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Re: Celtic Historians?



I consider myself to be a historian of the Celtics, sinking myself into any
tidbit of Celtic lore I can get my hands on.  Asking about the comments
about Cousy and Heinsohn, they have been working together for many years,
and I would assume they had gotten over any major gripe years ago. I could
of course be wrong.  

I am handicapped by the fact I live on the west coast and don't hear any of
their broadcasts.  I am considering getting a mini dish to pick up routine
broadcasts, and wonder if their coverage is that of WSBK that is on the
Dish Network and others, or if they are the pick-up coverage on the NBA
League Pass.

Regardless, I had a chance to talk with both of them a couple of years ago
before a game at the old Memorial Colusium in Portland, and they both were
very friendly, chuckling between them like pals.  I have spoken to Cousy in
this matter twice again, and he is easily one of the most professional
celebs I have crossed paths with.  One occurence was with my then 4 year
son, and he talked for a couple of minutes to him direct, about rooting for
the Celtics, and respecting the tradition and soon to be success again of
the team.  He noted if he ate his vegatables and listened to his mom/dad,
teachers and future sports coaches, he could one day play for the Celtics.
My son, with me, also met Larry Bird briefly once, and he, now almost
seven, speaks of these two superstart heros like friends.  I am very proud
he will grow up understanding the link between the old players, recent and
new players in being a Celtic fan.  This tradition to me is very important
in rooting for a sports franchise.  

One last note in the new Rose "Garden" in Porltland, you no longer can go
directly behind press row, on courstside, making these great memory
encounters  of the past with Cousy and Heinsohn amost a virtual
impossibility.  Tightened security has a big price in the quality of life
sometimes, though of course our safety has to be considered.

Sorry to go on, but I sometimes feel we miss the great stories and
background of the history of the Boston Celtics on this list.

Does anyone else have great or interesting Celtic encounter stories.  Pass
them on.

Greg


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From: Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.com>
To: celtics@igtc.COM
Subject: Celtic Historians?
Date: Thursday, January 01, 1998 8:38 AM

Happy New Year to All,
	In one of the posts discussing the Celtics broadcast team,
someone observed (correctly, I think) that Bob Cousy is often
dismissive of Tommy Heinsohn's opinions.  This may be a holdover from
the days when Couz was one of the brightest stars in the league and
Heinsohn a  rookie, but something else occurred to me.   1969, which
was Russell's last year as player-coach, was also, obviously, Tommy's
first as coach of the post-Russell C's.  It also was the year that
Cousy took the Cincinnati Royals coaching job.  Does anyone know the
chronological order in which these events occurred?  I'm wondering if
Cousy, perhaps, thought that he might have had a chance at coaching
the Celts, and might have even turned down coaching offers in
anticipation of Russell's retirement (after all, if you count the ABA,
there must have been 15 new teams started in the late 60's: I'm sure
Cousy could have gotten a job).  Could there have been a little
resentment over the choice?
	In general, Rick Pitino's  service would seem to mark the
temporary end of the Celt's practice of favoring former players as
coaches.  I think that this has generally been a positive thing,
causing Celtic players to think of themselves as future coaches, and
leading to a more serious approach to the game: it's probably a big
factor in the number of former Celtics who've become coaches.  Once in
while (Jo-Jo White, I'm pretty sure about) it might have caused some
hard feelings between former stars and the team.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com
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