Send this man to Kosovo!

[damekmo@teleport.com]

I found this little gem on the Celtics newsgorup. Send this man to Kosovo
right now...I think I'm going to cry.

>>     For some reason, when the game was still in the second quarter, I
>> could see the loss coming.  The fire was dimming, the enthusiasm was
>> being replaced by a workaday, humdrum state of mind, and Mercer and
>> Battie were the only players who seemed to be bringing their "A" game to
>> the table.  The lackadaisical passing, the far from adequate rebounding
>> -- it was all going down the tubes.  And the guys were letting Chicago
>> stay in the game.  I walked out into the yard and told my wife -- who
>> was at least doing something sensible by cleaning out a fence row --
>> that Antoine was really mucking it up, scoring only 1 point in the first
>> half with 0 of 11 tried field goals.
>>     But when the third quarter started, I began to see a subtle
>> difference.  I saw Antoine Walker start to grow up.  I saw a man
>> thoroughly embarrassed and trying desperately to atone.  I saw a man
>> hitting rock bottom and finally realizing his little world was far from
>> perfect.  I momentarily quit this realization when Walker threw up one
>> of those god awful threes -- only to see it go through the ring like a
>> dolphin at Marineland.  My nine-year-old looked at me ruefully and said
>> "Great.  He hit one so now he'll shoot 'em the rest of the game.  It's
>> over."
>>     But 'toine didn't continue, instead he began dishing it off, first
>> to Pierce, then to Mercer. Maybe he had learned something.  Maybe
>> something -- anything! -- was starting to click in his head and Antoine
>> Walker was about to become the player that held so much promise for all
>> these years.
>>     And having said all that, there was one thing about this game, awful
>> as it was, that gave me more hope for the future than anything else I've
>> seen this year:  when Antoine was at his lowest, when he could do
>> virtually nothing right and the boobirds began in earnest, I saw Ron
>> Mercer come up to Antoine with a grin and give the captain's head a hug,
>> followed by Battie and Pierce, slapping him on the back.  All of them
>> were telling Walker not to worry about it, this crap happens, we'll get
>> though it.
>>     Then they went out in the fourth quarter and began to resemble the
>> Boston Celtics.
>>     I've called for Walker's head on more than one occasion.  I called
>> him a cancer before it became politically correct.  I've complained
>> about his shot selection, his ego, and his general ineptness for months
>> now.  But when I see three or four other guys act genuinely concerned
>> about his state of mind, I realize all the things we've been complaining
>> about probably don't amount to a hill of beans.
>>     These guys know him better than we do.  Pitino has had years of
>> experience with youngsters and will almost certainly have a better line
>> on how to handle that youth than any of us.  Just maybe, that's what
>> Pitino's been letting happen for a long time.  Antoine had to hit rock
>> bottom before he could begin climbing again.  Just maybe, and I have a
>> hard time admitting this, all of you who have been counseling patience
>> may have had the correct reading after all.
>>     If Pitino has been coddling Antoine, it's probably been for the
>> above reasons.  More than one superstar had to have his comeuppance
>> before he became that superstar.  I hope the Antoine Walker we saw in
>> the second half of today's game is the one that sets foot on the court
>> the rest of the year.  I hope this has been Pitino's plan all along.
>> It's a stiff price to pay, but if it worked, we'll all be better off for
>> it.
>>     I don't know about Pitino the GM, or ML the Destroyer, or Antoine
>> the Saint.
>>     But I do know about friendship.
>>     And for a very brief second I saw three or four men on the
>> basketball court consoling another man with genuine affection and
>> trust.  If these three of four men -- who know him so much better than I
>> --  can feel this way, who am I to call for his head?
>>     We lost this afternoon, but for some reason I don't feel that badly
>> about it.  I caught a glimpse of the future.  Will it play out like I
>> hope?  Who the hell knows?  But for the moment, and I hope for a long
>> time to come, I'm content with Antoine Walker.
>>
>> c/

Somebody get me a hanky. I'm going back to work and give somebody a big kiss.

Love

Paul M.