Whitlock Article

[e in boulder]

When it comes to race - there are few opinions I respect more then Mr. Whitlocks. I thought the article was great and it's wonderful to see Red's legacy recognized beyond his 9 championships.

[johnnyrondo]

One point I disagreed with was that the the racial makeup of the Russell era and Bird era championship teams was managed by Red so that the supporting cast would be a comfortable fit with #'s 6 & 33.  I highly doubt that either player would prefer to suit up with an inferior player of the same race over a superior player from another racial group.  I recall Bird pushing hard for the team to acquire Quinn Buckner, and he was happy when Red traded his drinkin' buddy Roby for D.J.    

Yeah I thought that was a foolish thing to write/assume. And from what I can remember it often seemed like Bird got along better with the black players on the Celtics than the white players (McHale, Ainge)

[Fan from VT]

One point I disagreed with was that the the racial makeup of the Russell era and Bird era championship teams was managed by Red so that the supporting cast would be a comfortable fit with #'s 6 & 33.  I highly doubt that either player would prefer to suit up with an inferior player of the same race over a superior player from another racial group.  I recall Bird pushing hard for the team to acquire Quinn Buckner, and he was happy when Red traded his drinkin' buddy Roby for D.J.     

Yeah I thought that was a foolish thing to write/assume. And from what I can remember it often seemed like Bird got along better with the black players on the Celtics than the white players (McHale, Ainge)

i seem to vaguely recall a bird story that he was always insulted when the other team guarded him with a white guy. he just assumed it was an insult and that it wasn't the other team's best player guarding him!

parish and johnson did well with him. anyone who passed on ainge, mchale, walton, etc. would have been an idiot, regardless of any skin color.

[Amonkey]

I agree that its good to remind everyone that we're not a racist city or team, but I also agree with some posts earlier saying thats just old news.  The whole race thing is behind us (well, at least a lot of us).  We just wanna look ahead and not behind.  Just like we get ticked off when there are articles that are reaching to make connections to race, it should be the same whether its positive or not.

Like Whitlock said, this was a Celtics team that consisted of 12 black players and a black coach on the roster, and nobody seemed to notice that.  Well, I tend to like the fact that we didnt notice it, and we dont need to be reminded either.

[Pawtucket Pat]

LOL gotta love a thread referencing an article that is trying to shed positive light on a positive racial issue in Boston . . .


Then a couple posts down someone makes reference to "Jemima" Hill.



Kind of amusing.

Sorry.  I mean Jemilele or whatever the heck his name is.  He's not a real sportswriter so I don't pay enough attention. 

He is actually a she, but yeah, she's not particularly good.

[Amonkey]

I was watching the news coverage of the parade on channel 4 and I gotta say, this whole "Boston is a racist city" is complete BS.  Theres no doubt there are some racist Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.bags out there, but watching the report you see all these people, white and black, celebrating together with no descrimination in mind.  They interviewed a black lady talking about Bill Russell, they interviewed these teenagers talking about Pierce being their god, they show both black and white kids celebrating their beloved Celtics, and most importantly, they showed a beautiful city celebrating the championship from one of the most legendary and historic city of all sports.  Those are the things that the outside people dont see, and when u have racist people bringing up specific cases of the past to portray a racist city is just rediculous.

[LarBrd33]

LOL gotta love a thread referencing an article that is trying to shed positive light on a positive racial issue in Boston . . .


Then a couple posts down someone makes reference to "Jemima" Hill.



Kind of amusing.

Sorry.  I mean Jemilele or whatever the heck his name is.  He's not a real sportswriter so I don't pay enough attention. 

He is actually a she, but yeah, she's not particularly good.

O RLY?  ... That explains a lot...

[paintitgreen]

Agree the Bird/Russell needed to be surrounded by white/black players comments is incorrect but I'm curious about it now. I think Bird's relationships really had nothing to do with race. His closest teammate, I think, was DJ, but he also seemed to have good relationships with Walton, Tiny and Parish. He had a very touchy relationship with McHale, but also with Maxwell. Just depended on the type of dude, not the race.

My major reason for wanting to post it was the Red/Phil discussion. I haven't seen anybody pulling Jackson down from a historical standpoint. It's pretty much taken for granted that he's the best coach in the game today and a lot of people think he was better than Red, but that's just nonsense. Plus, like Whitlock pointed out, while Phil abandoned the Bulls as soon as they lost Jordan, Red just moved to the front office and kept putting together great Celtics teams while letting his players (Russell and later Tommy and KC) get the coaching glory. Red succeeded in and changed the game far more than the mercenary ever could, and I'm just proud of Whitlock being the first national guy I've seen point that out.

[Bahku]

I liked this read, and I enjoy Whitlock anyway .... I honestly don't think we could have too many positive articles about the C's, and with the amount of negative crap that's been thrown in our direction, especially in the racial category, reminding people of the true history of barrier-breaking that Red and the Celtics brought about, is always a good thing.

[tb727]

He said:

Larry Bird spending his career on an NBA team with an overwhelmingly black roster would've made no sense. Just as Bill Russell on an all-white team would've been stupid. We're talking about two highly unique basketball talents and personalities.

That's just really dumb as far as I'm concerned.  He's a clown for that comment.