Are You Guys Superstitious?

(Keith Allison)


By: Greg Payne

When the offseason is in full swing and there's not much to to talk about, I often love discussing the smaller, intricate details that make us Celtics fans. What's your favorite finish of all time? What's your favorite game of all time? Do you watch games alone or with friends? Things like that.

One aspect I LOVE hearing about though, is whether or not people are superstitious, and if they are, what those superstitions entail. You see, these aren't like the wishes we make when we blow out our birthday candles. We can say them out loud without jeopardizing their impact or influence.

Oh, listen to me: 'We can say them out loud without jeopardizing their impact or influence'. I'm sure you can tell by now that I do in fact believe in superstitions and have a few of them myself. It will often differ season by season. I prefer to keep things fresh. What worked last year might not work this year.

I remember back in '07-'08, I wore a complete Celtics outfit. It was pretty bad, I will admit. I had the shorts underneath the warm-up pants and a C's t-shirt beneath a black and green sweatshirt. Sometimes I might go sweatshirtless, depending on my mood and the opponent.

I would (and still do) stand up until the Celtics scored their first basket. I would eat a bowl of ice cream after every first quarter (the flavor didn't matter. Damn. I should have kept that stat. What was the Celtics' record when I ate vanilla? What about coffee? Now that I have the blog I don't have much time for ice cream. One day I'll get back to that). At halftime I would get a quick workout in to pass the time and the rest would be smooth sailing from there. Hey, it worked. We won the championship didn't we?

Last year, the outfit of choice was a pair of retro black and green Celtics shorts, along with a Paul Pierce t-shirt jersey. Unfortunately, we were not as fortunate last year and I have since scrapped that choice of apparel.

Realistically, does my wearing a certain shirt have ANYTHING to do with the C's winning? Probably not. I'm not crazy. But, I believe for those of us who adhere to our own personal superstitions, it's a matter of comfort for ourselves as opposed for the C's. We won tonight by 20 points and I was wearing my green shirt. Surely that means something, right? Then, the next game rolls around and we could be down two points with 10 seconds left and I'll be saying to myself: 'Wait...I have my green shirt on. It'll be okay!'. And even when it's not, we keep that same sense of comfort intact.

I'll always remember November 24, 2007, when Ray Allen sank the Bobcats at the buzzer. You see, situations like these are how superstitions are either born or drastically reinforced. I was at my two best friends' birthday party (they're twins) and it was actually most of their parents' friends rather than our own (go figure. Oh well, adults are a nice change of pace once in a while).

Making a long story short, I went in normal, civilian clothes but promised myself that if we weren't winning at halftime I would run home and change and then return (I live like a mile away). Well, trailing by five at the half, I rushed home and threw on the shorts, t-shirt, warm up pants and sweatshirt.

And what happened?! Sure enough, in front of a room full of adults who were as good as strangers, with them all saying I was nuts for believing the Celtics would win considering we were down two, their was a shade over four seconds left and we didn't even have the ball.

And then, this happened: PASS DEFLECTED BY EDDIE HOUSE! PICKED OFF BY PIERCE! RAY ALLEN FOR THE GAME! GOT IT! AT THE BUZZER! OHHHHHHHH!

One of Mike Gorman's finer calls, if I do say so myself. We won at the buzzer, after I went home and changed. The tide of the game changed only after I changed. Now, a few things might have coincided with this. Bill from Boston could have gotten home late and only just took a seat in his "game chair" at halftime. Joe from Cambridge might have realized his lucky shoe was untied - at halftime. For me though, despite my knowing it's pretty ridiculous, I couldn't help but believe in my rituals just a little bit more.

So I raise the question: If you have superstitions, what are they and give us an example of when they have served you well.

P.S: I hope no girls ever discover this post.

P.P.S. (or is it P.S.S?): Why hasn't MTV done a True Life: I'm a diehard (insert team name here) fan? That'd be some powerful television people.