When one Crimson reporter finally found himself with a courtside seat at a Celtics game, he was fulfilling a childhood dream. These are his notes from....

Last year, I went to a Phish concert in the Boston Garden. In the middle of the show, Trey Anastasio, Phish's lead guitarist and lead singer said that as a boy, he had always dreamed of playing for the Bruins. Now he realized that this was probably as close as he would get to playing in the Garden.

I, too, grew up in Boston. But unlike Trey, I wanted to play for the Celtics. I watched all three of the Celtics' '80s championships. I still have every Sports Illustrated with Larry Bird on the cover. But when I got cut from my high school basketball team, I came to realize that donning Celtic Green was dream that would never be fulfilled.

But Friday night, I sat courtside at the Garden press table. I got into the Celtics locker room. I saw Robert Parish naked.

As Trey said, that's probably as close as I'll come.

***

Five years ago, I stopped watching Celtics games. Bird missed two free throws in an away game against the 76ers, and Dr. J hit a three pointer at the buzzer to win it. I spent eight straight hours shooting free throws in my driveway.

I couldn't sleep nights, and finally entered therapy. My therapist and I both agreed that I should stop watching games.

Still, when my father offered me tickets to Friday night's Celtics-Bucks game, I couldn't refuse.

I've had strange luck as a reporter at the Garden. I got a press pass to a Grateful Dead concert last year and got to take pictures from the press pit. So before I left for the game, I grabbed my Crimson press pass. Maybe I'll get to go down by the court during halftime, I thought.

But when the game started, and I was up in the third balcony, I noticed the empty seats at the press table. Who would care if I joined the writers at courtside? Who indeed?

So at 8:32 of the first quarter, I was sitting next to Channel 5 sportscaster Mike Dowling. What follows are excerpts from my reporter's notebook.

***

There's a tendency among reporters who aren't well known in their field to always look angry--they're not the people making news and they're not even the people good at covering the people making news, so they have lots of time left over to harbor resentments and practice scowling.

The guy from Fox's Channel 25 next to me has perfected this. He kicked me out of my first seat, although he looks like he should be as happy as I am to be here. He's short and slimy, wearing an ugly pair of stonewashed jeans and a sweatshirt. At least I'm dressed like a reporter--I have my blue pin striped blazer, clashing vest and paisley shirt.