Green on the Floor

This past Friday night I had the pleasure of experiencing the TD Banknorth Garden in the form of a Celtics basketball game. The thing that always bothered me about this place is how cold and impersonal it is. It seems like a cookie-cutter venue that could be in any random city across the country like Nashville, Phoenix or Salt Lake City. The fact that the Celtics are a team in search of an identity certainly didn't help matters. The oponnent was the Detroit Pistons one of the finer teams in the East although definitely weakened by the departure of Ben Wallace to Chicago. The Celtics hung tough with the Pistons throughout much of the game. In fact, I was shocked at how many good looks they had at points in the paint (mostly by Al Jefferson) and equally shocked at how many of these good looks resulted in misses (again, mostly by Al Jefferson). But the Pistons made a few too many good plays and nudged ahead of the C's in the 3rd. The Celts, without much of a veteran presence to speak of, couldn't muster a response and the game was soon over. This was also my first time seeing Wally Szerbiak in the flesh and I could immediately tell that he plays the game hard and plays it well. He was very aggressive on the offensive end and knocked down a few jumpers. But this was also my first time seeing Sebastian (Bassy!) Telfair and he couldn't stay on the floor because of his foul trouble. It's not very often that you see a point guard in intense foul trouble but he must've had his first 3 fouls in like 5 minutes.

During one of the intermissions they sent some wanker "sideline" reporter into the crowd to interview some fans. The first question to the first fan was, "Who is your favorite Celtic?". When asked, the answer to this question was almost always Paul Pierce, which is fine. But with the Pistons in the building I think if I had been interviewed it would've been hard for me to resist answering "Chauncy Billups! I hope Pitino rots in hell. We're sorry Chauncy!"

The team still paid tribute to Red with the flowers attached to his chair. I'm not sure I get the flowers thing - what was he a florist? I understand flowers are used to honor the dead but I think Red would've preferred a box of cigars and maybe a replica of that horrendous Green plaid jacket he wore during the 1974 Finals. You could've had Don "Duck" Chaney light the whole thing on fire during a moment of silence.

Ah yes and one more thing about the game. The cheerleaders! Ok - hot, yes but aren't most cheerleaders? And what's the deal about Red not wanting them? Why have them at all? Is that really going to get buts in the seats? Put a good product out on the floor and then you'll get fans there. Besides, I think the Celtics' really good marketing angle is the family angle. They should just continue to play that up with family friendly promotions etc. and then they'll get the result that they're looking for. What's funny is that once the cheerleaders took the floor - like a Roman Phalanx battling the Carthaginians - I noticed that the look on the faces of the other fans was somewhere between shock, confusion and bemusement. At this point, there wasn't so much hooting and panting as much as there was scattered applause when they finished with intermittent screams of encouragement. The Puritanical crowd was probably put off by the sparkly green bras with matching gold bottoms that the cheerleaders wore.