Celtic Nation and the KG-0-Meter

Celtic Nation is nervous.

If you confine your browsing to the headlines, you wouldn't notice this so much. Even a cursory read of the articles and opinion pieces doesn't really measure the pulse of those who populate the Land of the Leprechaun. A little deeper dive into the comments sections of green-related articles, and you find it is difficult to avoid concerns raised about the Ticket's health. Following the initial post, any number of fans respond with comments of their own, agreeing that they are concerned, too, but vowing to assume the best and otherwise bury their heads in the sand until Doc tells them otherwise.

This is about all we can do. The Conspiracy of Silence, I believe, is dead. What isn't dead, however, is the fellowship of the uninformed and medically clueless, which, I suspect, includes everyone of us, from the fans, the coaches, KG, and his doctors. No one has any idea how this story will end.

Almost nobody has us winning the title next June, except for members of the Celtics' family. Until a GM poll placed us as favorites in the East, no one outside of Celtic Nation really had us even getting to the 2010 NBA Finals. One is forced to wonder if most of these predictions are partially based on a belief that KG won't last the season.

The good news is this season won't be like 1987. For most of us, 1987 represented a relentless march to the Finals, where a group of battered survivors wearing green would do battle with a healthy and deep Laker team ready to dethrone us. We tried that last season, and, thankfully, didn't make it to the Finals all beat up and exhausted.

The bad news is that this won't be like 1986, either, or even 2008. Those two years, by contrast, represented a relentless march to a world championship. Injuries were always a possibility, but even us Walton fans, never really were too concerned that Dr. Shoal's would go down for the year. What about 2007-08? It was a turmoil-free season, as Doc once called it.

This team may win the championship, and it may win a gaudy number of games. But it won't be without the invocation of talismans, prayers, and an assortment of other devices people of a precarious existence rely on to keep the faith.