Chicken cams. Ballet dancing. A Delorean and V-Day Love for the Celtics.

By Steve McKay. As Huey Lewis reminds us, “The power of love is a curious thing. Makes one man weep, makes another man sing. Change a hawk, to a little white dove. More than a feeling….that’s the power of love!” That signature song from Huey (remember the 1985 movie “Back to the Future?”) speaks the truth; love is indeed a powerful force, and inspires us to do brave, stupid, illogical, and yes-even embarrassing things. Case in point: me.

Recently we installed some cameras at the McKay compound. Why? Not for the reason you might think. We aren’t trying to catch thieves making-off with my dilapidated, rust bucket of a truck (a ’99 GMC.) No, the reason we now have cameras beaming into our backyard is so the Fabulous Judester ( my loving wife) can keep an eye on her beloved chickens as we stay toasty-warm in our matching recliners while watching Andy Griffith reruns.

Soon after we installed the chicken-cams, the grandkids were spending some time at the house. As I walked outside to feed the chickens (yes, I know they’re Judy’s chickens. It’s a power of love kind of thing) I realized the grands were likely watching me on the camera monitors.

Realizing I had stumbled into a prime opportunity to entertain the kids, I began to dance like a ballerina in front of the camera. I pranced around in the silliest way possible, all because of the power of love. I love those kids, and I love to make them laugh.

As I finished-up my routine, I bowed to the camera, then continued my way toward the chicken coop. Here’s the embarrassing part: when I turned around, I saw our new neighbors were watching me out their window. Neighbors I hadn’t met yet. Mind you, the cameras are hidden, so they had no idea I was attempting to entertain the grands. From their point of view, I had simply stopped, pranced around like a weirdo-ballerina-wannabe, bowed, then continued my way toward the coop. To make matters worse, as soon as they saw I had noticed them, they pulled down their window shade.

Two weeks later, and I still haven’t worked-up the nerve to introduce myself to them. Yep…blame it all on the power of love.

I love those Celtics. Loved them ever since Hondo was stealing inbound passes on the wobbly parquet floor. Loved them through the break-down of Bird-McHale-Parish “Big 3” era. Loved them through the ups and downs of free-agency hits and misses. Loved them through the 2nd version of the “Big 3.”

I even love them this season as they continue to frustrate their fans by misfiring like my ’99 GMC parked in my icy driveway. Even while watching Kyrie wine about this and that, I still love the green team. I know, doesn’t make sense. But….“The power of love is a curious thing. Makes one man weep, makes another man sing.”

Let’s hope there’s less weeping, and more singing as we head toward the second half of the season. If not, I may have to join Michael J. Fox in his Delorean and set the dial to 1986.

The Celts were much easier to love back in those days…

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Jeff Solari

About Jeff Solari

Jeff Solari is the president and founder of the Sports Chowdah, Maine’s only free, weekly sports e mail newsletter. Recently, the Mount Desert Island native was the co-host of "The Drive" on 92.9 FM in Bangor.