Skip to main content

I’m Thankful For The Boston Celtics (It’s not why you think)

The positive impact the Boston Celtics had on one Canadian youngster



Thanksgiving is a time when everyone reflects on what they are thankful for. Like most, I am thankful for my family, friends, health & job. I have a great life, but in my thanks I cannot forget the one team that helped me through some of my darkest times: the Boston Celtics. 

Growing up in Montreal in the early 80’s was a treasure trove for sports fans.  The Montreal Expos were beginning their run as the winningest team in the 80’s while the Montreal Canadiens were perennial Stanley Cup contenders. For sports heroes a kid could chose from the likes of Guy Lafleur, Ken Dryden, Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Steve Rogers. It was awesome. However, on Sunday afternoons in the winter, after football season had ended, there was nothing for a sports fan to watch. 

My parents were going through a bitter divorce in 1980. On Sundays it would be my fathers time to see my brother & I.  He would pick us up and drive us to see his parents. Like clockwork we’d be sent down to the basement while the three of them would yell and scream at each other for reasons that for the life of me I can’t recall. My younger brother would cry. I would have no words to console him so I’d try to find anything on TV to calm him (and me) down. 

My grandparents didn’t have cable so we’d be stuck watching whatever was on CTV or CBC, usually Wide World of Sports (the most boring sports television program of all time) but one afternoon I decided to see what was on the snowy channel, WCAX TV, channel 3, North Pole - Burlington. They were a CBS affiliate. As the picture got clearer I recall seeing and hearing the announcers talk about a magician with a basketball, Pistol Pete Maravich. The game hadn’t started and they were all raving about Maravich and the wizardry he could do with a basketball. My brother and I picked up 2 pillows from the sofa and tried moving them around our backs, passing them between our legs - we were forgetting what was happening upstairs. 

We were playing the Detroit Pistons that Sunday afternoon. This was one of the first basketball games I’d ever seen. To my disappointment Pistol Pete hardly played even though the game was very close (Celtics were losing at halftime) but then something amazing happened, I started to notice a rookie named Larry Bird. Every time he touched the ball something amazing happened. Each possession was pure magic. Three point shots, behind the back passes, scoring baskets while being hounded by absolutely everyone on the visitors. I was in awe. The man would not let the Celtics lose. I had found a new hero to get me through those rough times. My brother never developed the love for basketball like I did but we’d still spend every Sunday afternoon playing with those basement pillows pretending that we were the Boston Celtics and I was Larry Bird. A life long love affair had begun. 

Steven Mayer 



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Elm Street Nightmare

 A true-and-suspenseful horror tale of haunting, homicides and the hunt for triple-murderer, Daniel Laplante - as told by the cops that were there By Lt. Thomas Lane (Ret.)  Daniel Laplante - cold, calm, clever, calculating- Photo: YouTube   Elm Street  surfaces on six (6) occasions in the Laplante saga: 1.) He  resided on Elm Street  in Townsend, Massachusetts  2.) He  kidnapped a woman  at gunpoint on  Elm Street, Pepperell , Massachusetts 3.) That kidnapped woman fled to the Gillogly residence on Elm Street after escaping from the armed fugitive, Laplante. 4.) He was arrested and transported to Massachusetts State Police Barracks on Elm Street in Concord . 5.) He was  tried, convicted   and sentenced for the murders at  Superior Court , corner of  Elm Stree t and Gorham Street, Lowell, Massachusetts. 6.) The author, Thomas Lane, lived on Elm Steet, Pepperell, Massachusetts while a police Sgt./Lt. for the town police force. When evil and cleverness reside in the same mind, the st

Did the Celtics Kevin McHale really have a wingspan of 8-feet?

According to many sources, the Celtics Kevin McHale did indeed have an estimated wingspan of 8-feet. One of those sources is Wikipedia, as seen below: Kevin McHale American basketball player DescriptionKevin Edward McHale is an American retired basketball player who played his entire professional career for the Boston Celtics. He is a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, and is regarded as one of the best power forwards of all time. He was named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. Wikipedia Born: December 19, 1957 (age 61 years), Hibbing, MN Wingspan: 8′ 0″ Height: 6′ 10″ Spouse: Lynn McHale (m. 1982) NBA draft: 1980, Boston Celtics (Round: 1 / Pick: 3) Hall of fame induction: 1999 Number: 32 (Boston Celtics / Power forward, Center) Kevin was listed at 6'10" tall when he was drafted with the 3rd pick in the 1980 draft. Red Auerbach, in yet another heist, brought in both McHale and center Robert Parish (via trade) prior to the Celtics' 1980-81 Champion

In defense of Marcus Smart

 Let me make it clear first of all that I am totally against making a threat of any kind that even hints at harming, or certainly killing, another human being. Marcus Smart was wrong in doing so in the Celtics loss to the tanking Oklahoma City Thunder , and he deserved the one-game suspension. But to be honest, part of me loved that it occurred. . This type of thing can happen when a player gets to a point "beyond frustration" and is having a bad game. Marcus and his teammates have been under-performing generally - were in the process of losing to a pathetic-and-tanking Thunder team - and Smart was having a bad game . And he let loose verbally at the closest target - an NBA official. Wilt Chamberlain did a similar act versus referee, Earl Strom when Wilt was having his usual tortuous time at the free throw line (per Chicago Tribune's Sam Smith): ''He was in one of those 1-for-13s,'' recalls referee Earl Strom. ''Nothing was getting close. S