Re: Paul Pierce, of course

[bird <birdw@aloha.net>]

Joe, I meant that Pierce should open some honest-to-goodness, real, 
live, cans of actual whup-ass on Forant himself, not the Knicks. 
(Though in my wildest dreams Pierce makes a full recovery and lights 
up the league in the coming year.)  I've reconsidered, though.  That 
might get Paul in some sort of trouble.  My newest wish for Xmas is 
that Forant just gets his clock cleaned by some random "lowlife."

At 22, I certainly did a lot stupider things that going to a private 
party (probably with bouncers, as you mentioned) and shoot pool. 
Paul Pierce seems to me a lot more knowledgable about street safety 
that I would have been at his age.  Reading the articles about how he 
grew up in Inglewood, CA, where people were getting shot and he was 
pressured to join gangs, I came away with the feeling that a guy who 
survived that knows what situations are dangerous and how to deal 
with them (i.e. run the hell away).  I don't blame the guy for 
getting sucker hit with a bottle and being stabbed, I blame the 
retard attacker who did the deed, not the victim.

But Pierce is going to have to be more careful now.  He shouldn't 
have to guard himself more than any other citizen when he goes out in 
public, but the reality is, he had better.  The ramifications of this 
attack on him are going to be serious and wide-ranging.  Maybe the 
"homies" of the attacker aren't going to let this go.  That's just 
speculation, but it's possible.  Not to mention the psychological 
effect on Paul himself.  Pierce seems like a pretty tough, resilient 
guy, though.

As you say, beyond the basketball questions, I just hope Paul 
recovers fully and has as little negative effect on his life as 
possible from this unwarranted, violent assault on his person.  Keep 
wearing that leather jacket, man.  Think about some Kevlar 
underlining or something, too.

Regards,

Bill

P.S. I think that more than a few people on this List think Forant is 
somehow putting us on, or is just a curmudgeon, or is actually a fan 
of the Celtics.  I think none of those is true.


>   Bill, I also hope that Pierce makes his comeback against the Knicks in MSG
>(watch the NY fans actually boo him). ;-)   Dan Forant's posts were way out of
>line. I don't know from where such sentiments could come ("If he 
>cares so little
>about life he doesn't deserve one" "Maybe Pierce needed a fix"). 
>Maybe he's just
>pulling our leg.

[snip]
-- 
wm. l. bird
mailto:birdw@aloha.net
"I, too, am running with this devil that you speak of."