Note to Howard Bryant
The wonderful and important Boston born and bred ESPN writer Howard Bryant weighs in on the Bird/Magic HBO documentary that was recently released to great acclaim.
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Bryant writes "The Celtics were the white fan's team. Me, I was the black kid who rooted for the Celtics but fell along the same racial divisions as my friends. My favorite Celtics were all black: Robert Parish, Gerald Henderson and Dennis Johnson." -- Um, sorry Howard but you only rooted for the black C's? Does that not smack of a bit of reverse discrimination? I grew up in Chelmsford, then later Amherst, NH and Wayland, and I rooted for all the Boston teams, and white and black players alike. How can you hold up others to higher standards than yourself? You do not get a free pass for only rooting for black players. Is that contributing to racial imbalance and unrest? We think so.
Not that humans should become colorblind. We are a tribal people who rely on out heritage and roots to inform us about who we were and are. But blindly cheering for players because, and only because, of their skin color is wrong. Robert Parish was a guy who always gave me an unsettling feeling due to his laconic and angry persona on and off the court, and if rumors can be believed, was never the nicest guy. DJ was beloved by me and so many others but certainly had his share of personal problems. And Gerald Henderson wasn't around long enough to be a true all time great Celtic, as Red shipped him off when Ainge was ready.
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To take this post further than maybe we should, we want to say that anyone who argues that Red drafted white players because he knew Boston wouldn't support a black team, well that makes me angry. Not because I completely disagree with that notion, as it is well known that in the late 50s and 60s, when Bill Russell and Sam Jones and the Cs were winning title after title the pre-Orr Bruins filled the Garden and the Celtics played to half empty stands. That is fact and inarguable. But it makes me angry that Red gets a bad rap from so many for the white players he signed. Should he have kept Freeman Williams over Bird? Should he have drafted Joe Barry Carroll over McHale? Is that what Bryant is arguing? Red was the most brilliant mind in the history of the NBA. As many have pointed out the Celtics under Red were the first NBA team to start an all black 5, and the first pro sports team in many decades to have a black head coach.
Red was no racist. Howard, are you?
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Bryant writes "The Celtics were the white fan's team. Me, I was the black kid who rooted for the Celtics but fell along the same racial divisions as my friends. My favorite Celtics were all black: Robert Parish, Gerald Henderson and Dennis Johnson." -- Um, sorry Howard but you only rooted for the black C's? Does that not smack of a bit of reverse discrimination? I grew up in Chelmsford, then later Amherst, NH and Wayland, and I rooted for all the Boston teams, and white and black players alike. How can you hold up others to higher standards than yourself? You do not get a free pass for only rooting for black players. Is that contributing to racial imbalance and unrest? We think so.
Not that humans should become colorblind. We are a tribal people who rely on out heritage and roots to inform us about who we were and are. But blindly cheering for players because, and only because, of their skin color is wrong. Robert Parish was a guy who always gave me an unsettling feeling due to his laconic and angry persona on and off the court, and if rumors can be believed, was never the nicest guy. DJ was beloved by me and so many others but certainly had his share of personal problems. And Gerald Henderson wasn't around long enough to be a true all time great Celtic, as Red shipped him off when Ainge was ready.
----------------
To take this post further than maybe we should, we want to say that anyone who argues that Red drafted white players because he knew Boston wouldn't support a black team, well that makes me angry. Not because I completely disagree with that notion, as it is well known that in the late 50s and 60s, when Bill Russell and Sam Jones and the Cs were winning title after title the pre-Orr Bruins filled the Garden and the Celtics played to half empty stands. That is fact and inarguable. But it makes me angry that Red gets a bad rap from so many for the white players he signed. Should he have kept Freeman Williams over Bird? Should he have drafted Joe Barry Carroll over McHale? Is that what Bryant is arguing? Red was the most brilliant mind in the history of the NBA. As many have pointed out the Celtics under Red were the first NBA team to start an all black 5, and the first pro sports team in many decades to have a black head coach.
Red was no racist. Howard, are you?
posted by joe sweeney at 6:04 AM
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