Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Whats the Deal with Boston Celtics fans?

So everyone knows the Boston Celtics won yet another NBA Championship this season and this of course solidified them as one of the most recognizable "famous" sports organizations in the world. However, does anybody realize that this so called "blue collar sports town" doesn't really give a damn about their beloved Boston Celtics? Sure this season they were 12th in the NBA in attendance, but lets take a look back a few years. In 06-07, Boston was ranked 20th in the league behind New Jersey and Orlando and in 05-06, they were 18th in the league. Now tell me how this is a world famous organization that still sells many tickets by riding the coat-tails of the legendary Larry, Robert, and Kevin teams of the 80's and 90's.

My question to everybody is, why doesn't anyone realize how fair weathered these Boston Celtic fans are? They start winning a few games in 07-08 and then all of a sudden, thousands of these "die hard" Celtic fans start coming out of the parquet woodwork, and into the Garden?

Wait, there's more! In 04-05, they ranked 24th and in 03-04, they were 18th. Of course the old cliche is that if the team starts winning, the people will come. Yet how come the fans of Chicago, Cleveland, and L.A. have been pouring in the last 5 years and show their allegiance to their respected clubs. I am sick of hearing how the Boston Celtics and the L.A. Lakers are the most historic franchises in Basketball. Boston is nowhere near the level of L.A. Sure the Lakers and the Celtics have the most Championships by a long shot, but honestly the Boston Celtics fans don't give a damn about their Boston Celtics so long as the Boston Red Sox are in town (and the Patriots keep on winning). As much as I dislike the Lakers, I have to respect their fan base and the city of Los Angeles for actually showing up to see their team play whether they have a strong season, or it is a rebuilding year. Dedication and persistence people, that's all I ask.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you're going to grab onto one little scrap of fact to make you point that the Cs have "faur weather fans," you probably should actually view that fact correctly. The Cs play in one of the smallest buildings int he league, and sold 100% of their tickets this past year.

The previous year, with the second worst record in the league, they sold an average of 1,800 less tickets a game. In a metro area of millions, does the fact that 1,800 fans chose not to spent big money to watch a lousy team indicate a sense of fairweatherness?

I've been a fan of the Cs for over 30 years, and a season ticket holder for a long time. I chose not to buy tickets in 2007, even though I watched almost every game on TV. Am I a fair weather fan?

There's always been a strong base of Cs fans, but the team was in the NBA wilderness for a generation before this past year. Despite the lousy teams, the fan support was adequate at the least. When the team improved, a lot of casual fans got involved, like in any city.

Maybe Pistons fans, for example, have better attendance figures this decade because the team has one 50+ games. FYI, the year before they won 50 games the first time this decade, 2001, they were 22nd in attendance, even though they play in one of the biggest venue.

Anonymous said...

As much as I dislike the Lakers, I have to respect their fan base and the city of Los Angeles for actually showing up to see their team whether they have a strong season or it is a rebuilding year

The above statement really puzzles me ... Have you ever actually SEEN a Lakers home game? The apathetic crowd noise produced during these past Finals alone should be enough to show how erroneous this statement is.

Anonymous said...

Every city will produce thousands of fair weather fans when success comes to town.

The city will also create haters like you, especially when the city dominates the three most popular sports in their country.

Look deep inside. See the pettiness?

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

As previously mentioned, this point is irrelevant as the Celtics sold out all 41 home games in 2007-2008 and sold out a good portion of their games (the last 16 I believe) during their 24-58 2006-2007.

Aside from football and very few other exceptions, it very rare for below-average professional sports teams to consistently sell out games.

Take a look at the Red Sox in the mid-90s and the Patriots before the Robert Kraft ownership -- far from sold out.

Anonymous said...

Well, when even your second rate teams (the Revolution and Cannons) win most of their games, aside from a core constituency, teams have to earn sell outs through success. Look at the Bruins...there is a core group that will never stop going, and the rest of us just follow until they make us say "Hey, we have GOT to get to a B's game" And attendance isn't everything, I follow all six of our pro teams extensively but rarely make it to a single non Pats game. That doesn't mean I ever switch my radio station from WEEI and don't read every sports page from every paper in New Englandevery day...

Anonymous said...

It seems like you're either bitter that your team didn't win the championship, or you're just trying to take a cheep shot at Celtics fans. Or more likely, both.

I'm 25, and started watching the Celtics right after the glory days of Bird. Instead I watched the likes of Rick Fox, Eric Montross, Pervis Ellison, and other that you've probably never heard of. I watched almost all the games, and went to at least 5-10 a year, so don't you dare say that we are fair weather.

Last year when we had the second worst record in the leage, I challenge you to dig up the tv ratings and see how many people were watching the Celtics. Just people people didn't shell out upwards of $100 a ticket to go to the games didn't mean they didn't watch the game on tv or obsess about them in other ways (online.

And did you really compare us with Lakers fans? I think I'll spare you the response (I'm laughing as I'm typing this instead).

So to answer your question, what's the deal with Celtics fans? We love our team, and we're the world champs!

Anonymous said...

If they were loosing, why would a celtics fan pay to go to a game, when they could watch it at home. People will PAY to go see a game where their team would win. There is no point in paying $50 just to see a team get killed.

Think about it... Just because people don't go to the games, does not by any means make them not fans.