Fleet Center, Celtics, Bruins, Boston

One of my favorite Boston college memories is when my friend Lane, an employee of a popular news channel, called me up and invited me to go see a Boston Celtics game. I agreed in a heart beat to go especially after Lane admitted that he had a friend he wanted to set me up with. Little did I know at the time that he was referring to Charles Barkley. Needless to say, once I found out he was married, the guys was off limits, I did date a team mate of his for a short time.

Anyway, back to the game. We sat in the press box which was awesome. The ball even landed right in front of us at one point. I actually kept my VIP neck pass and the magazine and papers that hand out for keeping stats. One of these days I'll dig them out and put a pic of them up.

Lacking the intimacy of the gritty old Garden, the thoroughly modern Fleet Center compensates with creature comforts and conveniences galore. Every seat is comfortable and offers a good view; the sound system is terrific; the temperature is always right on.

Seating nearly 20,000 (18,854 basketball, 17,565 hockey), the FleetCenter has over 100 luxury boxes, plenty of restrooms and concession stands, hundreds of TVs and a gigantic electronic wizard of a scoreboard. Those who've bought exclusive premium seats will feel like royalty, with waitstaff delivering food and drinks right to them. There's also dining in the Premium Restaurant.

The name may change by the time you read this. Over the years it has been called the Boston Garden, the Fleet Center, and TD Banknorth Garden. Most of my memories are of the 1980's glory days of the Celtics: Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge, at al.
These days I only go to the Garden for concerts.
The Sports Museum of New England is located inside the TD Banknorth Garden, on the 5th and 6th floor.

Celtics games haven't been the same since the Boston Garden was replaced by the Fleet Center which was renamed the TD Bank North Garden. This has something to do with the venue, but it probably has more to do with the memories of years gone by.

Still, watching the Celtics live in action what ever the name of the arena is well worth the effort.

The Fleetcenter is the home of the Boston Bruins these days. When they're playing, you can catch a game there. The views are reasonably good from all but the upper seats.

The photo shows a game from Thanksgiving 1999...the Vancouver Canucks came to town.

Equipment: Just bring yourself!

In addition to either catching a Celtics or Bruins game, one thing I did not know about the Fleet Center is that there is a museum located there that covers many New England teams. The museum pieces are actually shown along a corridor that goes around the secodn or third floor. It is very well-done with uniforms, photographs, newspapers, etc. There's a ton of memorabilia and much goes way back in time which makes it pretty interesting. This museum would be best suited for the avid sports fan.

Visiting the Fleet Centre is a must for the serious basketball fans.

The Boston Celtics have a steep tradition of winning which everyone appreciates.

The Franchise has brought basketball the nostalgic eras and the great players. Once cannot pass the great games of Celtics vs Lakers throughout the eighties. Bird vs Magic.

Equipment: Camera

I watched two NBA games in Fleet Center this game season, one was Celtics vs. Rockets, the other was Celtics vs. Wizard.

Yao Ming is the star in Rockets. It was a Chinese Night when Yao Ming came to Boston. Lots of Chinese students gathered in Fleet Center that night, and it was so exicting for Chinese to share the wonderful evening.

It was the last night for Jordan to play with Celtics in NBA. Fortunately, I caught that chance to see Jordan's genius show. It is amazing to see the 40 years old guy playing basketball so skillfully and artfully.

Equipment: As a student, NBA is luxury. But $30 for Yao and $60 for Jordan were good deal and valuable.

Boston is a city of sports, most famous is the
Boston Celtics Basketball team but also other sports and the Boston marathon.