Celtics Ownership Gives hope For The Messiah's Return

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bird in hand would be coup
Celtics ownership gives Boston hope for Larry's return
By JIMMY GOLEN
THE Associated Press
BOSTON - The sale of the Celtics has Boston buzzing about whether the
new owners might bring Larry Bird back to town to run things.

Celtics owner Paul Gaston announced Friday that he agreed to sell the
team for $360 million to a group led by venture capitalists Stephen
Pagliuca and Wyc Grousbeck, as well as Grousbeck's father, H. Irving
Grousbeck, the founder of Continental Cablevision and now a Stanford
Business School professor.

The new owners said they were interested in adding investors and would
welcome Bird, who had been involved with a group trying to buy the team
before moving on and trying to put a franchise in Charlotte, N.C.

Bird's return would be welcome news to Celtics fans who see the former
Hall of Famer as the savior for a franchise struggling through the worst
title drought in its history.

"Anything Larry Bird does, he's a winner," said Mark Liston, of Medford,
who was in the stands at Boston College's football game against Central
Michigan yesterday. "He's exactly what you want in something like this.
The Celtics are such a great tradition already, it would be a great
complement."

It's no secret that Bird has wanted to come back to Boston - but only if
the situation was right. That wasn't going to happen as long as the team
was owned by Gaston, who reportedly rebuffed attempts by Bird and Boston
businessman Steve Belkin to buy the team.

Belkin told The Boston Globe that his priority now is getting a team in
Charlotte, but he wouldn't rule out investing in the Celtics instead.
That would mean Bird would be back in the town where he won three NBA
titles from 1979-92.

"I wouldn't do anything without Larry," Belkin told the paper.

Bird was unavailable for comment Friday night at the Hall of Fame
induction ceremonies, where he introduced his friend and former rival,
Magic Johnson.

In closing the books on the Gaston tenure, the Celtics end the least
successful era in franchise history. It has been an unprecedented 16
years since the franchise's record 16th NBA title. Never before has the
team gone a decade without winning it all.

Before this year's surprising run to the conference finals, the Celtics
had missed the playoffs in six consecutive years - as many times as they
sat home in their previous 48 years combined.

"Larry Bird, over the years, has always sounded like he'd do anything to
bring the Celtics back into the promised land," said another Boston
College fan, Don Ricciato. "I would like to see (him return). That would
be a positive impact on the Celtics."

Wyc Grousbeck praised general manager Chris Wallace and coach Jim
O'Brien, but neither partner at the news conference discussed possible
personnel moves. Pagliuca also wouldn't single out Bird as a potential
investor, saying only that he and Grousbeck each has a list of people to
call.

"There's a whole host of investors that have been talked about,"
Pagliuca said.