Sweet 17

We've had a good streak going over the last decade with the Sox and Pats bringing home championships. This one is different though. When the Sox finally won it was like finding out that the cancer is not going to kill you, more a relief than anything else. The Pats winning has been great, but football is a short haul, only 20 games or so and only on Sunday afternoon or Monday night.

The Celtics have always been our star, the guys that always came through and made you proud. Growing up watching Celtics games on cold Sunday afternoons with your family is memory shared by countless souls in and around Boston. Then we grew up and it all went to shit. I've always followed the C's and the last 15 years have been a total jerk around. It was like watching someone you knew in high school who seemed to have the world on a string just piss it all away on coke and Jim Beam. It was like seeing a girl you used to love get fat, bitter, and ugly. The Celtics of 1993-2007 came to typify the malaise of adulthood wherein dreams are scaled back so as to avoid disappointment.

Then we got Kevin Garnett to come to town. KG is a basketball specimen, the real deal. He looks like royalty and would have fit right into King Jaffe's court in Zamunda. But KG is more than just a striking looking baller. KG is a certifiable shaman. Watch the video above and tell me that this guy is not channeling something beyond the perception of the rest of us. He's almost speaking in tongues. KG isn't even the best player on the squad, that honor goes to Paul Pierce, but he is the spirit of team and seems to be able to turn the volume up to 11 for his teammates.

Basketball is a sport that plays like music. A good band feeds off of its players in the same way basketball players feed off their teammates. The Jordan era turned the game into a one man show sort of thing, with guy wanting to earn a clip on SportsCenter. These Celtics have turned back the clock to the days when no-look passes and mind-blowing ally-oops got the crowd going.

And now, a parade.