Re: Pitino lost Pacer game

[bird <birdw@aloha.net>]

>From: Dan Forant <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>
>
>A slump you say? Never heard of a 3 year slump. Mucho laughter. If you hate
>when the team loses you must be in a bad mood most of the time then. Let's
>see 82 minus 47 losses, get lot's of Tylenol. This team under this coach
>finds a new way to lose every loss. This team hasn't learned any basketball
>since the Pitino float came to town. Look for him and Gore in the
>unemployment line.

Your usual type of reply, Dan.  Some sentences were thrown together, 
but none of them speak to the issues I brought up.  That's ok, 
though, because, like the Celtics themselves, I've ceased to believe 
you can be what you're not.

I don't buy that the team has been in a "3 year slump" (is that 
anything like a "three hour cruise"?).  They are in the middle of a 
3-4 game slide right now, though.  If they have been in a three year 
slide, though, it's more accurate to say that that slump started in 
the '87-'88 season, and not three years ago.  Mediocre teams aren't 
in slumps so much as they are just mediocre.  When the team 
underperforms, like in the last few games, I'd call that a "slump".

Sure, I'm in a bad mood most of the time, but I self-medicate with 
beer, not Tylenol -- much better buzz as far as I'm concerned.  Plus, 
it's just as good to celebrate the win as console the loss.  And the 
wins can some more often than you seem to think they will.  Because 
if I don't think that, why am I a fan of the team?  I might as well 
just pick winning teams to root for, because that insures I won't be 
in a bad mood.  But let's examine why I'm in a bad mood.  My team 
lost a game.  As a fan, this is undesirable to me.  I find it very 
interesting indeed that you don't seem to feel a similar way -- I 
think most actual fans of the team do, though each person is 
different.  Where do you get 47 losses, by the way?  You do know 
that, just because you predicted it, it doesn't mean it actually 
happened yet, do you?  I see 11 so far, and though I'm sure that will 
increase, I'd sure like to see the games played and in the books 
before I based an opinion on something that might or might not 
happen.  You take a certain self-congratulatory glee in predicting 
these losses that I find unseemly.

Actually, I think the team loses the same way almost every time, and 
the keyword is "defense".  Not all the time, but more often than not, 
it's because they haven't held the other team's scoring down, and 
when they try to outshoot the other team, they generally lose.  Your 
statement that "This team under this coach finds a new way to lose 
every loss" is just another example of your propensity to use 
overblown statements that you don't back up with any evidence. 
Because, as we all know, they haven't learned any basketball at all 
since Pitino took over.  Not even one thing.  And, of course, the 
usual "Pitino is gone" tagline was included.  Yeah, one day you'll be 
right, just keep saying it over and over -- one day it's bound to 
happen.

Imagine that, a fan disliking it when the team loses.  Of all the 
nerve!  A fan is supposed to root for the team to _win_, Dan -- try 
to keep that in mind.

Bill -- the Celtics "Tird"