Bob Ryan

[peter delevett <pdelevett@amcity.com>]

I know I've been posting a lot today, so please bear with me. But I thought
Bob Ryan made some very good points in his column. That said, does he not
realize that HE, himself, is responsible for a good deal of the negative
sentiment stirred up toward Antoine, when he wrote his infamous "snotty punk"
masterpiece? When it comes to "irrational fan behavior," Ryan and his ilk bear
some of the brunt. "Now everyone is overracting," he writes? What about during
the summer when he made the kid out to be Latrell Sprewell Jr?

Also, Bob, I just wonder: What was your salary in 1966 when you paid $3 for a
ticket to the Finals? What were you paying for a gallon of gas, or a new car
to put it in? In other words, what is the fucking point of saying this, except
to stir up more "irrational fan" resentment and accompanying "behavior?" Does
opining that "the 1999 NBA game ... is beyond dreadful" somehow make people
feel better when they come to the games? "Our beloved game has been hijacked
by some alien force." Yeah, Bob, it's all been going to hell in a handbasket
ever since the British lost the Suez.

(All that being ranted, he did have some great lines, particularly the image
of the Parquet Patrol, whatever hellish thing that may be, shooting refunds
into the stands. And about fast breaks being "as common as human sacrificies
on Boston Common.")