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Michael Holley Talks To Il Duce And Others About The Lockout
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Nation | World]
Some fans cry foul as NBA stays shut on opening night
By Michael Holley, Globe Staff, 11/03/98
[Image]f not upside-down, the world of the National Basketball Association is
certainly spinning crazily on its axis this morning, the 126th day of
its labor dispute.
For the first time in its 52 years of operation, regular-season games will be
lost to a lockout. Coach Rick Pitino's Boston Celtics, led by Ron Mercer,
Kenny Anderson, and Antoine Walker, were scheduled to play their season opener
tonight against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Not anymore. The
North End and Causeway Street were going to be buzzing with a Celtics-Miami
Heat game tomorrow at the FleetCenter. Not anymore. Early visits from Michael
Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal were scheduled. Not anymore.
NBA gyms are quiet; NBA fans are sullen.
What's a man like Pitino, who has been coaching for more than half of his
46-year lifetime, to do?
''I think it's going to be over soon, I really do,'' said Pitino, who last
weekend was in South Bend, Ind., watching Notre Dame play football instead of
in a gymnasium preparing his team for Patrick Ewing. ''But I know now that
retirement is not an option for me. This lockout has taught me a valuable
lesson in life. Having all that time with nothing to do is not for me.''
Pitino has coached for 24 years. Before last summer, he hadn't had such a long
basketball lapse in, well, 24 years. The coach likes to golf and watch horses
from his Celtic Pride Stable run (he will be in Kentucky this weekend for the
Breeders' Cup). But he has said many times that he would prefer to avoid
television and social events not related to basketball during the season
because, he joked, ''I feel like God will punish me.''
That's why it is understandable that some might accuse the coach of being in
denial when he says the end of the four-month labor dispute is ''imminent.''
That is hard to believe when both sides made a little progress in the last
week but are still unable to agree on several issues, including how to share
revenues that total more than $2 billion. Talks resumed yesterday with little
movement on either side (the full negotiating teams are scheduled to meet
tomorrow), and one NBA insider believes that the season will be canceled
entirely if the sides do not agree by Thanksgiving.
As it is, there will be no games until at least Dec. 1. And Yun-Ju Choi is one
of the few NBA fans who will be able to deal with it.
''My life will still go on,'' she said. ''I'll still work [at the Boys and
Girls Club of Roxbury], I'll still read, and I'll still work out.''
What she won't do is watch ''80 to 90 percent'' of all games televised by NBC,
TNT, TBS, Fox Sports New England, and Channel 38. That's what she used to do.
There were times when her friends asked her to go out and she would agree only
after preparing her VCR to capture the games she would miss. ''At least I
don't do that anymore,'' she said.
Matthew Thompson doesn't do that, either. That's because you will not find him
leaving his St. Albans, W.Va., home when the Celtics are beamed to him via
satellite. Thompson used to hand out cards that read ''World's No. 1 Celtic
fan.'' He is the same person who reminds you that he was born in the only
1960s year that the Celtics did not win the NBA title ('67) but, ''I was born
after the Finals, so I didn't jinx them.''
Thompson is a stockbroker and is usually ''pretty busy.'' But he has always
found time to read the Boston papers, which he began subscribing to - in
basketball season only - 11 years ago. He has not started his subscriptions
yet this year. Like most fans, he is uncertain when he will be able to begin
following the league again. Until that time, he will replace his
Celtic-watching time with passing-the-time time. That's right. He has no
plans.
''I'm not going to do anything,'' he said, ''because nothing beats watching
the Celtics.''
Most Celtic players are keeping in shape on their own, since the team is not
allowed to have contact with them during the lockout. If Pitino is correct
about the dispute being over soon, his players might be wise to begin a
furious exercising plan. Many of them were so winded during Pitino's first
training camp last season that they had to be hooked up to IVs. The coach's
training schedule will not be more lenient in his second camp, especially
since he gave his players workout instructions to follow just before the
lockout began.
When NBA life resumes its normal course, some fans say, certain things will
not change. Karriem Ali grew up in New York and now lives in Boston. He has
been a fan of the Knicks since 1985. He is eager to continue following the
Celtics-Knicks rivalry as well as questioning Pitino, who used to coach the
Knicks.
''First of all, let me say that the Knicks will win the Atlantic Division,''
Ali said. ''And Pitino? He walked out [on Knick fans, to take a job at the
University of Kentucky]. We'll never forget that. What happened? He couldn't
handle the pressure?''
Pitino has heard such grilling before. He hears it all the time when the
Celtics play in opponents' arenas. He usually welcomes it because it happens
in the context of a game being played. But now, as disappointed NBA fans
everywhere can tell you, it's only talk.
This story ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 11/03/98.
© Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
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