Re: Prediction

[Josh Ozersky <josh_ozersky@yahoo.com>]

This is a great post, one of Joe's best.  The dig at
me in the end requires that I post here what I have
written to Joe off-list:

"You know, this whole thing came about as a result of
the bad name the word "orthodox" has gotten in the
last hundred years.  It really means "right thinking"
and I always agree with your views, and in that sense
they are impeccable and orthodox.  This whole thing is
a misunderstanding.  The joke was that wrong opinions,
e.g. trading walker, etc., are heterodox or heretical,
and that you were above reproach.  But really, it's
not a joke.  Your views really are above reproach for
the most part.  Far from being unimaginative, you are
certainly one of the most acute
critics of the team going.  There is no party line, as
you know.  What are you talking about?  Whatever the
conventional wisdom is, you  are way ahead of it.
 This was a big mistake on everybody's part."


--- j.hironaka@unesco.org wrote:
> Dan Forant Sr wrote:
> 
> > Off list subject but, here goes, Red Sox beat out
> Yanks this year.
> 
> I don't know about that, but, to put it back in a
> proper Celtics'
> context, the team of Nomar and Pedro are IMHO very
> much like the team of
> Havlicek and Cowens in 74-76.
> 
> If you posed the question: "who is the SECOND best
> coach in Celtics
> history", most people might choose Bill Russell -
> who led without the
> aid of an assistant coach the aging, fourth place
> and injured Celtics to
> a miraculous 7-game victory over a team with three
> Michael Jordan
> caliber players (Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt
> Chamberlain) who
> desperately wanted to kick our heads in. Or you
> might choose KC Jones,
> who not only coached one of the proudest underdog
> Celts teams to a
> thrilling 7-game deja-vu triumph over the Brent
> Musberger-hyped "Lakers
> Dynasty", but also coached arguably the most
> majestic team for
> basketball purists in NBA history in the 1986
> Celtics (82 wins-18
> losses). KC Jones also was probably the second
> greatest winner in
> Celtics history, as he was involved at every playing
> and coaching level
> in about a dozen championships.
> 
> But for me personally, Tom Heinsohn was the second
> greatest of Celtics'
> coaches by virtue of having rebuilt a dynasty
> against all odds around a
> maniacally competitive front-line that went 6-8, 6-7
> and 6-5 (Cowens,
> Silas and Havlicek). Remember folks, this was no
> longer the George Mikan
> era!! Dave Cowens entered the NBA at a time when the
> league was being
> defined by people like Abdul-Jabbar, Lanier, Walton
> etc. What the
> Celtics did in 1974 and 1976 was IMO a triumph of
> reckless courage along
> with an utterly naive dynastic belief that "we'll
> win in the end because
> we're the Boston Celtics." If the Red Sox win a
> pennant this year
> without even a legitimate 30- home run hitter and
> led courageously by
> the laughably scrawny Nomar Garciaparra, Pedro
> Martinez and Tom Gordon,
> it will be an equally unfathomable miracle. Of
> course, we're talking
> about the Red Sox here, not the Celtics. :-(
> 
> The downside of the 1974 and 1976 seasons is that
> people around Boston
> still make simplistic analogies (Ron Mercer is just
> like Havlicek in
> some ways, yet a much more explosive athlete) or
> (now that we have Paul
> Pierce, who needs Antoine Walker's irritating
> antics?). The 1974 and
> 1976 Celtics made it look far easier than it really
> is. If you look
> around the league and compare talent on the rosters,
> you know EXACTLY
> why you need (and frankly better get used to) having
> one ferocious,
> bastard of an overwhelming 5-skill player like
> Antoine Walker. You win
> partly because of talent, but also because of a
> reckless courage the
> rest of us macho studs can only pretend to have in
> clutch moments.
> 
> A sane being simply won't meet Tim Hardaway hip to
> hip at midcourt and
> openly start taunting "Mr Crossover" to beat his
> team, knowing the
> Celtics were behind by 7 points or whatever (behind
> every minute of the
> game even) to a team with the best record in the
> conference. Hardaway
> waved his arm a bit too frantically for a one-on-one
> clearout, only to
> see Antoine reply seconds later by poking the ball
> away, call like mad
> for the ball on the other end and drill the
> do-or-die three point shot,
> then sink the 17-footer to make the game even
> closer, then, just
> two-points down with 4 seconds left, catch the ball
> with NBA All
> Defensive player PJ Brown in his face, drive hard
> and sink the game
> winning three before the buzzer. Although he is such
> a retard, Antoine
> should have known somewhere in his heart at each
> ticking moment of that
> game that all his loud, open taunts at Hardaway
> could have led to utter
> personal humiliation. Remember, this was the game
> immediately following
> the big  booing incident. That's chiefly why the
> Miami game ranks for me
> up there with the time he dropped 47 points on power
> forward Chris
> Webber after Peter May wrote that Webber (among
> others) may beat him out
> for an All Star spot.
> 
> We can despise this kid, but he is ultimately the
> one who can carry the
> team far enough to give Pierce, Mercer and Potapenko
> a chance to also
> make big plays in meaningful 7-game playoff series
> that we will
> inevitably win. Antoine is obsessively,
> embarrassingly competitive. If
> Dave Cowens or John Havlicek were 22-year-old black
> men and defiantly
> and irritatingly acted like "those people", I'd
> wager we'd feel
> "uncomfortable" with their competitiveness just as
> much as we hate and
> simply can't wait to run Antoine out of town. We
> might deeply regret it
> afterwards or we might not, but we'd still hate them
> at the time. Dave
> Cowens on an off the court was a far more petulant
> (remember when he
> boycotted the team?), mercurially self-absorbed and
> shamelessly violent
> athlete than Antoine Walker. Thank God he was white.
> Thank God for us
> Celtics' fans.
> 
> Joe
> 
> 
> p.s. Now how's that for challenging my stereotype as
> an impeccably
> commonplace, orthodox and predictable guy. :-) BTW,
> I have nothing
> against Josh Ozersky, as I hope he knows....never
> had, and most likely
> never will.
> 
> -----
> 
> 
> 
> 

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