blame whitey! ;)

["Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>]

> People on this Celts e-mail list may paint me into a corner
> as a "blame whitey" rabble-rouser type smug person. I don't think that's
at all
> right or accurate.

I not sure if this is intended as a sly dig at me (you old devil you!), but
I'll respond just for the record (and to raise a ruckus). I've never
thought of you "as a "blame whitey" rabble-rouser type smug person" (I
guess in part for the same reason I don't buy your recent reincarnation as
an "anti-Walker" - your entertaining prose style seems to indicate that you
are a bit too intelligent for such simplistic answers) nor have I tried to
paint you into a corner as such a person. 

I DID try and paint you into a corner as to whether similar behavior should
be similarly castigated. Paul M. (if I remember correctly) was at the very
least consistent on the issue of alleged racism (bless his heart!) and
wasn't afraid to go soft on our journalistic brethren simply because they
have a name and a face.
I believe that a large chunk of the blame for the Fleet attitude whatever
its original source should assessed to those opinion-makers Peter May and
Bob Ryan (and Mike Fine of the Patriot-Ledger too, if that latest bit we
saw on the list is at all indicative). Cybertwon is not my all-time
favorite player either, but these journalists seem to have a pathological
desire to paint Twon in the absolute worst light. 

But, while we're on the topic, what ARE the ethnic aspects of AW's game
that so alienates the fleet crowd or the journalist naysayers? I hope
you're not just going to hang it all on the "wiggle"! Hell, Walker even
jumps like a white boy. Are showboating, gloating, whining to the refs,
dogging it on D and ball-hoggiddyness ethnic in origin? What is so "ethnic"
about being a poor winner? I guess your argument comes down to asserting
that these faults would be partially overlooked in a "white Twon" (Tony).
So at the very most the question of race is really a question of whether
the crowd's reaction is "bad" or "worse"? If so, it would seem to be - at
most - a modestly contributory factor. No, it seems that with regard to
Walker's reception (NOT Russell's, we shouldn't confuse the two) that for
the most part the question of race is a red herring.

Nor do I buy the argument that Twon would have to become a "house boy" to
fit in: look at the reception that Barkley got here - the original NWA! I
think one of the most damaging aspects of the "racist defense" of the
die-hard Walker-backers is that it ends up portraying the other black Celts
as "Uncle Toms". Is it OK to sacrifice everyone else's reputation as long
as we can put a better gloss on AW's behavior? For that matter, I think
that the myth of the supposed kid-glove treatment (whether by the press,
Pitino, or the list) of "saint" Paul Pierce belongs in the same trash-bin. 

Phew, that covers a bit of ground and I don't mean to imply that Joe is at
all responsible for all the opinion contested above.

Best wishes

Tom (actually, I have a nephew so I AM an uncle Tom by default whether I
like it or not, but then I have a friend who is an uncle Ben so you tell me
which is worse. . .) Murphy