As a former sportswriter, albeit in college, and a lifelong Boston sports fan, you know I would be remiss if I did not write about the Boston Celtics 18^th Championship, earned this past week by triumphing over the Dallas Mavericks.

I am old enough to remember the first and have observed most of them in the best fashion possible. 

I will explain that last statement a few paragraphs from now.

The Celtics tradition of excellence is like no other team in the history of sports. 

There will be 18 banners hanging in the Boston Garden in October. 

Led by Bill Russell, who in my opinion was better than Michael Jordan or LeBron James, they won the championship in 1957 and then did not win in 1958, Russell was hurt. 

The reason I mention that is that they won it again in 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, and 1966, plus in 1968, and 1969. That’s 10 Championships in 12 years. 

That my friends is the definition of 'dynasty' and will likely never be equaled by any team in any sport.

They won again led by Dave Cowens in 1974 and 1976, and by led Larry Bird in 1981, 1984, and 1986. Kevin Garnett & Paul Pierce brought #17 to the Garden in 2008. And now this one. All of those teams had one thing in common, in addition to "CELTICS" on the jersey.

The players on the team, as well as all the fans, at every home game, would look up at the rafters and see those 17 banners. My guess is that the players longed to have one up there as a result of their contribution.

This is a photo of those rafters that I took this season.

The team also has mini banners hanging at their practice facility. Talk about pressure. In Boston, since there have been 13 Championships in the four major sports this century, Division Titles don’t matter: it is only the big prize. (FYI the Celtics have also won 11 Conference Titles, and 34 Division Titles. There are no banners for those in the Garden)

All season, watching games with my son, when something I saw on the screen happened that I liked I would simply remark: “Celtics Basketball.” That expression started back in the fifties, and what it meant was unselfish play, making the best decisions, and celebrating the team, rather than the individual. It was opting for the best play for the team, rather than the best play for the person with the ball.

Businesses everywhere would probably have greater success with unselfish play, making the best decisions and celebrating the team. Even the Celtics, with the same core as the prior years when they fell short of the Championship objective, changed their style of play this year and played more ‘Celtics Basketball’ than ‘isolation ball’ which is where the star dribbles, and dribbles and dribbles and then either moves to the basket or shoots. 

This year the stars still dribbled, and still drove to the basket, and still shot, but did so when it was the right decision and the best play for the team, rather than the best play for the person with the ball.

This year, the Celtics put the Team first, instead of themselves. 

They wore pre-game t-shirts that simply said "Different Here" probably meaning that only a Championship was good enough.

They had added a couple of talented players in the off-season, and traded a couple of talented players, too. And they had the youngest coach in the league: younger than one of his players. 

They also had a commitment to winning that superseded all of their egos.

• One of their stars decided to become famous for being a strong defensive player. He did. It worked. He ended up being the Most Valuable Player for the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Finals, and because of his defense they won.
• Another of their players, after 17 years of being a starter, relished coming off the bench as a sub, stating after the season that he just wanted to win, and didn’t view it as a sacrifice.
• Another of their stars, a perennial All-Star, decided that passing the ball to an open player was more impactful than padding his scoring stats. He was overlooked in the MVP voting during the playoffs, and sincerely didn’t care, because they won.
• Another player, new to the team, played in the final game against doctor’s orders and will have surgery this summer, but wanted to contribute so badly that he risked his career. And even though he was one of their top players, he missed a total of 35 games during the year. The Celtics record during those games? 30-5.
• Another player, also new to the team, but with a prior championship ring, led from behind, meaning he deferred to the stars, but when they needed him to step up, he did.
• The Celtics bench players created a nickname for themselves: The Stay Ready group. Their mission was to practice hard against the starters in practice to prepare them for the game, and to Stay Ready when called upon if someone was hurt or the team needed their particular skills at a specific time. They stayed ready, and it was one of the reasons for the team’s success.

What was interesting about that list I just mentioned is that, if you have followed the team, you agreed with my conclusions. 

And if you didn’t follow the team you probably understood the points I was making. The Championship was paid for by sacrifice, extra effort, and putting first things first.

I don’t know about you, but those three things are a pretty good formula for winning.

In the late seventies, when we lived in downtown Boston, there were nights when I asked my wife what she was going to do, and she’d answer something like ‘just relax and watch TV.’ 

A couple of times I would say ‘I’m going to watch the Celtics game’ and walk across the street to the Boylston Street Subway station, take it four stops to North Station.

I'd buy a $3 ticket and sit in the balcony and watch the game, and then retrace my steps and be home by 10:00 PM.

My wife and I were at Larry Bird’s first regular season game. We had seats in the last row of the balcony behind the basket. Really nosebleed seats in the old Garden. 

When he was introduced in the starting line-up, someone let a dove loose to fly around the Old Boston Garden. A bird flying around the Garden? A sign of things to come.

And, of course, there was the all-nighter with Larry Bird filming his first TV commercial in a restaurant I was responsible for.

You can read more about that memorable night here.

For the 1981 NBA Finals, I was in training in California and the finals weren’t even on TV. I was staying at a Motel 6 and could only get the radio signal in the car. It was better when the car was moving, but the Santa Barbara Police didn’t like the idea of me driving around the parking lot for two and a half hours, and cut my listening pleasure short.

For the 1984 Finals, still living in California, I had tickets to all seven of the seven-game series with the Lakers for the Championship. Except, I didn’t see a game. In those days they played a 2-3-2 series meaning the first two games were in Boston, the next three were in Los Angeles and the final three were in Boston. 

We scheduled our son’s baptism in Boston without checking the schedule. So for the first two games and the last two games, I had connections/friends who offered me tickets I couldn’t accept. For the middle three games in LA, same thing. Except, our baptism trip took place while the games were being played in LA, so I was out of luck. 

In fact, we flew back to LA during Game 7, and I found out the Celtics won as I was driving my car out of the parking garage at LAX. I turned on the radio and heard the last 30 seconds of the game. Who cares? They won! I’d rather miss all the games and have my team win, than make all the games and not win.

It is also a fact that my son's first sentence, with coaching from his dad was "Beat LA."

Similar to 1984, I was on a plane during the final game this month when the Celtics clinched the Championship, and then I was out of town during the parade.

But that is no problem, I will probably be here for the next one.

IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO SCORES THE POINTS, IT'S WHO CAN GET THE BALL TO THE SCORER. -Larry Bird