Written by Maggie Samples
For those of you who aren’t aware, it’s professional basketball season. Basketball is, without a doubt, the best sport in the world. It’s fun to watch. It’s fun to play. It’s fun to yell at the bad calls regardless of whether you’re watching or playing. I will accept no debate; basketball is the best sport.
My love for basketball was instilled in me when I was young. Both my parents played high school basketball and my maternal grandfather was a high school basketball coach for his entire career. It was not an uncommon occurrence for Grandpa to let the family into the school gym and run a few drills with the grandkids when we all got together.
I grew up just a few miles from the University of Kentucky, famed for its borderline insane basketball fans and being the second greatest basketball school in the NCAA. There was no way I was going to escape the basketball craze that runs in my family.
I played basketball from the third grade until I graduated high school. It wasn’t until after high school, though, that the real obsession began. Once I was no longer a player of basketball, I became an avid watcher of basketball.
My team of choice is, of course, the Celtics.
I decided on the Celtics for a pretty convoluted reason. My little brother Nathan, has the soul of an elderly man. He gardens, he drinks a tervis of black coffee daily, and he loves Larry Bird. Because the Hick from French Lick played for the Celtics before he was born, Nathan is a zealous Celtics supporter. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to hold a conversation with a 16-year-old boy who acts like an 80-year-old, but it’s difficult. There were very few things that Nathan and I had in common and even fewer he was willing to converse with me about.
So, I did the only thing I could, I started obsessively following the Celtics, so that we could discuss their latest games together. It worked, but it also became a genuine love of mine.
My other brother Jacob could talk to a wall, so I didn’t have to create new hobbies to have a conversation with him. In fact, he loves to drag the Celtics whenever possible, because one of his favorite hobbies is aggravating people. However, his supposed hatred of the Celtics didn’t stop him from cheering with me and Nathan when we got to watch the Celtics destroy the Pacers in person last January.
I love the Celtics and I also love the connections they have given me. I love Bill Russell, civil rights activist and the NBA player with the most championship rings, some won when he was both a player and the team coach. I love Red Auerbach, long-time Celtics coach and first NBA coach to draft a black player and to have an all-black starting five. I love Larry the Legend, a man with attitude, spunk, and, occasionally, a mullet. I love the Celtics franchise itself, the franchise with the most wins in NBA history.
This current team is a fun one to watch and support. I love Drew Holiday’s defensive skills and Derrick White’s habit of losing teeth on the court. I love Al Horford’s 2024 Championship win after 186 playoff games without one. I love Joe Mazulla and the very strange, cryptic things that he says to the press.
The Celtics have introduced me to many things that I love but mostly, I just love watching the Celtics with my brothers.
