You think you’ve seen it all, and then you get a tweet notification that Kyrie Irving is burning sage in TD Garden ahead of his preseason matchup against his former team.
Honestly, I was surprised he even showed up after the way he avoided the Celtics (and their fans) last year like a candy addict avoids the dentist.
Irving came to Boston with high expectations, but his tenure here ended in disappointment. Fans felt betrayed when he went back on his declaration that he planned to stay, and instead took a lucrative deal with Brooklyn after the 2018-2019 season. His absence from Celtics-Nets matchups last season due to injury only added fuel to the fire; many claimed or joked that he was too scared to face his former teammates and Boston fans. But now he is healthy and expected to play tonight when the Nets and Celtics face off at 8 PM. And without fans in the stands, it should be a considerably easier environment for him.
Saging is a practice of burning sage to cleanse a space of negative energy and heal your energy. In fact, Irving’s former teammate Jaylen Brown told GQ earlier this year that it’s one of the ’10 things he can’t live without,’ and that he travels with it in his bag to cleanse the aura of any place he goes.
According to WebMD, it has been used for thousands of years by everyone from ancient Egyptians and Romans, to Native Americans and other indigenous people. I’ve done it myself, in my Los Angeles apartment, though I’m not sure it did anything more than make the place smell nice. Dr. Anthony Fleg of University of New Mexico says that burning sage can “metaphysically un-cling the things that cling to us that are no longer needed — spiritually, mentally, and physically,” which would make sense for Kyrie if he wants to move on from the madness of his time in Boston.
Regardless of his reasons or if it was even sage at all, Kyrie remains ever-entertaining for Celtics fans.
Photo: USA Today
