Evergreen

(This appears in my column in the sports section of today's Business Mirror.)

An old classmate, Dino, has bragging rights over many people I know – he’s been to the old Boston Garden. Not the commercialized TD Banknorth (formerly known as the Fleet Center) version that’s an affront to the purists who still remember when the half-time show consisted of nothing more than someone attempting to win prizes by taking three-point shots. Now they’ve got dancers and hip-hop. Not that there’s anything wrong with hip hop, but whatever happened to John Kiley’s and Ron Horry’s keyboard playing?

An old friend and school newspaper colleague, Troy, steadfastly remained a Boston Celtics fan even when the National Basketball Association back in the early 1990’s was confronted by the wave of its future – the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Chicago Bulls, the Houston Rockets, and the San Antonio Spurs. He raved when Xavier McDaniel joined the Green and I heard is ecstatic now that Kevin Garnett calls the parquet his home floor.

A good friend of mine, Paul, who is from Beantown, is gleeful about the resurrection of the Big Three. He isn’t just referring to the troika of Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, but the over-all ascent of the Red Sox, the Patriots, and the Celtics. Of course, there’s still room for the Bruins. But right now where’s the symmetry of the Big Three in that?

The frenzy regarding Da Kid’s move to this once beloved (back when they were winning with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish, save for anyone in New England and the white-Midwest no one rooted for them) franchise has saved David Stern’s job. Since June, pro hoops has been nothing but the tale of two Tims -- Duncan and Donaghy -- with the occasional news break of Kobe Bryant’s disenchantment with the Los Angeles Lakers. The latter two have distracted much from the good cheer of off-season moves and trades and the excitement of Premier Week. In fact, the Bulls who are rumored to be in the driver’s seat regarding the Bryant Sweepstakes are winless in three outings. Their powerful line-up distracted and low on morale this early.

But the big story in the news wires (aside from the forced retirement of Martina Hingis due to doping allegations) is the Celtics’ first game of the season. And Stern who is a professed Knicks fan while growing up may just thank Danny Ainge and Kevin McHale for the feel-good story of the season thus far.

Playing their season opener in front of the capacity crowd of 18,624 people and hundreds of thousands glued to the tube, the new-jack Celtics thrashed the Washington Wizards, a team eerily like them in many ways. They only have a starting five that can compete and are woefully thin when you get to the bench. The Wizards have their All-Stars in Gilbert Arenas (who will be leaving Washington at the end of the season) and Caron Butler. The Wizards starting five scored 75% of its points as opposed to 89% for the Celtics.

If I were Ainge and Doc Rivers I’d be guarded in my optimism. They have yet to face a team with a deep line-up (although by the time you’re reading this they’ll be up against the vastly improved Toronto Raptors) and the traditional Western powers.

In spite of that, long-suffering Boston fans have a right to be happy. And right before the opening whistle, the fans were standing and cheering, “Let’s go, Celtics” (alternating that with “Gilbert stinks” after Arenas wrote in his blog that everyone was hopping on the Celtics bandwagon and that they should root for him since he was going to beat Boston).

Replied a gracious Agent Zero in the press con after his team’s opening day loss, “You know my blog is powerful and everybody’s reading it. But those three guys they get it done and when the crowd is powerful like that they’re going to be difficult to beat.”

The last two years running, the most saleable NBA jersey was Kobe Bryant’s. Since Boston got the Big Ticket, Garnett’s Celtics #5 has vaulted to the top. “Hey, Rick,” teases Melanie who is a schoolteacher and lives in Princeton, New Jersey. “I go to bed in a Garnett Celtics jersey. Only a Garnett Celtics jersey.”

A friend of mine dusted off his hard cover copies of Evergreen, the Last Banner, Drive, and Unfinished Business and browsed through them. "To get in the mood," he says and to “jump around” while listening to Boston’s legendary House of Pain that once featured DJ Lethal.

Speaking of DJ’s. There’s Dan McCarthy who goes by the moniker of DJ Dan and has been spinning music for the Garden crowd for the last several years. There are staples of music that he plays for every home game. When Garnett and company are brought out with less than three minutes left in the game, the crowd gives them a standing ovation. When Garnett kneels right in front of the bench and slaps hands with his teammates, McCarthy plays the Wallflowers’ version of David Bowie’s “Heroes.” If they go on a roll here, says Abby a Garden regular, “He should play Chic’s ‘Good Times.’”

There was a pyrotechnics opener in honor of the late Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach. Said team captain Paul Pierce, "The only thing I wish is that Red were here. He would have loved to see us try to turn this thing around. But it was a great atmosphere. You know hopefully it can be like that for 40 more games and the guys are going to enjoy it, and we are going to enjoy this journey."

And even before the season began, everyone’s strapped on.