More than a feeling....this is going to end bad.

Yet another kick in the crotch by a Boston-area team. You would think I'd be used to this by now.

The Celtics are heading back to the NBA Finals after a Boston beatdown of the Orlando Magic, 96-84. Boston, the Eastern Conference's fourth seed, took a commanding 3-0 lead over the second seeded Magic before Orlando stormed back to take games four and five. Orlando needed to win game six to force a game seven at home.

But they didn't. And why would a Celtics win over a Magic team I have no affiliation with register as a "kick in the crotch?"

To understand that, you must first realize that I'm a gamblin' kind of man. And with no real team to root for in the NBA playoffs (because I'm a Clippers fan and it seems like Halley's comet appears more then the Clippers do in May) a bet with my good friend Christopher seemed to be the way to go. So we made a NCAA style bracket, with different point-values for each round. For every first round match you picked correctly, you got one point. For every second round match, two points. Every third round match correctly picked got you three points, and...you guessed it, The NBA Finals netted you a cool four points.

So far, I have picked every series right except for every series Boston has been a part of (three, currently) and the Dallas/San Antonio series. Chris, on the other hand, has also incorrectly picked every Boston series up to this point, as well as the Dallas/San Antonio series, and the Utah/Denver series. The Utah/Denver series gave me a cool +1 over Chris, and because I had Phoenix beating Dallas anyways (Chris had the reverse) the Phoenix win gave me a +2 in the second round. We both had Orlando vs. Los Angeles in the finals, so no harm-no-foul for the third round. Which means, heading into the final round I will be up three points. Here's the "kick in the crotch" part.

I had Orlando over the Lakers. Chris had the Lakers over Orlando. I can no longer with this round outright, thanks to Orlando collapsing in the Eastern Conference Final. If the Lakers win the finals, then Chris wins the bet. I am helpless. I am basically rooting against the Lakers to win (which isn't a shocker as I hate the Lakers anyways), but this will probably mean that I will have to root for the Celtics, a team from a city I loathe. Of course, if Phoenix can somehow figure out a way to win both game six and seven then I win the bet, get to root for Steve Nash, and this entire blog becomes moot. But that's like saying that "Prince of Persia" movie will be good. Sure, there's a slight possibility that could happen; but we all know that movie will blow equally as hard (if not harder) then "Troy," "Alexander," and the rest of those tired, contrived period pieces.

Which brings be back to the "kick in the crotch." I am forced to, for the second time in three years, watch two teams that would easily grace the presence of a "Matt's Ten Least Favorite Teams" list, with the outcome being either A.) The Lakers winning, me losing my bet and being forced to buy three drinks of Chris' choice and being subjected to drinking whiskey, rum, or straight rubbing alcohol because that might be the only way Chris gets any kind of buzz anymore; as well as having to listen to all my "Laker fan" friends gloat and brag about "their team," or B.) The Celtics win, I win my bet, and am subjected to watching both a city and a fan base I absolutely hate celebrate another piece of shit championship at the expense of a Southern California team, as well as be subjected to 10,000 articles over the next month by ESPN's Bill Simmons about how the Big Three are the greatest trio in NBA history, Rajon Rondo being the top point guard in basketball, as well as articles on Doc Rivers, Rasheed Wallace and 65,000 Larry Bird references. (Sidebar: I'm not hating on Bill Simmons. I love the guy. I just hate the Celtics). So it turns into a Catch-22 situation for me. Is winning the bet worth watching Boston celebrate? Or would watching the Lakers win a second straight NBA title coupled with losing the bet (I should add that I'm an extremely competitive person and that I don't like to be wrong when it comes to sports) be the worst thing that could possibly happen. Actually, this is the absolute worst thing that could possibly happen.

Again, this could all be a moot point if Phoenix can eliminate the Lakers, but again, "Prince of Persia."