One of my favorite teams finally won a championship and I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to celebrate

Movie quote of the day:

“Gentlemen, the hopes and dreams of an entire town are riding on your shoulders. You may never matter again in your life as much as you do right now.”

— Gary Gaines, “Friday Night Lights” (2004)

General view after the Boston Celtics celebrate defeating the Dallas Mavericks in game five to win the 2024 NBA Finals at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Well, it’s been a little over nine years since I created this blog and I can finally say that one of my favorite teams has finally won a championship. I’ve come close a couple times — the New York Mets in 2015, Boston Bruins in 2019, and I’ll throw Green Bay in the mix even though it hasn’t been to a Super Bowl since 2010. As excited as I am about my Boston Celtics winning the NBA Finals, I have to admit that I’m conflicted on how much I’m allowed to celebrate.

When I was growing up, basketball was my second-favorite sport and the NBA was second-favorite professional league. However, in the last five to eight years, I’ve fallen out of love with basketball and the NBA. I think the reasoning for that mostly falls on the league, but I wouldn’t say that I’m blameless. Hockey has become my second-favorite sport and I’ve developed more of an appreciation for baseball as I’ve aged. Basketball and the NBA has just been the odd man out for me, and why my Celtics fandom has dipped a bit.

However, I wouldn’t say that I turned my back on the team. I stuck with the Celtics when they moved on from Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Doc Rivers. I embraced the rebuild and the Brad Stevens era. I can remember where I was when the team drafted Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier, and Robert Williams between 2014-18. Drafting each one of those guys led to the Celtics winning this championship. I’ve also watched every postseason game and followed all the offseason acquisitions since 2022.

I wouldn’t say that it’s completely hollow victory for me. There’s definitely more emotion to this championship than the one in 2008, when, I’ll admit, I hopped on the Celtics bandwagon after they acquired Ray Allen and Garnett to pair with Pierce. I’ve watched Brown and Tatum develop together these last seven years and I couldn’t be more proud of them.

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla holds up the trophy as he celebrates after winning the 2024 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

You also have the whole Joe Mazzulla aspect, who I’ve always had a soft spot for going back to his college days at West Virginia. Everyone remembers him as one of the heroes of the WVU team that knocked off No. 1-seeded Kentucky in the Elite Eight in 2010. However, I can still remember him scoring 13 points off the bench to help the Mountaineers upset No. 2-seeded Duke to advance to the Sweet 16 in 2008. I can’t believe that it’s the same guy all those years ago helping my favorite NBA team win a championship. It’s been an unreal experience watching him coach the Celtics.

I’ve developed a connection to Massachusetts and the city of Boston, too. My dad, who loved Larry Bird and adopted the Celtics as his team around 40 years ago, recently moved to Massachusetts. I’ve visited Boston twice in the last 14 months and have a much better understanding of the area. It’s a terrific place and those people deserve this moment. I look forward to seeing all the celebrations and the championship parade in the coming days.

Can you understand my predicament? I consider myself a Celtics fan, but I definitely could’ve been a better fan in recent years. This championship definitely means a lot more to other people, but it also has meaning to me. I just have mixed feelings about how much I’m allowed to celebrate the Celtics winning their 18th championship, which is the most in NBA history. I’m probably taking this way too seriously and just need to enjoy the moment.

Regardless, there will be some form of celebration from me. For most people, myself included, it’s not often that one of your favorite teams wins a championship. I bought a bottle of champagne for the occasion. I will be buying championship merchandise. If I lived closer to Boston, I’d likely go to the parade. This is a milestone and a feeling that I haven’t experienced in 14 years. I’m not taking it for granted.

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Chasing Gretzky: Celebrating blog post No. 800

Movie quote of the day:

“Thats why no-one will remember your name.”

– Achilles, “Troy” (2004)

Well, the blog has reached another milestone as this is my 800th post.

I’ve been writing on this blog pretty much all week while on vacation, much to the chagrin of my family. The blog doesn’t stop, though, especially during football season. I’ve known this post was coming, but when I decided to give my thoughts on the Backyard Brawl earlier this week I knew I had to bump this post up in the order.

What a ride it’s been to get to this point. In previous years, I’ve compared my milestone blog posts to career home runs in baseball. I had to think of something else now that I eclipsed my 756th blog post, which is one more than the number of home runs that Hank Aaron hit in his career (yes, I still consider Aaron to be baseball’s all-time home run leader).

After a lot of thinking, I decided that going forward I’ll compare my blog posts to goals in hockey. The NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer is Wayne Gretzky with 894 career goals. It’ll be fun to chase “The Great One” for another 95 blog posts, however long that’ll take.

What am I going to do after I eclipse that mark? I have no idea, but that’s a problem for the future. I just hope that I can continue to talk about sports and grow this blog.

As always, thank you to my friends, family, and other readers who’ve encouraged me to keep this blog going after so much time. Otherwise, I would’ve given up on it long ago. I’m very grateful for your support.

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Eclipsing Hank: Blog post No. 756

Movie quote of the day:

“One step at a time. One punch at a time. One round at a time.”

– Rocky Balboa, “Creed” (2015)

Ever since I felt obligated to do something special for my 300th blog post back on Nov. 30, 2018, I’ve compared my posts to home runs. Well, the time has come that I’ve finally surpassed Hall of Famer Hank Aaron with my 756th blog post.

I stated last year that I consider Aaron Judge to be MLB’s single-season home run leader, so my readers should guess that that means I still consider Aaron the record holder for career home runs. I’ve usually celebrated my number of blog posts by every hundred, but surpassing Aaron felt like too significant of a moment to pass on. I had to celebrate immediately.

It took me almost three and a half years to reach 300 posts and it’s now taken me about four and a half years to do another 456 posts. I’ve actually become even more active in recent years. Since Jan. 2021, I’ve written 256 posts. That’s an average of 111 posts a year (2.1 per week), which is substantially more frequent than my earlier years.

This blog has come a long way. I initially envisioned it as a hobby and an outlet for me to get thoughts down. Now, it’s blossomed into a passion project. I think 22-year-old Shane would be blown away by what I’ve accomplished. There have been several instances where I’ve considered quitting, but, honestly, I enjoy it too much.

I’ve even made several changes to this blog. Through my job, I’ve learned how to properly set up and design a website and have now applied it here. I have goals and other ideas on ways to expand this blog that I’m still working on, so stay tuned. I’m also still taking suggestions for a new blog name.

Hopefully, this blog will continue to grow. I’m going to be churning out content either way.

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Chasing Hank: Celebrating blog post No. 700

Movie quote of the day:

“A man becomes a critic when he cannot be an artist, the same way that a man becomes an informer when he cannot be a soldier.”

– Mike Shiner, “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” (2014)

I’ve often compared my blog posts to home runs, and just like what Albert Pujols accomplished this season, I’ve now eclipsed 700. If you remember my post a few weeks ago, I don’t recognize Barry Bonds as the all-time MLB home run leader. So, now I have Hank Aaron in my sights. That should be a fun day when it arrives.

My 600th blog post was published almost a year ago, and what a year it’s been. I don’t think I’ve ever spent as much time on this blog as I’ve done in 2022. I feel like I’ve been diligent and have been able to type up my thoughts on several different news stories instead of just doing predictions. Barring unforeseen circumstances, I’m going to have at least one post in every month for the first time ever. If I keep up this pace, I’m going to eclipse Aaron’s number in the next few months.

Another reason why this has been a busy year for the blog is because of the changes I’ve made to it. Through my job, I’ve learned how to properly set up and design a website and have now applied that to this blog. I’ve completely revamped it – creating a homepage, sections, changing the look, etc. I’m still trying to come up with a new name and am taking suggestions, so feel free to reach out to me below if you come up with anything good. My current favorite is “The Price is Write,” but that domain is already taken.

I’ll wrap this up by expressing my appreciation to everyone who’s read my stuff and given me encouragement to continue writing over the years. That has helped me reach this milestone.

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The next milestone: Blog post No. 600

Movie quote of the day:

“Sometimes I think, I think all three of us got in that car…”

– Sean Devine, “Mystic River” (2003)

It feels like just the other day that I wrote blog post No. 300. When I wrote that post a little over three years ago, I mentioned how I’d like to write another 300 posts. Well, I managed to do it.

I’m running out of things to say when it comes to the milestones on this blog. I’ve said it before, but I often compare myself to a baseball player racking up home runs throughout his career. If that was the case, I’d rank in the top 10 all-time – sandwiched between Hall of Famer Frank Robinson (586) and the controversial Sammy Sosa (609).

It feels good to say that I’ve made it this far. There have been times that I’ve debated quitting writing this blog for good and giving myself some free time to do other things. I can never bring myself to do it, though, because I do enjoy writing on this blog, especially since I created it.

Hopefully, people enjoy reading my content as much as I enjoy writing it. Maybe in three more years, I’ll reach blog post No. 900.

Thanks for reading

Shane Price
Follow me on Twitter – @priceisright53

Celebrating my 500th blog post!

Movie quote of the day:

“You don’t get it, do you, Denise? I used to be legit. In fact, I was too legit. I was too legit to quit.”

– Rod Kimble, “Hot Rod” (2007)

Readers, we have officially made it.

No, my blog wasn’t acquired by a larger sports digital media company. No, I didn’t land a premier job with a sports media company. No, I’m just celebrating blog post No. 500.

Like I said when I first started celebrating these milestone posts on this blog, I’m going to treat it like a baseball player racking up home runs in his career. The first big milestone home run for a baseball player is No. 300 (I wrote that back in 2018). Then, home run No. 400 is celebrated (I wrote that in early 2020), but I feel is often forgotten. The big home run milestone, though, is No. 500. That usually indicates Hall of Fame status. So, I’m going to treat it as such.

It’s been a wild ride to get to this point. I’ve posted on this blog from several different locations – Nashville, Morgantown, the Outer Banks, and even in the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport when I had about just one hour of sleep. I’ll admit, that was a weird 24 hours. I’ve even had to post on my phone – probably a lot more than my readers might think.

I’m honestly surprised I arrived at No. 500 so quickly. It took about three and a half years to get to No. 300, then about a year and a half to get to No. 400, but it’s been less than a year to get to No. 500. I guess if there’s anything good to come from the year 2020, it’s that the COVID-19 pandemic gave me some creativity to write since there wasn’t anything going on for months. I guess I can thank 2020 for that? Other than that, 2020 sucks. I’m happy that it’s now in the rearview mirror.

I’ll wrap things up by saying thank you to my readers, even though there aren’t many of you out there. I honestly do hope I can keep this blog going. Even though this blog can be inconvenient at times, I always thoroughly enjoy putting my thoughts down on paper.

Let’s drink to a new year and to hundreds (maybe thousands) of more blog posts.

Thanks for reading

Shane Price
Follow me on Twitter – @priceisright53

I have nothing to write about, so I might as well celebrate my 400th blog post

Movie quote of the day:

“If you want to stay ahead of me, Mr. Secretary…you need to keep both eyes open.”

– Nick Fury, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (2014)

I had other stuff that I was going to write about and ignore the fact that my 400th blog post was coming up, but since the coronavirus has wiped out all of the spring and winter sports for the forseeable future, I might as well take the time to celebrate this accomplishment. It’s been almost five years – at least it will be on April 14 – since I created this blog. I’m very happy to have written 400 posts (although that number should arguably be higher). Anyway, I’ve decided this is something I should celebrate – kind of like a baseball player celebrating hitting milestone home runs. Four hundred blog posts is a milestone of sorts, right?

Honestly, if you had told me back when I started this blog in 2015 that I’d still be writing on it five years later, I’m not sure I would’ve believed you. I mostly started it out of boredom and to keep my parents quiet about starting one. I’ve grown to thoroughly enjoy putting my thoughts together in this blog, though.

It’s been a long journey that has included me moving three different times, and going back to school. Despite all the obstacles, here we are 400 posts later and I don’t see that changing any time soon. I hope my readers have enjoyed reading my stuff as much as I’ve enjoyed putting it together. I really hope that my West Virginia Mountaineers, Green Bay Packers, Boston Bruins, and any other bias that I have hasn’t annoyed them.

As much as I hope to keep going with this blog, the coronavirus may end up with the last laugh. Please, please, please don’t tell me sports are going to be gone until Memorial Day at the earliest.

Thanks for reading

Shane Price
Follow me on Twitter – @priceisright53

Blog post No. 300!

(No movie quote of the day since there will be two posts today)

I don’t really know how to celebrate this accomplishment, but I know that I wanted to do something special for my 300th post. I’m going to try to keep this short, but I appreciate my readers who read my stuff just about every day and I’m grateful for you guys. I know I mostly write about football, but that’s my favorite sport. I’ve tried to branch out and talk about other things and hope you guys have enjoyed that. One of my ultimate goals when I created this blog was to be as unbiased as possible and I hope, more than anything, that I’ve delivered in that aspect. Although, I know my bias comes out every now and then when I’m talking about my favorite teams.

Again, I can’t appreciate my readers enough. I never would’ve thought I’d make it this far and get to 300 posts. Hopefully, I can get to do 300 more. Thank you again!

Thanks for reading

Shane Price
Follow me on Twitter – @priceisright53