The Cultural Impact of the Celtics Should Not Be Ignored

The Boston Celtics are in the NBA Playoffs again. Although sports fans are already thrilled about this news, those who are more apathetic to the world of basketball may ask the question: Why should I care?

One answer: The Celtics are essential to Boston and its identity. The cultural impact of the Celtics not only reflects the work ethic and values of the city of Boston but also is a continuous source of community for New England. In short, you should care about the success of the Celtics because it is vital to the culture of Boston.

Boston is a sports town used to winning. In fact, it has been the most successful American sports city of the 21st century. While this may seem like luck to some, Boston’s dedication to winning is also reflective of a mindset dedicated to hard work, perseverance, and community support. The Celtics encapsulate this attitude, with a culture obsessed with winning the right way, focusing on teamwork and diligence. As current Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown says,“Faith, Consistency, and Hard Work Pays Off.” Celtics are not the winningest team in NBA history by fluke — they win in a way that makes Boston proud, reflecting a commitment to community ideals.

The Boston Celtics are about more than just what occurs on the court. In HBO Max’s recently released series, “Celtics City,” the full story of how the Celtics have influenced society is laid out. Individually, many players have supported social justice movements in the Boston area. Bill Russell, the most successful NBA player of all time, was a prominent member of the Civil Rights movement. On today’s team, 2024 Finals MVP Jaylen Brown continues this fight for social justice. He is consistently found contributing to community projects in the Boston area, and he created The 7uice Foundation to combat educational inequity created by systematic racism. Additionally, the franchise itself consistently makes an impact on the needs of underserved children in New England through its Shamrock Foundation.

Beyond community partnerships, the Celtics are also heavily invested in shaping the larger artistic culture of Boston. Part of this is due to the team’s commitment to supporting local creatives through its Black Creators Network, a collective meant to back Black artists in the greater Boston area. Celtics gear — and sports gear in general — is key to Boston fashion — and MassArt creatives are behind some of the official merch. You can even catch players like Jrue Holiday at the MFA, supporting local artists like John Wilson. Since sports are huge in this city, success in basketball helps the Celtics prop up other initiatives, with the arts often benefiting from their accomplishments.

Additionally, the Celtics are culturally important because of how ingrained they are in the lives of New Englanders. Rooting for a team and feeling their success and failure generates a sense of camaraderie. Perhaps the best way to understand the depth of the Celtics’ modern reach is by taking a look at the presence of their fans online.

Take, for instance, the fan page @iinangelo, run by Ian Inangelo, a lifelong Celtics fan from Central Massachusetts. Iangelo has nearly 40K Instagram followers and over 100K TikTok followers, making his account a key part of the online Celtics fan community. Inangelo sees his account as a place where fans can come together and celebrate similar interests.

“I just like to help people stay informed and give people an outlet to give their opinions,” Inangelo said in an interview with The Crimson. His account allows one of the most vocal fan bases in sports to discuss the team’s progress.

“The Celtics fans in general, it’s probably — I mean, I might be biased — but it’s probably the best fan base that you'll ever see when it comes to the NBA, just because it is so much of a tight-knit kind of community,” Inangelo said.

According to Iangelo, this community can be found in person as well as online.

“Some of the people that I’ve seen at Celtics games are people that I see all the time, and it's like, ‘Oh, how’s it going?’ type of thing. It’s like more of a family kind of feeling,” Inangelo said.

Other fan accounts share this feeling that the Celtics community goes beyond an everyday fan base. Kyle Woodbury, who runs the account @celtic_kyle on Instagram, found that the fan community gave him a place to document memories of his newborn daughter and her introduction to Celtics fandom. Woodbury originally became a part of Celtics culture as a child growing up in Massachusetts.

“I lived across the street from my grandfather, and my grandfather would invite me over, starting since I was six years old, across the street to watch the Celtics games,” Woodbury said in an interview with The Crimson.

“I would get to stay up late to watch the games with him, and just got such a fever for it,” Woodbury said.

“I'll be walking around my neighborhood, and if I'm wearing a Celtics sweatshirt or something, they'll just scream out, ‘Go Celtics!’” Woodbury said. “You just have that connection around your community.”

This belief in Boston sports culture starts young.

“As an example, yesterday I went to Market Basket with my daughter and put a Celtics hat on her, because it was the last game of the season, and we’re passing by people in the store, and a couple of comments were, like, ‘Your father's raising you right!’” Woodbury said. “And that just says how serious the community takes their sports teams and how much they hold them close to their heart,” Woodbury said.

Woodbury also had some strong sports opinions, as all loyal Boston fans do: “Derrick White is the GOAT,” he said.

Besides the fans, the very city of Boston loves the Celtics. When Payton Pritchard won Sixth Man of the Year this month, the Converse building in Boston was lit up to honor him. When the Celtics entered the Finals last year, the iconic Prudential Center flooded the city skyline with the message “GO C’S.” And when they won that series and jumped into the Duck Boats for their victory parade, a whopping million people flooded the streets — nearly double the city’s population.

You should care about the Boston Celtics. The team and all that it represents — community, hard work, social justice, and more — are an essential part of New England culture. To ignore this aspect of the city and its history — and present — will inevitably paint an inaccurate picture of all that Titletown and its winning attitude truly represent.

—Staff writer Hannah E. Gadway can be reached at hannah.gadway@thecrimson.com.