My Celtics obsession journey
So last week I got sucked into this rabbit hole after watching an old Celtics game rerun. Saw those championship banners hanging in the rafters and thought, “Man, I really don’t know the stories behind half these things.” Decided to fix that.
Started simple: pulled up Google on my phone. Just typed “Celtics championships” like a regular person. Then got overwhelmed because, holy cow, this team has been winning forever.
Sorting through the mess
First realization? This ain’t a clean timeline. Needed scratch paper to keep track. Dragged my dusty laptop to the kitchen table. Dumped coffee everywhere trying to plug it in – classic me. Spent two hours just trying to make sense of Wikipedia jumping all over the place.
- 1957: Found the first one! Bill Russell’s rookie year beating St. Louis Hawks in double overtime. Wild stuff.
- 1959-1966: Wait these can’t be right… eight straight banners?! Had to triple-check seasons. My fingers hurt from scrolling.
- 1968-1969: Those last two Russell chips. Realized I was holding my breath reading about Game 7 against the Lakers.
Paused to order pizza at this point. Brain was fried.
The dark ages & big returns
After Russ retired? Zero banners until 1974. Felt like reading a tragedy novel. Then Cowens and Havlicek brought it back! Highlighted their two wins (’74 & ’76). Almost cried seeing how long fans waited between parades.
Then came Larry freaking Bird era. Got way too excited here:
- 1981: Beat Houston with that messy roster construction everyone argues about
- 1984: Seven-game bloodbath vs Showtime Lakers. My favorite Wikipedia tab stayed open for days.
- 1986: The “healthy” year where they dominated everyone.
Modern drought ends
Then…nothing until 2008. That gap felt heavier after learning everything before. Remembered watching KG scream “ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!” as a college kid. Still gives chills. Wrote “2008: Boston beats LA again – feels good man” in huge letters on my notepad.
Final count? Seventeen. Freaking. Banners. Took three nights after work to map this all out properly. Left scribbled papers everywhere – my wife almost recycled them thinking they were junk mail.
Conclusion? Those banners tell a rollercoaster story. Dynasty glory, painful waits, epic returns. Didn’t truly get it until I tracked each one down like a detective chasing loose threads. Now when I see those banners on TV? Feels like flipping through old family photos… if your family was full of giant basketball legends.
Shoutout to my kitchen table for surviving this mess. Coffee stains and all.
