Wyc Grousbeck: “It started when I went to the Garden. I’ve been born and raised there. I went there, and it was half empty in 2002. The team wasn’t playing well, and I’m like, ‘This is half empty.’ And I wondered, ‘Who’s the owner?’ They said, ‘Oh, he lives down in New York. Turns out to be a very nice guy.’ I went to find him. They said he hadn’t been here in three and a half, four years. He hadn’t come to the games. So I’m like, ‘Wonder if he might be interested in selling.’ So I go down, find him, shake his hand, and say, ‘What do you want?’ I said, ‘I’d like to buy the Celtics.’ And he goes, ‘They’re not for sale.’ I said, ‘Well, is there a crazy number?’ And he named a crazy number—way too high, really. But I didn’t have the money. I said, ‘I don’t have the money, but I’ll get it in four months—three and a half months.’ So I didn’t give him a chance. I took his price. I didn’t negotiate. He named the number—it was a record—and I just said, ‘Okay, I figure I can probably get it.’ Then I said, ‘I’ll wire you this much next week to keep—just keep it as a deposit.’ I named a number, which wasn’t very much for the team, but it was a lot for me. And he goes, ‘All right, what’s he going to do?’ He had to say yes—free money. So I shake his hand, go home, mortgage my house, send him the money. And then three months later, I had 25 partners. We had all the money. And I lost 17 pounds. I didn’t eat or sleep. I looked like Jeff T. Anyway, very lucky story, man.”