I’ll finally be getting my moneys worth.