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team sale
this was buried in McDonough's Ty Law column.
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Things might be moving toward a sale of the Celtics. For months, as we
understand it, Steve Belkin, a great guy who owns Trans
National Travel in
Boston, has been trying to get Celtic owner Paul Gaston
to the table to talk
about buying the team.
Belkin, if successful, would bring Larry Bird back into
the Boston picture to
head the basketball end of the operation. Supposedly,
just recently, Gaston
and Belkin have started to talk about what it would take.
In the past,
Gaston wouldn't even talk to Belkin about it.
Belkin almost had the team in 1984 when owner Harry
Mangurian put it up
for sale. Mangurian and Belkin had a deal, but it blew up
when it was
reported that one of his partners in the travel business
was part of a family
involved in the gambling/booking business.
Belkin had to withdraw from the sale under pressure, even
though there
was nothing against him personally, and this opened the
door for the
Gaston family to move in and make the purchase. Back then
the price was
under $20 million. Now, it might be more than $200 million.
Speaking of the Celtics, I wrote here a few weeks ago
about Paul Pierce,
who was nearly stabbed to death a couple of months ago,
having a
bodyguard sit near the bench. Now I'm told that Antoine
Walker also has
his own, and the Celtics/FleetCenter have added
additional plainclothes
security in the area of the bench because some players
feel they might be
subject to attack.
And we thought Rick Pitino was the only one the fans were
threatening to
go after.
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