Editor’s Note: The Sports Culture will be blogging live from Boston tomorrow afternoon for the Celtics victory parade. I just keep telling myself: It’s five o’clock somewhere.
Close doesn’t count, only in horseshoes, hand granades and guessing parade routes. TitleTown will host its sixth parade in seven years Thursday at 11 a.m., after nearly plagiarizing TSC’s Mock Parade Route 4.0.
And unlike TSC’s recent discovery of Bad Stuff Always Happens at 3 a.m., I have a feeling that our “Good Stuff Always Happens at 11 a.m.” hypothesis should go through the scientific formula. After all, any hour that includes a whole 6o seconds to make a wish (11:11) should instantly pull mad props to a Goodness Hour.
Regardless, here’s the parade route and information.
Kevin Garnett earned respect and popularity by displaying his signature emotion with on-court chest pounds and vocal motivation. It’s the type of intensity Boston lacked since its glory days in the ’80s — such success that Garnett irked his entire career to achieve, and literally hung over his head at the New Garden.
Tonight, KG uncorked years of frustration in an emotionally-charged immediate post-game reaction. While many of today’s modern-day on-court celebration interviews fail to capture the true excitement of a championship, ESPN painted the perfect picture with KG.
Simply put: Raw tears of joy. Innocent feel-good emotions. The beauty of live television. By far, the most passionate in history.
And here’s your first Celtics tribute:
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Instant Analysis: Game 6
Players, fans and the media love to “brand” teams with a catch-phrase themes and signature slogans as they form identities.
Maybe it’s a fun-loving player like Kevin Millar, who coined “Cowboy Up” in 2003. Or the faith-driven Curt Schilling that rebounded with “Why Not Us” in 2004. And when the pursuit of perfection gained momentum, Bill Belichick fed his 2007 Patriots with “Humble Pie.” Those three identities set the precedent in Boston sports success between the Red Sox and Patriots since the turn of the century — uncharted territory in terms of a single sports town.
And what more deserving than a passionate city that starved for over 20 years without a championship — the last parade coming with the 1986 Celtics — with five rings between the Sox and Pats.
But now, with a new generation of New England sports fans, it was the Boston Celtics that regained the spotlight of a championship-rich city — capturing the tradition that our father and grandfathers grew up with.
General Manager Danny Ainge mixed two glamorous high profile trades with unsung young talent. “The Big Three” emerged when Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined Paul Pierce — instantly putting Boston in contention of a 17th title.
But how would the chemistry mix between all three? Who would form the identity? Out of all three, who would emerge as the face of the Celtics? Would Doc Rivers keep all three egos in check?
Three wasn’t the number. Try fifteen — all together in Rivers’ proclaimed ubuntu: a sub-Saharan African ethic or humanist ideology focusing on people’s allegiances and relations with each other.
Ubuntu.
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