Celtic Pride

What an amazing time it is for sports in New England! The Celtics just won their 17th title, after 22 years of bad luck and disappointment.

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I was a huge fan of the 80's Celtics. Of course I was only 9 or 10 when they won their 16th title in 1986, but that didn't stop me from making a big "Go Celts!" banner and running to the bottom of the road, getting cars to honk at me when they drove by.

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My sister and I composed a very poignant ditty, to the tune of "America the Beautiful," and there were our lyrics:

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Oh Beautiful, for Celtic Pride

For Larry Bird and Co.

For Boston Garden's Majesty

Above the hockey rink

They were the '84 champions

Their 15th one at that (Alternative line: They missed in '85)

But you can bet

Just watch, and see

They'll win in '86

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What talent we had... LOL.

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We sang this song, and another '85 Celtics song, constantly. I'm not sure how we learned the other song...we must have taped the TV show that featured the song, but I still remember the words, as I knew them then. I probably had some of them wrong! I wish I knew who composed the song, so I could give credit:

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Well did you every go down to the city of beans

Where the teams' got a city, and a city's got a team

Out on the court, the cutters are green

They got some guys, that can really scream

From the fast break to the 3 point play

Take it coast to coast, or steal the ball away

From the turn-around jumper to the cross court pass

They can handle the ball, they got nothin' but class

Cause we've got Celtic Pride

We're feelin' the green way deep inside of us

Celtic Pride, we're gonna get it back a-one more time, one more time...

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Perhaps the author of that song shouldn't have been so specific with the one more time thing...maybe then we wouldn't have had to wait 22 years!

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We used to go to the games fairly frequently, and my first cabbage patch kid (Arthur Wade) had a Larry Bird uniform that he would wear to the games. Sometimes we got to sit in the second row, and I would hold up my Cabbage Patch Larry for the team to see. Larry gave me the thumbs up once when he saw him. I thought I had reached the high point in my life.

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The Celtics were a force to be reckoned with, and then their luck came crashing down. They were met with tragedy and death, injury, retirement, all too soon to recover from. For two decades now, they have been trying to rebuild the team that was once great, and they have succeeded!

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When we fall down, or hit low points in our life, sometimes we want to be able to get right back up to that high point immediately, but that's almost always impossible. Getting back on track takes time, planning, conviction, and a whole lot of heart.

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I was so ready to start living healthy by the time I had my surgery, and I would have loved to have lost all the weight over night, but I would have missed the most important part of the journey: the learning that goes along with figuring up how to get back up. I know someday I will reach my victory point, and I will cherish it. I plan to use the tools I have developed along to way to transform my victory into the reality of my life, one day at a time.