Welcoming the Enemy

[Michael Gooen <callmebogie@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- Shawn Niles <shizzjr@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Maybe it's just because the Celtics are in my blood, but I hate NJ so
> much 
> that I don't want any of their players on the C's. I can't stand any of 
> them. That would be like someone saying back in the 80's...  "Boy, it
> sure 
> would be nice if we could get Rambis."

Shawn, I can't dispute a matter of personal taste, but you really wouldn't
take ANY of their players?  Let's leave out Kidd (disgust with
wifebeating) and Kenyon Martin (disgust with punkishness).  You wouldn't
want to see the Celts undo the mistake of the 2001 draft and trade Kedrick
(or Delk) for Richard Jefferson if they could?

Would you have turned up your nose if Michael Cooper had decided he wanted
to play for the Celtics?  How about Mo Cheeks or Bobby Jones?  Joe Dumars?

Not me.  Generally, if a player comes to the Cs then for me the enemy
taint is cleansed.  I would only make an exception if the player had done
something individually to merit hatred -- e.g., Laimbeer (for being a
cowardly thug who tried to end the careers of Larry Bird and Dennis
Johnson with cheap shots), Sprewell (for attempted murder), Ward (for
being an antisemite).  I'd add John Rocker on the baseball side (for being
a racist).  I wouldn't blame anyone for putting Kidd in that category for
wifebeating, but then one has to take a hard look at Robert Parish (and
possibly Larry Bird for the way he's treated his daughter).

For me the interesting hypothetical would be if Riley were to become the
coach of the Celtics.  On balance, I'd probably still hate him, since I
blame him for taking Detroit's thuggery to new depths and ushering in a
decade of unwatchable basketball.

Michael Gooen

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