Fair Weather

In the two weeks since my last post, the weather has turned fair. According to Atlanta Hawks point guard Mike Bibby, so have the Celtics' fans.

For some reason, after his team was blown out last week in Game 1 of the playoffs, Bibby told the press, "They are fair-weather fans if you ask me,” and "A lot of those fans are bandwagon jumpers trying to get on this now," i.e. the Celtics' league-best regular-season record of 66-16. "I played here last year, too (with the Sacramento Kings), and I didn’t see three-quarters of them. They’re for the team now and they might get a little rowdy, but that’s about it."

Actually, to Celtics' fans credit, the crowds were quite good last year, even as the team finished a putrid 24-58. (I know, I watched a lot of games. The Globe also documented this, but I can't find the story at this moment.) It's the Hawks' fans who might be fair-weather, or, more likely gloomy weather: they were 20th in the league during the regular season with 16,280, and, according to the Celtics' announcers last night, there are still about 3,000 tickets available for tomorrow's Game 4. Like Bibby's performances the first three games, pretty sad.

I find it hard to believe I'm defending Celtics fans here, I can barely defend any Boston sports fan. They all hyperventilate at the slightest slump (see David Ortiz's start to this season) and faint in pandemonium at the slightest uptick (see what everyone thought of Clay Buchholz after last year's no-hitter), and generally whine while simultaneously thinking they're the greatest. But at least they care, fill every stadium and are loud at the games.

I've been trying to write about the Celtics for the past few months now, about how much I miss Al Jefferson, and how the fans -- them again! -- are even more spoiled now that the Celtics make three dominating Boston sports teams. Since the regular season is already finished, I'll just say what I was saying in September: Hope the Celtics at least make the finals this year because it's probably they're best chance. Ray Allen probably only has one more excellent season left and Paul Pierce two (maybe three) , though Kevin Garnett seems bionic and probably has 10 more wonderful seasons left, despite being almost 32 years old. The youngsters Rondo, Perkins, Powe and Davis are all exponentially better thanks to Garnett, though Rondo is legitimately very good, and the rest of the bench is the kind of bench that will be scattered among other rosters within two seasons.

Enough with the negativity: The Celtics play good defense, move the ball well and are intense on the court. They beat the Hawks in five.

Update: So my prediction was off by two games and perhaps even the winning team. But at least the seven-game series, when you learn many more nuances of each team, has had its fair share of funny times:

* The Hawks' coach, Mike Woodson, with his bushy, poorly sculpted mustache and poor decision to shave his head before the playoffs, looks a lot like a sitcom dad circa 1987-1994. When you consider the Hawks players' average is just older than mine and they much prefer running and one-on-one moves to executing diagrammed plays, he becomes even more of a sitcom dad.

* Why does Hawks center Al Horford like to flex his muscles so much? Yes, they're big and he's had a few solid games in the series, but he also looks about 17 years old -- especially when he wears a hoodie for the post-game press scrum -- and has eyes and eyelashes that make him look like a drag queen. (As for Horford and Big Papi's budding friendship, which every Boston paper wrote about this week in [mock?] shock, the press should stop feigning disbelief when players from opposing cities [and this isn't even within the same sport!] like each other. It's the fans' job to root vigorously for whoever they want, ideally the home team(s), and stay true to them. Athletes, much like the top echelon of almost every profession, have greater allegiance within their working circle and should be allowed to do so. Really, who is going to have a greater understanding of what it's like to be David Ortiz: Sean from Winchester or Al Horford?)

* Kevin Garnett is crazy, but in a really good way. He had this block on Josh Childress in Game 5 where he looked at Childress after and said something like, "How could you dare try to shoot when I'm hovering over you? I am better than you and will be forever." (Obviously, I'm keeping this a PG-rated post and have edited appropriately.) He is so intense and driven, it's amazing. I like to think of myself as the Kevin Garnett of cleaning.