Guest article by "The Sports Machine with Slim"
Celtics Fans - Let's Get Busy!
Today the Boston Celtics kick off what should be an amazing playoff run. We are the most talented team in the league and we have gotten the benefit of an incredibly easy draw. Jimmy Butler is down, and after we beat the Heat, Cleveland or Orlando will await us. Please excuse me while I laugh. If the Celtics come with the right effort level, there is no way on God's green earth that any of those teams can beat us four out of seven games. Zero percent chance.
But what if the Celtics DONT come with the right intensity and effort? What if Jayson Tatum doesn't hustle back on D and instead chooses to whine at officials like he has done for most of his career? What if Jaylen Brown chooses to dribble too much and makes untimely turnovers like he has done for most of HIS career? And what if Kristaps Porzingis turns into the soft unicorn that he has been for most of his career? What will happen then?
I answer these questions by pointing to the fans that will be in the TD Garden. For those people who listen to my radio show on 103.9FM in Concord, NH - The Sports Machine with Slim - you know that I have questioned the true fandom of the people who regularly fill the TD Garden nowadays. This generation of fan needs a jumbotron to tell them when to cheer. It is embarrassing to see what has become of such a storied, incredibly passionate fanbase. The elites who fill the stands nowadays don't really care if the team wins, as long as they get to take some photos for Instagram while drinking their $22 dollar alcoholic beverage. It almost reminds me of The Hunger Games.
These fans - these spoiled, lazy fans - will be the ones who determine what happens this playoff run. Do you doubt that? If so, I ask you to please watch a New York Knicks home game on TV. See the passion on display. Feel the HUNGER from a fanbase that has been beaten down for years. Listen to the anger, the noise, the beauty of the collective violent cheering from the fans in Madison Square Garden. And then tell me that the fans don't make a difference on the outcome of the game.
Boston fans need to RISE UP! Get out of your seats. Stand. Scream! Beg and Plead! Cheer our team on to a next level of effort and energy. Us fans can all be part of a championship team. Bring the energy. Bring the anger from our failures of the past few years. Bring the screaming voices and bring the fun to TD Garden. Talk to the strangers in the seats next to you. Tell them it is gonna get loud. Tell them we all need to make sure it gets loud. We gotta work together and get it done.
There's no doubt that Tatum will complain to the refs. There's no doubt that Jaylen will turn the ball over. There's little doubt that Porzingis will brick a shot or two that he usually made during the regular season. None of those things matter! What matters is how the TD Garden crown reacts. Do we collectively sigh and shake our heads? Or do we start chanting DEFENSE at the top of our lungs? This will be what determines whether or not we win the title this year. I hope our fans are up to the challenge.
Jim McIntyre
Host of WKXL Spotlight and The Sports Machine with Slim
603-502-5974
WKXL NH Talk Radio
103.9 FM & 1450 AM Concord
101.9 FM Manchester
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