Re: Season's Winners/Diatribe

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

"Odegaard, Greg M." wrote:

> They went from a title in 1976 to the bottom of the barrel in 1979, only 3
> short years due in part to the apparent absence of Hondo and a couple
> others, then back to the peak in 1981 with Bird and company, so why is it
> unreasonable to expect more out of the group in light of the 13 drought, and
> 6 years now of near bottom feeding performance.  The prior example they went
> from the top to the bottom and back again in less time.  I for one expect no
> less than success, and that equates into a first playoff VICTORY or more.

Bro Greg:
Look, I tend to agree with Dan Forant that a season can be enjoyed even if it
doesn't end with a championship banner (unless the team underachieves like the
Shaq-ass LA Flakers). I believe you might need to spend some time in Boston to
understand this (hello, Red Sox!).

The reason I believe so many of us with Boston connections find the Red Sox
sublime is because they approximate life.  I mean all of us occasionally have a
"great season" (get a job, meet a wife, have a baby etc.) just as the Sox
occasionally win a pennant or go the distance in the World Series. But it's the
rarest thing to have a "championship year" (discovering a cure for cancer or
being elected president of the free world), so it is dumb not to stop and take a
little pleasure from what we manage to accomplish over a season.

That's the life lesson of being a diehard Red Sox fan. Tim Wakefield might pitch
an embarrassing game, just like we might give a lousy presentation at work or
sleep through a final exam. The Celts also have a lot to teach us (that Bill
Russell interview in USA Today was unforgettable!) about making teamwork an
instinct, true hard work, never giving up, second chances, redemption and all
that.

But the Celtics spoil us. Things had gotten way out of hand (16 championships in
30 years I believe). It was unnatural. Just look at Tim Duncan walking away with
the MVP in his second year, and you know for a fact that things won't always be
so skewed in our favor.

Here's my take on it, if you don't mind. Back in 1996, the leprechaun, prime
mover, upstairs neighbor, big cheese meister, basically said enough is enough.
They had watched ML Carr charm "Thanks Dad" Gaston into naming him GM as an
innocuous public relations gesture, name himself head coach after an "exhaustive
search", put the team way over the cap with idiotic signings of prototypical
".500 ballplayers", and (worst of all) intentionally tanked a season. After all
that suffering, why the heck is Tim Duncan giving the people of San Antonio the
best record in basketball, we ask?

Add it up. Why should the gods continue rewarding one of the worst owners and
management in the NBA, just out of sympathy for us spoiled, ingrate, sometimes
unintelligent fans? I'd wager they are finally making the Celts work there way
out of this mess the hard way, just like all the other 28 other NBA teams. Our
odds of winning a championship in the next five years are no better than 27
other clubs (Clippers excluded). I'm optimistic because of our young talent, not
because of any god-given rights we have.

Plus personally, I sort of enjoyed this season and the Celts players. It was a
youth team playing in the big leagues. I don't mind extra patiently watching the
team grow, because I love clubs with a fistfull of great young athletes and I
feel like we know something about them that others don't (these guys are going
to be good). Maybe not with the Celtics, but somewhere.

Joe