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Commentary: St. Louis should put distaste for Boston sports aside to root for Jayson Tatum and Celtics in NBA Finals

Jayson Tatum never passes up a chance to represent St. Louis. Now, his hometown should be rooting hard for him to become an NBA champion.

ST. LOUIS — When someone from our town makes it big, it could be easy to forget about St. Louis.

Embrace those bright lights on the athletic scene or out in Hollywood, and pay no mind to that cow-town you came from. You made it out, you're on to bigger and brighter things, right?

One guy who has never done that is Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum. And for that, St. Louis should be all in on rooting him towards an NBA title in the Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

St. Louis and Boston may have a bitter history on the field, court and ice, but our town should put those feelings aside for just a few days to root for Tatum.

And in terms of championship rivalries, there may not be a better one between cities than that of St. Louis and Boston.

The Cardinals have played the Boston Red Sox in the World Series four times. The Cardinals won the first two, the Red Sox have won the most recent two in 2004 and 2013.

Super Bowl XXXVI pitted the New England Patriots against the St. Louis Rams. A last-second field goal from Adam Vinatieri gave Brady his first title and robbed the Rams of their second. The "Spy Gate" fallout afterward created a longstanding distaste for the Patriots in St. Louis.

The Blues lost the 1970 Stanley Cup Final to the Boston Bruins in a sweep, thanks to Bobby Orr and one of the most iconic photos in sports history. The Blues got their revenge in 2019 though, capturing the franchise's first-ever Cup in dramatic fashion with a Game 7 win in Boston.

Even the NBA has some St. Louis vs. Boston beef history. The St. Louis Hawks faced the Celtics in the Finals four times in the 1950s, winning the title in 1958.

With all that championship history pitting St. Louis and Boston against each other, it could be easy to oppose another title for "beantown".

But not with Tatum on the team.

If he's not already, Tatum is on his way to becoming one of the top-5 players in the NBA. He was the MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals and averaged a career-high 26.9 points, 4.4 assists and 8 rebounds during the 2021-2022 season.

But more impressive than his play on the court is his continued love for his hometown.

RELATED: 'My love for STL runs deep': Jayson Tatum gives back to community

He doesn't have to, but Tatum always reps St. Louis whenever he can. If you look closely at some of Tatum's tattoos, he even has love for his hometown inked on his body.

Whether he's shouting out Imo's, hosting a golf charity event or youth camp or making sure his son knows the ins and outs of his dad's hometown, Tatum is never short on love for the 3-1-4.

RELATED: 'Happy birthday, daddy': Jayson Tatum's son, Deuce, has St. Louis-inspired birthday message for dad

And when a guy is as loyal to his hometown as Tatum, he deserves our support back.

With no NBA team of our own anymore, rooting for hometown heroes like Tatum and Bradley Beal are about the best we can do when it comes to professional basketball in St. Louis.

The Celtics have already boasted a pair of St. Louis natives as champs with Jo Jo White and David Thirdkill. How about we add Tatum to that list in 2022?

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