Re: Russell's common ground with Antoine

["Cecil Wright" <cecil@hfx.andara.com>]

Good job Noah.  You should go take trips to Arkansas more often.  It makes
for good posts!  Let's hope that Toine's career takes a turn like Russ's
soon and we win some hardware.

Cecil

-----Original Message-----
From: Noah Evans <ishbak@hotmail.com>
To: celtics@igtc.com <celtics@igtc.com>
Date: Saturday, August 29, 1998 4:26 PM
Subject: Russell's common ground with Antoine


>Having finished reading Bill Russell's 1979 memoir _second wind_(credit
>Dorine for that recommendation) during my trip to Arkansas(Joe-I can see
>where the Japanese name for America came from now, did you know that
>Arkansas is the only state in the union capable of existing self
>sufficiently? A proud Arkansan told me that crops from Arkansas could
>feed all of China and Russia, although I'm taking that with a grain of
>salt), I'm amazed at how much Antoine and Russell are alike.
>  When I began _second wind_ I was astounded by Russell's intellectual
>self determination. If anyone ever exemplified "cartesian common sense"
>Russell did. No one *ever* told Russell what to think. Russell is
>unrepentant in his promiscuity, his refusal to sign autographs and even
>his request to be excluded from the hall of fame(he was admitted, but
>reading about his disdain for the hall of fame was an amusing surprise
>to say the least, so was his condemnation of Abe Saperstein of the
>Harlem Globetrotters). Russell wasn't even subserviant to Red Auerbach.
>And it got Russell in trouble with everyone, Boston fans, Boston media
>and the Boston police(his anecdote describing his refusal to grease the
>fingers of the restaurant inspecters and the police was especially
>amusing).
>   Now the same thing is happening to Antoine. Because Toine hasn't
>locked in stride with the popular conception of the player he ought to
>be, Antoine is drawing the same sort of criticism. Antoine wiggles,
>shoots to much, skips Pitino mandated practices and most importantly
>says what he really thinks(the crime of the centaury in Boston, where
>the media brands you as a "punk", if you so much as contemplate
>something other than the party line). While some of those actions may
>indeed be detrimental to Antoine's current performance as a basketball
>player, the contribution of Antoine's pride and fire to his constant
>improvement and his progress towards his ultimate potential more than
>make up for it.
>   Yet the media doesn't understand that or --more aptly put--
>intentionally doesn't understand that in order to manufacture a crisis
>which they can exploit. If the season started tommorow and Antoine
>averaged a triple double while shooting over 60%, while spouting Grant
>Hillesque platitudes(unlikely I know but this is hypothetical) Peter
>May's mouth would slam shut faster than a pirahna's on a hamburger. May
>would immediately begin creating a media image of Antoine the saint,
>kind to children and benefactor to the poor(the fact that Antione
>already helps children and charaties is immaterial to May, remember
>Antoine's a "punk"). Take Juwan Howard for instance. For quite awhile
>after Howard entered the league Howard was considered a "good citizen",
>The Fab Five Doctor Jekyll to Webber's Hyde. Yet in an Orwellian instant
>the minute Howard was involved in Webber's fiasco(thrown out of court
>for better or worse) every media outlet conviently forgot and Howard
>became a "bad guy" or a "pathetic human being"(Remember "we were always
>at war with Eurasia"). The same thing is happening with Toine(and
>Vaughn). Toine is simply the villain of the hour. As soon as Toine
>establishes himself and proves his doubters wrong the media will go from
>hateful diatribes to sycophantic lovefests and never mention Toine's
>evil incarnation again, just as Russell overwent his sinner->saint
>conversion.
>   It's sadly ironic in sports how the same cycle repeats over and over
>again. Trying to cull a tempest from a teapot the media resorts to
>McCarthyism, brandishing the villainly of sports "punks" until the winds
>shift against them and then every sin is conviently forgotten. It is
>almost like prowrestling, where the allegiance of the cast of characters
>shift on whims in order to stimulate interest(and the resulting cash
>intake of course).
>   What really saddens me however is the short memory of the
>fans(Russell wryly pointed out that "fan" is short for fanatic). Fans
>devour sport sensationalism with little objectivity and even less
>realization of the context of the present to the greater past. And that
>is what allows spiteful demagogues like Peter May to spout their
>vitriol, demeaning Antoine for his individuality just as they did
>Russell before him, while voices of reason like Michael Holley are--for
>the most part-- drowned out or ignored.
>
>Noah (using hotmail from the University of Memphis computer lab.)
>
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