Celtics At Last: The Twenty Years After DDS:PB Dynasty

[Izulde]

The National Basketball Association began at the same time as its collegiate counterpart, composed of 30 teams from around the nation. It was a league run by rich men and played by individuals who would become rich even then, for the salary cap in 1900 was the modern-day equivalent of $50 million, with the luxury tax threshold set at the value of $70 million.

As university play began in the same year as the professional teams, the first NBA draft consisted of young men who had no inclination of going to college, though certain universities, in an attempt to gain more publicity for themselves, unscrupulously agreed to sponsor the potential draftees, enrolling them for a single course in the spring semester before the first draft.

Fortunately, this practice would be a moot point after the first year, so the fledgling NCAA allowed it to pass in exchange for demanding that every collegiate basketball player after the 1900 season would be required to stay all four years in college.

The universities and the NBA both agreed, the colleges because they were threatened with sanctions if they did not sign on, the NBA because it felt that older players meant more mature, more polished, and most importantly, more well-known athletes to build the brand around.

Of course, as with the college ranks, things were somewhat helter-skelter that first season...

[Izulde]

On the eve of the Celtics NBA championship (and while I wait for Gary to see if he can fix my DDS:CB file so this integrated league has more than 2 rookies in the draft class) I feel compelled to explain the story.

The story of why the C's are my favorite team.

It begins, as a lot of these things do, with a girl.

Back when I was 14 or 15, we'd just gotten the Internet at home and one of the places I hung out on was a place called Skate Talk. Skate Talk was a hybrid between a chatroom and a forum like a lot of chatting places were in those days. The chat was real-time and so were the whispers (PMs), but you had to hit refresh to see new posts. The main topic of conversation was How I ended up there, I no longer remember.

What I do remember is that I had the nick of Lorien, after the mystic city of the elves in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and everybody thought I was a girl because of the name.

Well, eventually it got sorted out that yes, I was male and I got to know people, including a girl with the nick of Mia Zapata, a girl about my own age from Boston. It was about that time that one of the great Boston sports arenas was coming down and we wept together over its loss; she because she was an avid homer sports fan, I because of the loss of history and architectural beauty.

We became quite fond of each other, sharing many similarities in concrete things like humor style, intellect and interests, but also with that sense of connection. I have no doubt that if we would've been local to each other, we probably would've been at least dating.

I came to have the Boston Bruins as my favorite hockey team and the Celtics as my favorite basketball team. I didn't adopt the Red Sox though, as I still loved the Cardinals too much then (I would later become a White Sox fan, but that's another story) and absolutely nothing will ever make me love another football team more than my beloved Miami Dolphins.

For a long time, I was happier than I'd been in quite a while. I'd struggled with depression issues (which still haunt me on occasion) and, through our jokes, our intimacies, our conversation, the times I'd prank perverted idiots in the chatroom by pretending to be Miss Lori Ann, a southern belle, to the delight of the regulars and Carrie, the middle-aged or slightly older woman who was the mother of SkateTalk and a fair, wise moderator... I'd found a social network and something approaching requited love for the first time in my life.

But perfection never holds and even happiness itself is often ephemeral.

You see, there was another SkateTalk regular, Rich by handle. I want to say he was in his mid-30s. He was much older at least, that I remember. He and Mia started getting close as well and a love triangle of sorts developed. Carrie as you can imagine, was absolutely alarmed by this turn of events and to be honest, not a lot of other people liked Rich either.

And then one day, Mia wasn't there. I was disappointed, but not overly concerned or anything. Then more days passed and she didn't appear. Carrie did some investigating and found out she'd run away to go see Rich.

I was devastated. I can still recall the white starbursts that flashed in my vision and the nausesating dizziness I felt at hearing the news. I didn't understand why Mia would just run off and (in my own somewhat foolish young teen mind) leave a community and a me who loved her for some jackass.

But even though she ran away and I never saw her again, I still believe that she loved me. I still think about her sometimes and carry the memory of that first requited love on in my affection for the Celtics.

But just as it turned bittersweet in the end, so too is this Celtics championship a mixed feeling. I'm elated that we've won the title, but I can't enjoy it as much as I should because the truth is, I hate the NBA.

Ironic I know. Here I am, one of the most prolific dynasty writers of Gary's basketball games and I hate the very league the pro version is based on.

That's what life is, though... joy and sorrow are often intertwined and the very inseparable state is, I think, what gives our experiences their emotional power and depth for us as individuals.

I never did find out what happened to Mia in the end, if she made it okay or if something happened to her. I just hope that she's still alive and wherever she is, that she's happy tonight and celebrating the Celtics' title.

I know I'll be celebrating in my own quiet way, both the championship and the memories.