As you're probably aware, the Celtics had their "rolling rally" yesterday. I did not attend, primarily due to the crowding. But I also felt like going would be a little dishonest. I've not followed the team that closely in some time, and even this year I did not pay much attention until the playoffs, and even then didn't watch a complete game until the Finals.

I used to really like basketball. It took the place of baseball in that typical boyhood dream of growing up to play professionally, at least until I was able to play organized baseball (there was no corresponding basketball league in town). Suffice it to say that my skill level in hoops was not much better than it was in baseball, though I could always rebound thanks to the height advantage.

But I still watched a lot of basketball, as did everyone else who grew up during the Bird era. Basketball was also the only winter sport we had at our high school, so you either played it or watched it. College hoops filled the gaps on many Saturday afternoons.

I'm not sure exactly when I started to drift away from basketball, but I have some ideas:

July 27, 1993 - Reggie Lewis dies. Changes don't get much more bright line than that. It was hard to watch the team without feeling mournful. You'd also have to think this had some sort of effect on the organization, given that they only made the playoffs once in the eight years afterwards.

May 5, 1993 - the Celts lose to the Charlotte Hornets 103-102, giving the Hornets the first playoff series win in franchise history. Bird had retired and Parrish and McHale were starting their declines. The Celts had lost other playoff series before this, but the combination of losing to an expansion team and Bird's absence underscored that things were going to change. Just not as dramatically as they did later.

March 28, 1992 - Christian Laettner hits that shot to give Duke the win over Kentucky in the NCAA tournament, en route to a national title. I don't like Duke, and hated Laettner. I can't help but think that this started to distance me from college hoops, even if I didn't see it happen (I was stuck on the George Washington Bridge on the way home from a tournament at Swarthmore).

Fall 1987 - I attend my first hockey game at BU. It is not my last.

The hockey thing likely has done more to distract me from college hoops than Christian Laettner ever did, but I'm happy to blame him.

There are other reasons to consider here - for example, the Knicks more or less making the NBA unwatchable with their brand of ugly defensive play in the 1990s - but whatever the reason I don't think I'm enough of a fan anymore to go to parades, wear merchandise or wax rhapsodic over the play of the Celtics' bench. But I do appreciate that the team has added to its legacy, that the Boston Three Party have all finally won a title (especially Pierce, who suffered through some awful teams), and that they crushed the Lakers in the final game. And I'd certainly like to see an 18th banner earned by this time next year.