Article Written by – Slim “The Sports Machine” | March 9th, 2024
A couple of games ago, I write an article for the Celtics Sentinel in which I asked: What Are We Witnessing here as Celtics fans. Our Green Team had just spanked the Golden State Warriors, and we looked unbeatable. But we have been extremely “beatable” since. We blew a 22 point fourth quarter lead to Cleveland and then Thursday night Denver handily took care of the C’s. Two losses in a row since I wrote the article. So today I will ask again: What Are We Witnessing?
On Thursday night, my wife and I went to the Boston Bruins game vs Toronto. While I was at TD Garden, I constantly evaluated something that has been on my mind a lot since I went to the Celtics Game 4 home court loss to Golden St in a NBA Finals series that we held a 2-1 game lead in: the New England sports team fans. The overwhelming feeling I had entering (and throughout) the game is this: New England sports fans are not hungry. They are nothing like the rabid dog hungry Celtics fans of the 1980’s or even the fans of the 2008 run with KG and Paul Pierce. Our fans nowadays are soft and spoiled. I offer as proof:
The Bruins game on Thursday night was the first game my wife has seen in person. We were excited. I host a sports talk radio show – The Sports Machine with Slim on www.NHTalkRadio.com – and I talk Bruins and Celtics every day. I watched every Bruins and Celtics game on TV, and my wife watches with me as I cheer loudly from my couch.
The game against Toronto was a physical one right from the start. A Toronto player cheap shot one of our guys to the ice after a whistle just a couple of minutes into the game. Years ago, the Garden would have exploded! But this night, I noticed a mild uproar. As the game went on, I was even less impressed.
My wife stood up to cheer a few times during the game. During a couple of these times, she was greeted with a “Down in front!” voice coming from a few rows behind her. It was the male voice of someone who apparently was inconvenienced by a person who was there to actively cheer on their team. A discussion ensued, and ultimately my wife and I decided to let the mini confrontation pass. But I couldn’t help thinking – Everyone else should be standing up! But this is how New England area fans are nowadays. Boston sports fans are people who pay $300 plus per ticket and $20 per alcoholic beverage (what a scam) and then politely go to their seats and cheer when the big teleprompter TV tells them to. It’s disappointing.
I know that people who read Celtics Sentinel are not part of the soft New England fan crowd. You are the true fans who bleed green and who wake up in the morning feeling good or bad depending on whether the Celts won or lost the night before.
Tonight, the Celtics take on a surging Phoenix Suns squad. We are on the road again for this one, and Celtics fans on the road typically show up well. Let’s hope the Green Teamers in Phoenix are a little less polite than the average fans nowadays who populate the TD Garden on game nights. What we are witnessing with this Celtics team is something special. And we need fans who are willing to stand up to see it!
