Sports World Turns Green

11/16/2007

When NBA commissioner David Stern stepped into a New York City cab earlier this week, the driver asked, "Do you think the Celtics will win all 82 games this season?" Stern laughed and answered, "I think they will lose a game or two." With the Celtics 7-0, Stern was not surprised by the question; just by the man who asked it.

"This was a New York driver," said Stern.

From Boston to New York City and beyond, the Celtics have become the talk of the sports world. The Celtics-Nets telecast Tuesday night was the highest-rated regular-season Celtics broadcast in 10 years, contributing to a 76 percent increase in viewership over the same period last season. Fans call into local sports radio talk shows for a quick basketball fix, adding the Celtics to a steady stream of pure Patriots and Red Sox chatter.

Owner Wyc Grousbeck anticipates the team will sell out its entire slate of 41 home games at the TD Banknorth Garden, a vast improvement from just nine home sellouts last season. Only a couple of hundred tickets remain to each of a handful of home games, and Hollywood celebrities are clamoring for courtside seats.

With tickets scarce, Celtics fans have turned elsewhere for a piece of the Green, shopping for team merchandise at a rate straining supply. Sales of Celtics merchandise at the Garden have increased 93 percent from last year. Grousbeck visited the NBA Store in New York City yesterday and found that all Celtics hats and jerseys were gone, though a fresh box of No. 5 Kevin Garnett jerseys was being rushed to the shelves. That happens when the Celtics are the top-selling team and Garnett's jersey is also No. 1, based on combined figures from the NBA store and NBAstore.com.

"We're up over $10 million from tickets sales, sponsorships, radio and TV advertising, all categories," over last year said Grousbeck. "We're going to be sold out for the entire season. All of that adds up. It's a nice bump. Most if not all that money is going back out the door to players. But, as an owner, I couldn't be more excited about going to another sold-out game and feeling we have a good chance to win every game we're in. That's the way I feel when I go to the Red Sox or Patriots."

When Grousbeck and his fellow owners walk around the Garden these days, fans offer thanks for a new dream team that includes veteran All-Stars Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. The new Big Three are eager to add an NBA championship to numerous individual honors, and it shows in the focus they bring each game. In the field goal percentage statistic, the Celtics rank as the best offensive and defensive team in the league.

The dominance the Celtics have displayed in its first seven games would have been unimaginable last year, when the team recorded a franchise-record 18-game losing streak and failed to make the playoffs for the second straight season. Since winning their 16th NBA title in 1986, the Celtics have struggled for much of the past two decades, both on the court and with off-the-court tragedies.

"We love to have franchises that have been down be up," said Stern. "When the fans are loyal, it's great that the loyalty is rewarded. And Celtics fans are very loyal basketball fans."

But last season, even long-standing fans who remembered the glory days began wondering whether the Celtics would return to championship form anytime soon with a roster of young, developing players.

It's different now. "The anticipation for the games is like when I used to go in the '80s," said 26-year season ticket-holder Mike Rotondi, who sits courtside across from the Celtics bench. "We've got that buzz back again. We haven't had it really since the very, very early '90s. We had a couple good teams thrown in there, but other than that it's been very, very bad.

"I'm not kidding when I say I've had 60 or 70 phone calls, e-mails and people who stop me and say, 'You must be so happy. I'm so happy for you after all your suffering all these years.' They know how loyal I've been. I never miss more than a couple games a year. Now, we make sure we're back in time from halftime. We're not missing a minute anymore."

Fans have embraced more than the three superstars recently nominated for spots on the 2008 Eastern Conference All-Star team. The supporting cast also enjoys the benefits of the buzz and being undefeated. When Celtics forward Brian Scalabrine went to a restaurant in the North End, the meal was on the house.

"I wasn't getting any free meals before that," said Scalabrine. "And that's when we were 4-0."

Scalabrine planned to return to the same restaurant last night.

Even players from the Celtics' early years are experiencing the current buzz. At the Worcester home of Hall of Fame point guard Bob Cousy, the phone rarely stops ringing. Everyone wants to talk Celtics. Routine shopping trips take a little longer as once-casual fans come up to Cousy eager to discuss the newest championship-caliber team in the area. Cousy can't remember activity like this surrounding the Celtics for the last 20 years, dating back to the original Big Three of Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale.

"In the past, people asked about the Celtics, but it was more obligatory," said Cousy. "Now, there's genuine interest. At the start [of the season], frankly, I was still skeptical, but I've seen enough in seven games to think they're going to make a hell of a push in the playoffs."

Fearing a barrage of ticket requests when he heads south for the winter this weekend, Cousy figures he will keep the phone off the hook at his Florida home.

"I'm not going to get involved in that mess," said Cousy. "There's not going to be tickets available. Obviously, it's a nice problem."

So far this season, it is the only problem the Celtics have encountered.