Dogs and cats living together! And ... I like these Celtics

BOSTON -- This is painful.

Not sure I can do it.

Deep breath. Om freaking shanti. Here we go ...

I like the Boston Celtics. The players, the organization, everything about them.

Thanks to Garnett and Co., the shamrock no longer sickens Freeman. (Getty Images)

Whew. There, I said it.

Do you have any idea how hard that was to do? Like many people who grew up on the East Coast, I was raised to despise the Celtics. Boston haters across the country know exactly what I'm talking about and are aggressively nodding their heads in agreement.

When I interned in Boston and first met Larry Bird, I wasn't in awe, I wanted to smack him in the mouth.

I always believed Danny Ainge to be an agitating punk, Kevin McHale a jerk and Celtics fans obnoxious yahoos who abused Bill Russell and gleefully counted their titles in your face. That latter part particularly hurt since I was a fan of the Washington Bullets, a team that would get steamrolled yearly by the Celtics.

And has Robert Parish ever smiled?

Ever?

How times and perceptions have changed.

The Celtics have always been a great, awe-inspiring franchise (which admittedly is the biggest reason they were so hated) and while this current group will never reach Russell or Bird heights, Boston has become a team you can truly admire because it has so many decent people both playing for the organization and running it.

Can't believe that sentence just rolled off the word processor.