I hope it wasn't my fault

[Michael Gooen <callmebogie@xxxxxxxxx>]

But just in case I'm going to try to stay away from the Cs on game days --
at least in NJ.

Back in May I met Antoine Walker in the Short Hills Mall Johnny Rocket's
before Game 5 against the Nets.  This time it was a Christmas Day
encounter with the entire team at the Sheraton Meadowlands.  

It all started innocently enough.  My wife called me at work on Tuesday,
mentioned the forecast of 12"+ for our area of NJ and suggested that we
get a room in East Rutherford rather than risk death on the icy roads (or
worse, stay home and miss the game).  So we did.  Wednesday morning at
breakfast we found out that only 10 of the hotel's 425 rooms had been
booked for the previous night ... and that the Celtics would be arriving
for their pregame meal.  So my daughters donned their Walker and Pierce
jerseys a bit earlier than they'd originally planned and we camped out in
the lobby until the team arrived.

Perhaps I squandered a huge opportunity to engage in meaningful basketball
conversations, but I'm a fan, not a critic.  We got everyone's autograph
(coaches O'Brien, Harter, Conner and Carroll and all 12 players) and
pictures with Pierce, Walker and Delk.  I grudgingly congratulated Eric
Williams on the Yankees' signing Contreras, my wife commiserated with Paul
Pierce about their recent root canals and my daughter Sandy played with
Vin Baker's nieces and nephew.

I don't know if this kind of thing is passe to the Bostonians on the list.
Maybe a 37 year old guy shouldn't get so excited about it.  But I confess
I was pretty jazzed, and even the awful display that Snoopy so capably
described couldn't ruin that feeling.

Michael Gooen
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