Celtics

"Amazing" is about the only word that covers it.

Scoring 131 points in four quarters

to beat the LA Lakers

in the Finals

to win the first title in 22 years

Actually being in the building for that was one of the most incredible things that I have ever done.



The craziest part of the game was when we were up by 30+ in the fourth quarter, the Lakers got the ball after another Celtics basket, and the whole place was still chanting "DEE - FENSE! DEE - FENSE!"

To say that we've had a good run in Boston recently would be a colossal understatement.

And to say that I've been lucky to see Manny's 500th and the Celtics' 17th in the span of a month would be just as colossal an understatement.

I guess "colossal" works, too.

Paintball

We headed back down to Upton for more paintball this past Sunday. It was hot. The thermometer, sitting in the shade, read 90 for most of the day. The upside was we were mostly in the woods. The downside was we were mostly running through the woods. The other downside was that our team got its ass kicked. The teams are essentially random, with the refs mainly concerned about equal numbers. It usually shakes out about even, if not in our favor, but we looked like kids this time out.
For some reason we took a fair number of nasty hits, too. I started it off by getting shot directly in the Adam's apple. Fortunately the shot was from a pretty good distance and I was wearing a neoprene neck guard specifically for that purpose. Nonetheless I ended up with a scratchy voice for a few hours, and a bruise that's still visible four days later. Another one of us came across a kid who didn't exactly know the rules, particularly the ones about close-range combat, and got blasted in the arm from something like three feet away. 280 feet-per-second is the maximum velocity allowed on this field, and it turns out that a paintball hitting your arm at 190 mph will raise about a 3/4-inch bloody welt. Totally nasty. We were all sure that was going to be the worst of it until the last round of the day. One of us got tagged right in the throat, but from much closer than my hit and without the benefit of a neck guard. You should see what it looks like when someone has a golfball-sized bloody welt right in the middle of their neck. Actually, you shouldn't, it's friggin' disgusting. He was a wicked trooper about it and thought it was "awesome," although I'm not sure if he still thinks so.
Don't let any of this deter you from thinking it's a good time, because it is. Let me know if you're interested in going next time and I'll kick you an e-mail.
And yeah, I have extra neck guards.

Baltimore

Two weekends ago, Amanda's parents brought us down to Baltimore to catch some Sox games. The trip has been planned for months, and none of us really thought too much about it other than to be excited to finally get to Camden Yards.
First, the bad news. Shortly before the trip, we learned that one of Amanda's relatives passed away as a result of complications from a recent, and extremely unexpected, heart attack. Everyone took the news hard, although in some weird coincidence all of the proceedings happened in North Carolina that Sunday, so essentially Amanda and her parents were halfway there already and headed south after the games.
Being huge Sox fans, and somewhat in need of a distraction, the trip to The Yards was still on. Of course, we get down there only to realize that Manny Ramirez is sitting on 499 career home runs. Friday night's game was great, as it was the first time we had been to the park, and our seats were good. The crew directing people to their seats even escorted us (and everyone else, of course) right to our seats before Windexing and wiping them down for us to make sure we didn't have to sit on Oriole poop. No Ramirez home runs that night despite the game going 13 innings, but the Celtics booted the Pistons out of the playoffs and there were numerous Celtics banners getting run through the stands. Remember, this is in Baltimore.
Saturday night's game was incredible. We were sitting in left field, just beyond third base. Watching Jacoby Ellsbury steal absolutely everything was wicked fun, but then the 7th inning happened. Manny absolutely cranked the first pitch he saw into the right field seats, and the place went berserk.

The rest of the trip, Sunday's game, the Harborside area of Baltimore, Babe Ruth's house, Annapolis, seeing the Sox in the lobby of their hotel, was all great. Seriously though, 500 home runs.
Wow

F1 Outdoors

F1 Outdoors is a go-kart track in East Bridgewater we've been meaning to get to. It's run by the same company as F1 Boston (an indoor track in Braintree) but is, as expected, outdoors. A group of us finally made it over there, and it was awesome.

The karts felt like faster versions of their indoor counterparts, although the time sheets suggested they were actually about the same speed. The biggest difference was the fact that there were no guardrails immediately next to the track; the whole circuit had standard red-and-white racetrack curbing and ample runoff before getting to the barriers. The track layout was also a little more conducive to flat-out racing, as opposed to the extremely tight and windy indoor courses. Both of these details not only made it feel faster, but actually allowed for better racing and more fun. I had a couple of come-from-the-back runs that I wish I had on camera.

We're definitely heading back there fairly soon, and we're toying with the viability of starting a race team; it's that much fun. Let me know if you want to come with us next time and I'll shoot you an e-mail.

Celts/Detroit

People can be loud. I've been in a lot of loud crowds and I thought I was reasonably familiar with just how loud a building full of people could actually get. The roar of the crowd at Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals was without any doubt the loudest human-generated noise I have ever heard in my life. Seriously rock-concert, so-loud-you-can't-hear-yourself-scream loud.
Loud
Even though we lost, the game was great. Both teams played well, the aforementioned crowd was unbelievable, and right up until the final seconds of the game we thought the Celtics would take it. Being there for the first home loss of the playoffs obviously isn't the best thing, but since we now know that the Pistons won't be getting new rings, it's all good.

Birthday

A couple of weeks ago, Amanda and my sister took me to a Sox game for my birthday. The weather was awesome, which was good because we were out in the open; it just started to sprinkle as the game ended, but otherwise it was sunny and warm.
The Sox won, and I had a great time.
Afterwards, we went to a bar to watch the Celtics knock the Cavs out of the playoffs. It was an absolutely awesome day.