#42, Baker

[bird <birdwl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following was taken off ESPN.com.  I had wondered what the 
particulars of the finagling for #42 were, and this seems to be a big 
part of it.  Good for the kid to get paid, seeing how Baker seems fine 
with spreading around the moolah for the privilege.  Me, if I spent 10 
grand on a number, I'd expect Kedrick to come by and paint my house or 
wash my car, or something, but that's just me.  Vinnie seems a little 
giddy about the return to "home", and that's fine, but I sure hope that 
little, minor injury on his hand isn't a portent of things to come.  
Only a week until the first exhibition game -- can't wait to actually 
see a game as opposed to listening to a multitude of "can't", "won't", 
"never will" and the like that often gets bandied about here.  And 
maybe, just maybe, there'll be less namecalling.  Maybe.

Bird


> Kedrick Brown minus 42 equals $10,000.
>
> According to a report in Tuesday's editions of the Boston Herald, 
> that's the amount of money second-year Celtics player Brown received 
> from Vin Baker for giving up No. 42.
>
> Brown attended Boston's media day Monday wearing No. 5, which was used 
> by Roshown McLeod only for photo ops last season, but wouldn't divulge 
> the price of the change.
>
> That's when Baker, who will make $12.375 million in his first season 
> with the Celtics following an offseason trade by the Sonics, chimed > in.
>
> "It was 10." Thousand? "Yeah," he told the Herald.
>
> Why?
>
> "Just because I started wearing it at the University of Hartford and I 
> felt coming back to New England ... it was a change, but I've worn it 
> my whole career and I wanted to keep the tradition," said Baker, 
> acquired from Seattle over the summer with Shammond Williams for Kenny 
> Anderson, Vitaly Potapenko and Joseph Forte.
>
> "And coming to a place with so much tradition I thought it would be a 
> great thing. I want to end here and I want to end in this number. It's 
> one of those lucky number type of things."
>
> In the Celtics' first practice Tuesday, Baker couldn't make it all the 
> way through. Vin Baker sprained his left pinkie, but he was not 
> expected to miss any practice.
>
> Baker hurt his finger in the morning practice and was seen on the 
> sideline during a scrimmage with ice on his hand. X-rays were 
> negative, team spokesman Jeff Twiss said.