Finally…my guys won a title

Let me just say it bluntly, my teams have brought me so close over the years…but left me with nothing but heartbreak.
My last championship I can claim in my lifetime came when I was two-years-old in with the 1990 Cincinnati Reds wire-to-wire season that ended with a 4-0 sweep of my beloved Cincinnati Reds over the Oakland Athletics.
Only problem…I was two and could barely understand what a baseball was.
Since then?
In 2004, Tom Brady made sure the Carolina Panthers wouldn’t win the Super Bowl in their first appearance.
The heartbreak continued as the 2007 WVU football team fell short against Pitt in the “Backyard Brawl” in the infamous 13-9 loss in Morgantown, which ultimately kept WVU out of a national championship appearance.
Fast forward to 2010 and WVU again broke my heart, despite winning the Big East tournament championship and making a Final Four appearance, Duke and a Da’Sean Butler torn ACL made sure I wouldn’t see a national championship then.
Since then?
Cam Newton didn’t dive on a fumble in the 2016 Peyton Manning swan song Super Bowl and destroyed my heart in a perfect run through the NFL slate, aside from a Week 16 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
The Reds have only won a division title in 2012, and made two wild card appearances in 2013 and 2020.
What’s the point in all this rehashing of pain? I’ve honestly never known what it’s like to experience a championship.
I was never a superstar athlete. I was never part of championship teams during my athletic years.
I’ve always known what it’s like to be an outsider, looking in when it comes to winning.
That all changed on Monday night.
I’ll admit, I went a solid 20 years and wasn’t a big NBA fan…but from my last days in the 1990’s, Michael Jordan, John Stockton and Karl Malone, to becoming a Boston Celtics fan in 2016 in the days of Isaiah Thomas and following the team and every step made in the following eight years…Monday was special.
I watched a 17-year vet in Al Horford embrace the joys of being a champion, and Jayson Tatum shake the criticisms of, “can they do it?” completely off, and I couldn’t help but share the emotion.
I’ve not been a life-long fan, but I’ve been here long enough to be considered a die-hard.
I cannot put into words the joy i felt of seeing “my team” win a title.
I’ve been in sports fan purgatory for life and tormented year in and year out and to finally see these guys get a win…it just means the world.
Oh, the chef’s kiss to the whole thing?
Joe Mazzulla, who was part of that 2010 Final Four WVU team?
He is the head coach of the Boston Celtics, which just won its NBA best 18th banner.
After 36 years of not knowing this feeling…I’m on cloud nine.
Chris Siers is sports editor of the Marshall County Post. Email him at csiers@bedfordcountypost.com.