Sounds of Silence is deafening

[Snoopy the Celtics Beagle <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In 1963, Tom Lehrer once said, "I feel that if a person can't communicate, 
the very least he can do is to shut up."

Well, apparently Vin Baker and the Celtics are shutting up.  For certain, 
every sportswriter on the Boston Celtics beat has shut up.

Funny, isn't it?  For the first 1-2 months of the season, everyone and 
their brother was eager to talk about how well Vin was doing, and the 
Globe, the Herald, and everyone else was just as eager to report it in 
minute detail.

Now there's a cavernous silence, not unlike what probably took place the 
last time the CBS standards and practices group met.

It took an out of town--Chicago, to be specific--report to remind one and 
all that tomorrow is an important day for Vin Baker and the Celtics.  If 
Baker's suspension is not brought to an end, then the Celtics have the 
option to terminate Baker's contract.

But no one--in an impressive display of secrecy that certain government 
agencies could learn from--knows what's going to happen.

Baker's agent says that Vin is ready to come back, awaiting only clearance 
from the Doctor.

Danny Ainge says he's called Vin on the phone and not been able to reach him.

Vin, so far as I can tell, isn't saying anything.  Neither are his 
teammates.  The last we heard from his fellow Celtics was Paul Pierce's 
canned, bland comments about needing to support Vin during a tough time.

Gee, guys, times look pretty tough right now.  Boston desperately needs a 
big man willing to go to the hoop at both ends, and a healthy Vin Baker did 
exactly that.  Don't you think they'd be a bit vocal by now wanting to know 
when they're going to get help in the middle?  Either that, or they're 
trying to bribe Bill Russell out of retirement.

All the reporters who scrounge the table scraps from the normally outspoken 
Danny Ainge haven't so much as gotten a "no comment"--because there has 
apparently literally been no comment made.  Why is that?

The Celtics got their butts wiped by the Cleveland Cavaliers because no one 
had the ability to step between LBJ and the basket.  No one was able to 
provide a second rebounder at either end.  no one was giving them a decent 
scoring option.  No one was drawing a double team off Pierce.

These are all things that Baker, when healthy, was doing.  I know that 
there are naysayers who just want Vin gone, figuring he blew it and he's 
done.  But without Vin, the Celtics' season is done.  Danny admitted that 
people do not want to play for Boston because of the situation.  Vin wants 
to play here.  He made an extraordinary effort, and even if it has fallen 
short, we still need him, if only to replace Chris Mihm, who is on track to 
foul out of a game before he makes it up the court one time.

"People Talking Without Speaking,
People Hearing without Listening...
...And no one dare Disturb
The Sound of Silence."

Danny...Vin...it's time to speak up.

Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
Please visit the <http://www.celticsbeagle.net/>Celtics Beagle Website