"I'm always going to be a Celtic no matter what."

-- Ray Allen

Ray Allen wants to have it both ways.

He wanted to sign with the Miami Heat -- the defending NBA champions and the team that has knocked the Celtics out of the playoffs in each of the last two seasons -- so he signed with the Miami Heat. 

That was his prerogative, of course, as a free agent. But what Ray Allen -- by every account an intelligent guy -- has seemingly failed to grasp is this: When you sign with the enemy some people are not going to like you anymore. Plain and simple. If you are going to leave the Boston Celtics for the Miami Heat, be secure and embrace the inevitable fallout.

Instead Allen has spent the last couple of weeks making his case to the folks back in Boston, but nobody is buying. He's thrown a pity party and no one showed up. He's told us he didn't want to leave, he's told us he'll always be a Celtic, he's told us how Doc Rivers never called him before he signed with Miami, told us about problems with Rajon Rondo.

All that might be true, but it doesn't matter. There might have been sympathy for Allen around here if he had left for Toronto or Milwaukee or Phoenix or anywhere else in the NBA except for the team he will be playing for on Tuesday night (OK, the Lakers also. But that's it -- the Knicks are not a serious rival). 

Ray Allen is trying to win a championship, and he took the ol' path of least resistance to try and get there. And if Allen believes Celtics fans are going to think about his benching and being dangled in trades last year and understand why he went to play with LeBron and Wade when he's hitting wide-open three-pointers on Tuesday and chest-bumping Chris Bosh he's absolutely delusional. 

The Heat have a better chance to win another NBA title with Allen, which hurts the chances of the Celtics. Allen -- again, his privilege -- has made things more difficult for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce and Rondo and Doc Rivers in the (we think, but they keep moving the line somehow) last years of the Big Three. And all the explanation and spin from Allen won't change that. In the minds of fans, this is an act of sports treason. 

I'm sure Allen is sensitive to criticism -- as are we all -- but he had to know this was inevitable, right? He wasn't going to win this battle if he was waging it from South Beach. Bottom line: If he truly cared about public opinion above all else he would have re-signed with the Celtics or one of the other 28 inoffensive options. But he doesn't care about public opinion above all else, which is the correct instinct. He should care more about playing where he most wants to play and with the best opportunity to win. That's what he'll get in Miami. 

But there are consequences, and it just seems that Allen -- who had a very high approval rating in Boston and was beloved by the media, never close to criticized -- thought he might be able to be the first player in history to bolt a title contender for their main rival and still sneak some goodwill out of it. But that's not how it works or will ever work. 

Ask Roger Clemens. When he left Boston for Toronto it wasn't perceived as being his fault. Dan Duquette (vindicated, as we learned more and more about the steroid era) was the heavy in that one. But when Clemens demanded a trade and landed with the Yankees the narrative permanently changed. Johnny Damon could've left the Red Sox for any other team but the Yankees for any amount of money and his reputation in Boston would have been right where it was on October 27, 2004. 

Fans care about this stuff, they just do. Fair or not, they take it personally. That's never going to change. So it's time for Ray Allen to shut up and live with reality. For the next couple of years, at least, he's not going to be liked in Boston no matter what he says. The votes are in and guess what? Celtics fans have decided to go with the players currently on the roster and their hugely popular head coach and not with the guy playing with LeBron James. And every time Allen opens his mouth on the subject he will only make it worse.

The Celtics, according to Jackie MacMullan, offered Allen twice as much money as the Heat plus a no-trade clause. He turned it down and ran into the arms of a waiting Pat Riley. Maybe it was because he wasn't going to be paid as much as Jeff Green. Maybe it was because he took a good look at the situation and knew he wasn't going to get as many minutes in Boston as he would in Miami. Maybe it was because he has real issues with Rondo and Rivers. Maybe it was because he wants to wear flip-flops in January. Who knows?

It doesn't even really matter. Allen was a terrific player for the Celtics for five years, and that's a huge part of his legacy. But so is leaving for the Heat, despite what Allen wants you to believe. 

The season starts Tuesday in Miami with the two best teams in the Eastern Conference. Celtics vs. Heat has passed Yankees vs. Red Sox and Patriots vs. Jets as the best rivalry in town, and the defection of Allen has only added to the drama. There was a little bit of LeBron fatigue, but the infusion of Allen and all the subplots -- will he shake hands with Garnett, will he confront Rondo or Rivers, what will happen when he returns to Boston (spolier: he will be booed and booed heavily) -- gives the rivalry a nice twist in its second act.

All eyes will be on Ray Allen Tuesday night. Will it be time to stop spinning and start shooting, or will the pity party go on?