Back to the 80s

The mere mention of Celtics-Lakers or Lakers-Celtics brings back memories of my high school days watching these two franchises go after each other on hot late May and early June days with Dick Stockton announcing the games on CBS...

1984, 1985, 1987 were all wars...everyone had a opinion whether you were a basketball expert or didn't know a basketball from a bocce ball...conventional wisdom indicated that Laker fans were big shots and into glitz and glamour while Celtics supporters were blue-collar middle class people...

However, this blue collar, middle class person support Showtime...I would wear my yellow Magic Johnson jersey for each game...I hated the Celtics...Larry Bird stuck a dagger in my heart so many times with his clutch shooting...in my book, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale looked like Frankenstein and Frankenstein Junior...Danny Ainge was nothing but a whining baby...Bill Walton was a has-been thug...and the leader Red Auerbach was an arrogant, cocky prick...

Some 21 years since these two franchises last met for the title, my views have changed...they say that you always look back fondly on aspects of your youth...and that is true...I know longer hate the Celtics...in fact, I now own a Larry Bird Celtics jersey to go with my purple Magic Johnson one...

I have fond memories of watching those games with my dad...on Sundays, the games were played at 1:00 in the afternoon if it was in Boston and 3:30 if in L.A...the weekday games were held at night...I remember watching McHale clothesline Kurt Rambis...Gerald Henderson's steal in Game Two...Jabbar and Bird going face-to-face...Magic's baby hook...and how can I forget the classic Game Five in the 1984 Finals when the heat and humidity in the Boston Garden reached over 100 degrees as the Lakers wilted...

After the 1984 Finals, the NBA installed the 2-3-2 format for the Finals in order to cut down on travel...

There was Chick Hearn calling the games for L.A. and Johnny Most for the Celts...Randy Newmann's "I Love L.A." blared at the Forum while the chants of "Beat L.A." rang throughout the old Boston Garden...

Currently, the rivalry is not even close to where it was in the 1980s when it was at fever pitch...honestly, it will take time for it to even get close to that hatred...it was incredible how much these two franchises hated each other...

The hatred is not there yet, but the mere mention of these franchises will always bring a smile to may face...