Celtics fan often featured on jumbotron confident Celtics will force Game 7

BOSTON – It’s impossible to walk by Carl Lenhart without bursting into cheer, and it was evident when he walked on Causeway Street Friday, fresh off a Celtics win. “Hey, you’re wearing Celtics green,” he shouted, pointing at a woman walking by. She immediately threw up her arms in response. “Go Celtics!”

The retired teacher who spent decades studying ancient Greek and Latin, spends these days focusing on a very different language: Celtics basketball. “It just all of a sudden, it’s like you become more alive,” said Lenhart. “You start appreciating others. That’s what brings us together, this basketball.”

When he makes it to a game, he’s famous for riling up the crowd with wild dance moves on the jumbotron. The camera always seems to find him at the most crucial moments. “I’ll be 80 this fall, and when I come to these games…I’m a kid again. I just…I just love it,” he said.

He’s so confident in his team, he got a ticket to just one game against the Miami Heat: Game 7, which may not even happen. In fact, Ace Ticket President Jim Holzman said the uncertain game is suddenly selling big. “If this happens, this is history happening,” he said. “If they pull it off and win it, then yea, it’s one of those events you want to say you were at and tell your grandchildren type of thing.”

He says tickets are currently selling for more than $500, but if the Celtics beat the Heat Saturday, that price will soar.