The crippling weight of great expectations

Basketball is supposed to be fun. It’s entertainment, meant to carry us away from the pressures of work, bills, and diaper changes. Until it doesn’t.

When I’m watching this iteration of the Celtics, the team that’s now the odds-on favorite to win the championship, I find myself thinking about December 30th, 2016. That date probably means nothing to you on first blush, but it was important to me and probably you, too. Three friends and I hopped in my seafoam green 2009 Chevy Malibu and got on Route 2 in Gardner.

We were heading east, to Alewife station.