The Boston Celtics = 2008 NBA Champions

Wow, that felt good to write down. I have always been proud of my Irish heritage, so me being a fan of the Celtics made perfect sense. I always jumped from team to team growing up, and I usually cheered for individual players over teams. Then while I was serving an LDS Mission back in 2003, I decided that it was time for me to choose a team and stick with them. I was sick and tired of players who were awesome and then as soon as I began to cheer for them they let me down (cough, Vince Carter, cough). I always liked Paul Pierce, and due to my Irish Pride, I chose to become a Celtics fan, and I have been ever since.
I remember the season before this one, when the C's only won 24 games. My friend Rhett and I bought the NBA League Pass, and I watched plenty of Celtic defeats. It was tough to swallow. I would tell people I was a Celtics fan and they would laugh at me. That year for Christmas, my wife Katie (who was my girlfriend at the time), bought me 5th row tickets to the Celtics vs. Jazz game (it was incredible!). We both wore Celtics gear and none of the Jazz fans even heckled us or anything, they felt bad for us because of how poorly the Celtics were playing. My only hope that year was that we would end up drafting Greg Oden or Kevin Durant and have an exciting rookie to play alongside Paul Pierce (a.k.a. The Truth) for next year. Then, that hope came crashing down when Fate decided to give the C's the 5th pick in the draft... That was a terrible day...
I remember on draft day when "we" (I think it is completely okay for die-hard fans to say we when they are talking about their favorite team), anyways, I remember when we traded for Ray Allen on draft day, and then about a month later when we traded for Kevin Garnett. All of the sudden the Celtics had the best trio in the NBA, and I was freaking out. Katie bought me NBA League Pass for my b-day that year, and we have watched a lot of Celtics games since then. I feel like I know these guys, and when Pierce was holding the Finals MVP trophy and thanking everyone for sticking with him, I got choked up. I'm not gonna lie, I get goosebumps all of the time in sports. No drama on TV is better than sports, none. If you think athletes are only in it for the money, you never watched a Celtics game this year. It was incredible. Here are some of my favorite memories from this years Celtics team:
- The first game of the season, when KG in his Celtics debut pulled down 20 rebounds, I knew this season was going to be special.
- The buzzer beater 3-pointer that Ray Allen hit in OT to beat the Toronto Raptors. I've said it once and I'll say it again, he has the prettiest jumpshot in the NBA.
-When the Celtics silenced the critics and beat the Pistons in the reg. season. ( I can't stand the Pistons).
-When the Celtics completed the Texas Triangle
- I loved watching every single playoff game. It was all worth it in the end. The C's are the champions!!!!!!! I could go on and on about how great this team is and all of the memories that I will have of this season. I would say the most important memory I will have is how supportive my wife has been and how she watched every single playoff game with me. I love you so much Katie. You are the best! Thanks for calming me down when I would get stressed out about the games. I still get a huge smile on my face thinking about how my team is the #1 team in the NBA, and how they beat the dreaded Lakers. That makes the victory even sweeter. When I have time to calm down a little and collect my thoughts more about this season I am planning on writing more about the Celtics and how cool they are. Until then.... Go Celtics!!!!

The U.S. Open and Rocco Mediate

I talked a little bit in my personal blog about watching the U.S. Open on Sunday. I consider myself a fan of golf because I enjoy playing it even though I'm not that good and it can frustrate me to no end. My mom, dad, and brother Roury however are good at golf and enjoy watching it on TV any chance they get, whereas I can think of many other things I'd rather do than watch golf on TV. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching the last few holes of a tournament to see who wins, but 4 days in a row is a bit much for me. On Father's Day, however, we were at my father's house and Roury has been home from his LDS mission for only a few days so golf was on display on the 65" TV in my parents living room. I enjoyed heckling everyone and trying to get them to root for someone other than Tiger Woods. It's not that I don't like Tiger Woods, I think he's an amazing golfer, definitely #1 in the world, but I just like to see someone else win and put some pressure on him. That someone that I was hoping to have win was Rocco Mediate. What an entertaining golfer! He looked like he was having so much fun out there, always smiling and joking with his caddie and other golfers. Once Tiger came and tied it up on the 18th hole on Sunday to force Monday's 18 hole playoff, I knew the TVs at work would be on, so I was able to catch quite a bit of the playoff. The thing that capped it off for me and has made Rocco my favorite golfer was they were playing on hole #7 the first hole of the sudden death playoff since they were tied after 18 yet again. Rocco is not hitting the ball well and it looks like Tiger is going to win. Rocco hits a shot that almost bounces off the cart path and into the crowd. By rule, there is a spray painted white circle that Rocco is allowed to go drop his ball in. He goes to pick up his ball by the crowd and his talking to the rules guy the whole time. He's pointing at his ball and he's saying to the guy "so I can pick it up right?" Rules Guy (RG): "Yes." Rocco: "Ok". So Rocco picks it up and then pretends to throw it toward the green and hides the ball behind his back and he's like "What, what do you mean I can't throw it? Come on man!" It was hillarious!! Right then and there solidified my thought that this guy is cool. He ended up losing as we all know, but he was very grateful for the opportunity he had to play the #1 player in the world and have a chance to win. A class act all the way, and wouldn't you know it but good old karma awarded him with a 118 position jump from the 158th ranked player in the world all the way to 40!! Way to go Rocco, you deserve it man! Let's hope that this gives this entertaining golfer more opportunities to shine at the majors left this year and put himself in a better position to win the 1st major of his career, I think he deserves it. One last thought, I know we're in the United States and everything but it pains my ears to hear the way we have Americanized this guys last name. Can we please pronounce it the Italian way!!!! It won't make any of us less American, but it will make us more educated.

LET'S GET READY TO RAMBLE......

Hello all! For those of you who already know, and for those of you who don’t, I LOVE SPORTS! I love them. Seriously, love them! I didn’t grow up in a home with a father who loved sports, so I can only conclude that I have it in my genes. (Which Korean genes make me love American sports I’m not sure, but just go with me on this one ok?) I have loved sports ever since I can remember. In 1992 I was 6 years old. I watched the NCAA Men’s National Championship. The entire thing. As a six year old! Not because my dad or older brother was, but just because I was entranced by it. Been a Duke fan ever since.

I love football: the smell of freshly mowed grass in the fall, the sound of brown crunchy leaves under cleats, and the cold breeze that blows through your soul when your team is down by 6 with 0:32 to go and a “Hail Mary” is in the air. I love baseball: the silence as a ball sails through the air with bases loaded in the 9th inning, sons with their fathers praying to the Great Bambino that they will catch a foul and win their father’s undying affection for the day, and the lights heating up as dusk falls upon the field. I love golf: Sergio Garcia closing his eyes, swinging, and then running down the fairway to catch a glimpse of his fate, Tiger’s fist pumps, and Jesper Parnevik’s wardrobe. I love tennis: Sampras v. Agassi, names no one can pronounce, and the fact that having nothing is called “love”. I even love sports media: Pardon the Interruption with Kornheiser’s ridiculous antics, Dike Vitale’s catch-phrases like “diaper dandy” and “dipsy-do dunk-a-roo”, and Bill Simmons love-hate relationship with Doc Rivers that changes more than the weather this spring in Utah.

If sports are my love then it’s safe to say that basketball is my husband. Like I said, I began loving basketball at the age of 6. Not an extraordinary feat for most little boys or girls with hardcore dads. But I just loved it. I have hundreds of hours of Duke games on tape. I know more about college basketball than most avid fans. Seriously. My mom used to make me wear gloves during the games because I would get so nervous and bite my fingernails until I would bleed. Real blood. One time when I was about 10 or 11 I had the actual thought occur to me that it would be a brilliant idea to somehow make myself develop cancer so that I could be a “Make a Wish” kid and go to Cameron Indoor for a Duke v. UNC game. I’m not joking.

I have said numerous times that if I could only do one thing for the rest of my life it would be to watch and write about sports. I’ve been so excited about starting THE SHOT CLOCK CHRONICLES that I can’t sleep. I’m pretty sure there’s more to life than being really, really, really, ridiculously good at sports writing, and I intend to find out what that is………..

But until then I hope you enjoy this blog! I’ve invited 3 fellow sports fanatics to ramble with me. Luke Jr.(my brother-in-law), Rhett(my husband’s best friend), and of course, my husband himself, Rylee. I plan to shortly write an article about the freakin’ awesome Game 4 of the NBA Finals, but until then- watch Sportscenter, hit a bucket of balls, and love the game. LET’S GET READY TO RAMBLE!!!