Re: Mercer-less

[opi@unesco.org]

> (clipped) Forgive me, but I can't help stirring up
> the hornet's nest. Having just witnessed Bob Ryan's vituperative
> no-holds-barred assassination of AW's character, would it be correct to
> assume that this merely represents yet one more instance that uniquely
> virulent Boston racism?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Tom Murphy


     I'm glad to see Tom is still out there - yet another of the many fine
Cambridge  (or at least MIT) "townies" involved with the Celts list. :-) I bet
you all are just stunned to here me react on this particular subject (race)!
Well surprise, I personally don't think Bob Ryan can ever be accused of what
amounts here to a subconscious race bias. If you ask me, it's all about the
generational gap and manners with Bob Ryan. He's routinely outraged by any
example of stupid behavior by young athletes, whatever the color. If anything,
he is a true bleeding-heart Beantown/Hahvard liberal type who regularly feels a
need to actually apologize on behalf of any public behavior by fans or athletes
that suggest arrogance or lack of sportsmanship no matter how trivial (the
"USA!" chants at international sporting events; Sox fans in game 4; the dream
team overkill etc.).

    Although I didn't personally read the offending article in question (I was
busy, will explain below), I'm kind of pleased to see someone of Bob Ryan's
stature remind young Antoine (or any player for that matter) of what it means
to be a Boston Celtics team captain. It may have seemed well out-of-proportion,
but hey even I take the Celtics "personally", including the one-step
forward-one-step-back development of Antoine Walker. The only downside IMHO is
that Ryan's columns may tend to further legitimize the atavistic, lynchmob
behavior of Fleet Center retards, who now might regard the act of booing
Antoine Walker's every shot as all the more noble and "sticking up for our
tradition". But they are a minority, and they are retards.

    Although as a fan I believe Antoine needs a good kick in the pants and no
more excuses,  I feel Bob Ryan needs to also grasp that 1) it might not be wise
striking a match to this kind of local powderkeg (I'm a Celts fan who never
went to the Garden since I was a teenager, entirely because I felt
uncomfortable with some justification around the all-white Boston crowds, and
anyway prefer watching games with friends at home or in a "bah" of my choice);
and 2) he should talk to real live NBA players before he accepts Peter May's
word for it that Antoine is hated by his fellow NBA players. Remember that
Peter May later as much as admitted that his "most hated player in the NBA"
generalization originated from the mouth of a single person (a trainer on an
Eastern Conference team).

    (To whom it may interest, my first child Koji was born this weekend. You
may check out typical proud papa photos at
http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/Hironaka/koji.htm )

    Hey Prof. Tom, nice comments on the Mercer situation, BTW. Good move by
Denver to move him to off guard, mainly because Chauncey simply doesn't belong
there.  Sadly for the first 6-weeks of this upcoming season, the Celts have
identical personnel as March-April of last season except we swapped Mercer for
forward Eric Williams and guard Cal Cheaney. Although there will be a ton of
home games at first, the first six-weeks of the schedule are anything but easy.
In fact, anything close to a .500 record in November essentially guarantees Y2K
playoffs in my view. There is one month (I think Jan or Feb but I'm not sure)
where I counted more than a dozen winnable games, even without Danny Fortson
(provided Antoine remembers that you can't just talk about rebounding more, you
have to go out and do it). The Celts in general can look forward to a very
strong second half if trends continue (better passing, chemistry, rebounding).

    BTW, Antoine is shooting a solid 22-26 freethrows thus far (around 85%)
which is actually a continuation of late last season's fairly dramatic
improvement. At this point, some of you may be questioning whether I have my
priorities straight (what with the birth of my first kid). Actually, I'm
required to be at work because of our biennial General Conference, so you can't
blame me for checking my "inbox". I can't take a day off until it all ends in
four weeks, and am required to work two Saturdays even.

    Best wishes,

    Joe

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