I truly dislike the Boston Celtics! I would rather root for any other sports team in the history of the world. I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I grew up in an era when the Los Angeles Lakers were consistently bitch-slapped by the Celtics. All I could do was truly dislike everything about the Celtics.
I am now a grown-azzed man, but, I still truly dislike the Boston Celtics. One thing changed over the past few years. I have come to respect the engine of their legacy ... Bill Russell.
His college basketball team won 55 straight games, including NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956. He was on gold-medal winning basketball team at the 1956 Olympics. His NBA team won 11 NBA championships, including eight consecutive from 1959 to 1966. He was a five-time league MVP (1958, 1961-63, 1965), 12-time All-Star Game participant (MVP in 1963), Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 1968 and The Sporting News Athlete of the Decade in 1970. He averaged 15.1 ppg and 22.5 rpg for his career.
In 1967, the Celtics made Russell the first Black NBA head coach. Russell led Boston to the 1968 and 1969 NBA titles.
After awhile it becomes counterproductive to playa-hate on a brother that is as good as Bill Russell. It is for that reason that I pay homage to him today. I still truly dislike the Boston Celtics ... but, I got much-respect for Bill Russell.
Happy Birthday Mr. Russell!
4 comments:
I hated the Celtics until recently, when they acquired Kevin Garnett, who used to play in Minneapolis, where I presently live. After playing with the Timberwolves and the poor management, I wanted Garnett to be traded to a team with some other stars to help him out. The Celtics were the perfect place. And he's doing great there.
But before Garnett came, I, too, hated the Celtics with a vengeance. Like you, I love Russell and, I hate to say it, but I now lough Aurebach for making Russell his coach. Blessings.
Bill is a class act. Always has been always will be. Gotta agree with you about the Celtics, though. My dislike started when they got Larry Bird. But that's another story.
Anyway, gotta a good OSF at SjP's! Hope you get a chance to stop by.
Oh yeah! Forgot to add that I stopped hating them when they finally got more that some token color and of course KG!
MacDaddy - I appreciate the game that Garnett and Ray Allen bring to the Celtics. However, they aren't true Celtics in my mind ... so I don't have any quarrel with them. On the other hand, I can't stand Pierce ... big crybaby in my view.
Sojourner - Why don't you like Larry Bird?
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