Bruins nowhere near as pathetic as the Celtics - ProJo

[Eggcentric at aol.com]

This is the season of our discontent as we wait for hope to spring again
01:00 AM EST on Sunday, February 11, 2007

Danny Ainge, the executive director of basketball operations for the Boston 
Celtics, has a team that seems to be playing for the No. 1 draft pick instead 
of victories.

Football season ended last Sunday, with the Colts beating the Bears in Super 
Bowl XLI. 
Baseball season starts next weekend,with the Red Sox pitchers and catchers 
reporting to spring training at Fort Myers.

That’s a gap of less than two weeks between the two seasons.

Thank goodness.

Any longer, and we might be driven by desperation and sports deprivation to 
actually 
watch the Celtics or Bruins.

Now there’s a thought to send a wintry chill up your sporting spine.

There has been, in this frosty fortnight, a small window of opportunity to 
focus 
our attentions on the region’s boys of winter.

To which I say: Shut it! Immediately! And close the blinds! Pull the 
curtains, too!

Whatever you do, don’t look. It’s not a sight for the squeamish.

What could be worse than having to watch the Bruins? Why, having to watch the 

Celtics, of course.

Here’s another comparison question: Which was worse, the Bruins not playing 
at 
all in the 2005-06 season, or the way the Celts are playing this season?

The glory days when those teams were a delight, a pleasure, a treat, and a 
thrill to watch are as gone as the old Boston Garden.

Now, both teams are virtually irrelevant on a New England sports scene 
dominated 
by those perennial championship contenders, the Patriots and the Red Sox.

It’s been 35 years since the Bruins won the Stanley Cup, and 17 since they 
reached the finals. They haven’t won a playoff series since 1999, and haven’t 
been in one since 2004. They’ll be hard-pressed to qualify for postseason play 
this year, as they were 13th of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference, and just 
one point ahead of Florida, going into last night’s games.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes were in Boston on 
Thursday and barely 13,000 fans —officially, that is— were on hand at the “new” 
Garden, a sterile facility with plenty of creature comforts, but none of the 
character (nor the creatures, to give the place its due) that made the original 
Garden a unique, historic arena loved by New 
Englanders and dreaded by visiting teams.

The hockey diehards who were on hand Thursday night saw something they 
probably 
wished they hadn’t: Carolina’s Ray Whitney scoring three goals in 1:40as the 
’Canes 
cruised to a 5-2 win.

It was a natural hat trick and neither during it, nor after it, did an 
irritated, possibly 
frustrated, and certainly embarrassed Boston player step up and hand Whitney 
either 
his hat, or his head.

Known as the ``big, bad Bruins,” in the heyday of hockey in Boston, back when 

Orr and Espo and the Chief were leading the team to championships, these 
Bruins 
are docile in defeat. The roster is filled with candidates for the Lady Byng 
Trophy. 
Where have you gone, Terry O’Reilly? Bruins’ Nation turns its lonely eyes to 
you.

While the Bruins seem content to go gentle into that good night, they’re 
nowhere 
near as pathetic as the Celtics, whose rallying cry — and marketing pitch — 
in the 
midst of a truly abysmal season is: Come root for us to lose, so we can get a 
lottery 
pick and land Greg Oden or Kevin Durant.

As if one of those two kids will solve the plethora of problems confronting a 
team 
that is much too young to win in the NBA..

Danny Ainge’s youth movement has sent the Celts plummeting in the standings. 
There are four players on the team who came right to the NBA out of high 
school — Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Kendrick Perkins, and Sebastian Telfair.

That’s at least three too many, unless their names are LeBron James, or Kobe 
Bryant, 
or Kevin Garnett.

And there’s no guarantee the Celts will land one of the top two picks come 
draft day, despite the fact they’re vying with miserable Memphis for the worst 
record in the league.

Rick Pitino came to Boston in 1997 convinced that Celtics’ luck would land 
him Tim Duncan with the first overall pick. Instead, he wound up with Chauncey 
Billups and Ron Mercer, quickly sent both of them packing, and eventually left 
town himself as the biggest bust in Boston sports history, given the level of 
compensation package, and the level of expectations he left unfulfilled.

After Friday night’s franchise record-setting, 17th consecutive loss — a 
92-78 setback at the hands of the Nets that was inexplicably attended by 17,829 — 
the Celts fell to an abominable 4-21 at home.

But, in testimony to P.T. Barnum’s dead-on accurate adage that “You can’t go 
broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public,” and “There’s 
a sucker born every minute,” the lemmings — i.e., Celtics fans — keep paying 
top-dollar prices to watch bottom-of-the-barrel basketball.

Maybe they really do enjoy rooting for their team to lose.

Some people have likened the current Celts to a car wreck, and compared the 
fans to gawkers who can’t pass an accident without stopping to stare.

Better they should avert their eyes.

Save yourself the aggravation and turn away from this narrow window of 
opportunity from which to see the struggling Bruins and reeling Celtics.

You can hang on for another week, ’til spring training opens.

There are only two pro sports seasons in New England now. One ended last 
Sunday, and the other begins next weekend.

Thank goodness.

jdonalds at projo.com