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RE: All You O'Brien Groupies Can Rejoice

Another minor point about the refs while we are on the subject. Not that I expected them to call it, but it was frustrating that the refs did not call a 10 second violation once on Jermaine O'Neal while he was at the foul line. A rule is a rule, right? The crowd was very loud in their counting so the refs must have heard them routinely getting up to 12 or 13 on almost every free throw. I was begging for it to be called just once so that i could see the look on Jermaines face.

(Although I guess if they called that, they'd have to disqualify every one of Shaq's free throws too since he steps across the line every time. And you know they'll never do that.)






From: "Wright, Cecil" <Cecil.Wright@JUSTICE.GC.CA>
To: <celtics@igtc.com>
Subject: RE: All You O'Brien Groupies Can Rejoice
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 11:36:23 -0300

But we are Celtic fans....at least most of us are, Kestas. There are some folks on this list who I do not think are truly Celtic fans because they take such great delight in our losses and poor play. When we win, they are silent about it.

If the bottom line is business, than the Celtics are succeeding. They have emerged from the land of the lotto, to make the playoffs in two consecutive seasons. As a business person, one would want the additional revenue. As a fan, one would want their team to go as deep as possible into the playoffs to improve the self esteem of your players. These guys have played ball their entire lives, but none of them, prior to last year, had ever experienced the intensity of the ECF. That builds character and hopefully will make them work harder to address their weaknesses.

As far as Tommy is concerned, though you do not agree, he has a point about the refs on many occasions. But I find it odd that he is the guy who wants them to do what will appeal to you the most, run, run, run, rebound, look up the floor, pass the ball to the open man, and you can't stand him.

Cecil


-----Original Message-----
From: Kestutis Kveraga [mailto:Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu]
Sent: April 29, 2003 11:01 AM
To: celtics@igtc.com
Subject: Re: All You O'Brien Groupies Can Rejoice


--- You wrote:
I certainly respect your opinions but your views re: the C's short and long
term future sucess (or lack thereof in your case) aren't really grounded on
any hard facts but rather are purely speculative based upon your stated
distaste for the C's as currently constructed .
--- end of quote ---

In a sense, everything is pretty speculative about a sports franchise. That
said, being shut out by the so-called championship-contender teams this season
is pretty hard evidence to me that we won't win anything as presently
constituted. And, if the BDT remains in place, it is a virtual certainty -
based on its performance so far - that the team's personnel will not improve.
As for liking their style of play, let me ask you this, CeltsSteve: do you like
the Celtics' style of play? Do you prefer it to the Sacramento's, Dallas's,
even NJ's style of play? If you weren't a Celtics fan, would you rather watch
the Celtics, or the aforementioned teams?


--- You wrote:
Some of us, though, just happen to be of the opinion that continuity plays a
major role in the success of any organization and building from the
foundation currently in place rather than tearing it down and starting all
over is a more prudent means toward achieving the goal we as C's fans all
want to see; i.e. raising banner # 17.
--- end of quote ---

Continuity is good when what you have is worth continuing. The foundation
currently in place is faulty, IMO, because the team is effectively led and
coached (through the person of Obie) by a talented clown who plays playground
ball where the goal is not to win, but to show the other guy up and to display
your skillz in the flashiest way possible (which basically means attempting
to score in a most difficult fashion). Ironically, he only starts playing solid
basketball when they really have to win, but that constitutes less than 10% of
his games. More importantly, his teammates are iced out all season long by the
ObieWalker ball, reduced to spot-up 3-point shooters while Walker and Pierce
take turns throwing up garbage, THEN blamed for being incompetent. At least
Pierce has the talent to MAKE his garbage, throws up less of it, is much more
solid fundamentally, and significantly increased his non-scoring contributions
this season. Twan, conversely, is going in the other direction. But we've been
over it a hundred times.

The bottom line is this: it's a business and you have to please your customers.
If I were the owner of the Celtics, I'd be worried about the ugly style of play
and the fact that a lot of fans hate Walker for the reasons I just described.
They're always ready to boo him because, after seven years of watching his
garbage, they are sick of it. He's on his best behavior now and they're
winning, albeit against the rudderless Pacers. But you just wait until they run
into the Nets, he gets intimidated by KMart, and starts throwing up garbage
again. Whoever they run into next, I'm pretty sure no other NBA coach is stupid
enough to put a skinny, aging shooting guard on Toine, so it'll be hard-hat
time for fans in the expensive seats and more boos for Walker.

Kestas

PS While I'm in my bitching mode, let me get this off my chest: I've stopped
watching the FSNE broadcasts if another broadcast of the Celtics game is
available. I'm so sick of Tommy's obsession with the refs. He adds nothing to
the broadcast anymore, it's always the same old three things: how the entire
officiating corps is conspiring against the Celtics, his RUN-RUN-RUN!!!
paroxysms, and the Tommy point business. Some people gain wisdom and
perspective as they age; others LOSE all perspective and become cantankerous
cranks fixated on some imagined ill or injustice. Sadly, Tommy is the latter.
It's too bad really, because I've always liked, and still like, Mike Gorman,
whom I find especially soothing if the Celtics are doing badly in a game. But
Tommy needs to go. This probably sounds heretical to the Johnny Most fans and
others with strong-prescription green glasses, but I can't take it anymore. I
much prefer the occassionally soporific, but always candid and insightful Cooz.

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