Sports Redux: Paint the Town Green for Banner 17

Tonight the New Garden will get a taste of what things used to be like at the Old Garden. The pomp, the circumstance, awe and jubilation coming together as a banner rises to the rafters. The Celtics will officially kick off their quest for back-to-back championships tonight, hosting Cleveland, but the game won't get underway until the Celts have a party 22 years in the making. The rings, the banners, the biggest Celtic celebration since 1986.

Just out of curiosity, we checked over with Donnie Wahlberg's itinerary; he has tonight free and will surely be there for this moment. We expect to see the usual support from other local sports teams. We'll be reading up tomorrow on the Who's Who lists of attendees. But most of all, we'll be enjoying the moment tonight. There's just something about those banners. Now that we've got one heading up to the ceiling in the new place, let's keep this going.

Speaking of championships, the Phillies would have loved to have started off today with championship hangovers. The Rays would have loved to have started off today back in Tampa, gearing up for a Game 6. Instead, both teams are waiting to play two and a half innings (at least) of Game 5. In what will go down as one of the ugliest games in recent World Series history, the two teams battled through a rain-soaked night in Philadelphia. The Phillies had a 2-1 lead until the top of six, at which point Carlos Pena realized that he was in fact playing in the World Series and knocked in BJ Upton for the tying run. The tarp was then brought out and, after a moderately short delay, the game was suspended. The thought process is that play resumes tonight. Given the forecasts, the game might have to be pushed back to Thursday. We're just glad no one was injured as they tried to play on such a sloppy field.

And, finally, the Bruins finally got that overtime win they've been struggling for all season long. The Bs came out on top in a thriller of a game against the Oilers on Monday night. Dennis Wideman (a Bostonist favorite) scored the power play overtime goal against Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson. The bad news is that the Bs offense needs to start finding net much (much, much) more regularly. The good news is that even when the puck isn't finding net, the team is providing the D it needs to stay in the game. The goals will come. We're liking our hockey team.

Photo by flickr user Eric Kilby