04 May 2008

Curse of the Jon-bino

I've been religiously watching the NBA playoffs this season. Normally, I'll catch a few games on if I'm around but usually any excuse to get away from a TV will take me away from the game on-screen. Part of the reason is that the dominant teams of the past few years have been so boring to watch. The Spurs, Pistons, Mavericks, and just about every other contender outside of Phoenix seemed incredibly boring. Well, this year it's been a different story. More specifically, the Celtics are back!

After winning the regular season and getting acclaim and accolades, Kevin Garnett and Co. were hailed as championship contenders and virtual shoo-ins for the Finals (possibly against the Lakers no less). I tried to watch as many Celtic games as I could, even going so far as to schedule their nationally televised games into my Google Calendar. I bought McFarlane figures of Pierce, Garnett, and Ray-Ray for good luck. Everything was going swimmingly as the playoffs started.

Now, after three straight home wins for the lowly Atlanta Hawks, the Celtics are on the verge of being on the wrong end of the biggest playoff upset ever. Seriously. The team with the best record in the league could lose to a team that won just barely half as many games as they did. That's not just embarrassing, it's catastrophic. And it's not due to injury, unfairness, or bad officiating. The Celtics have been trying hard but they just can't seem to win.

For some reason, whenever I watch an important game and cheer on the team I want to win, they lose. It's as if all my other good life karma is turned upside down when I watch sports. So now the dilemma is if I should make the effort to wake up early and watch tomorrow's deciding game or not. Right now, since it's 4:51 AM (the game's in five hours) and I haven't slept, I'm leaning towards "No." Then again, if this is possibly the last Celtic game of the season, shouldn't I lend my support? Would it be better if I didn't watch since I'm like seriously cursed?

Should I have bigger life concerns to be worried about?