“Kids around me 20 and 21 years old, were acting like infants. . . . I said to myself that I had come all the way to California at the age of 18 to find out I was a very old person.” Lew Alcindor in 1969, on his UCLA years
BOSTON — The leprechaun dies. He went stiff at the very moment he usually rises; the final seconds of a Celtics’ playoff thriller. The people who filed quietly out of Boston Garden Tuesday night, rubbing their eyes, clearing their hoarse throats, these same people who just seconds before had been at the top of their lungs, sure that the magic was there, well, they were silent now, quiet as a funeral. The championship series was not over. The innocence was. Lakers win. The leprechaun dies. How many times had we seen this before?
BOSTON — I know you should try to find the up-side in everything. But the word that Pistons’ GM Jack McCloskey might be moving on to busier, if not greener, pastures in New York City doesn’t seem, at first glance, to have a lot of positive implications for the Pistons.
BOSTON — Don’t high school coaches all preach the same things? Fundamentals. Teamwork. Defense first, offense second. And most kids, in keeping with tradition, pay no attention.
Michael Cooper was one of the weird ones. Michael Cooper listened. When they told him “defense not offense” at Pasadena High School, he said “OK. Gotcha.” He worked on steals, blocks. Scoring was beside the point.
BOSTON — Minutes after the game was over, a mob of reporters was already around his locker. Cameras were steadied. Microphones were tested.
“When’s he coming?” the voices cried.
“He’s not coming,” came the answer, “there’s not enough room in here. He’s doing his interviews out in the stands.”
BOSTON — We interrupt these NBA championships to take a walk with the Dog. Mad Dog. Bill Madlock. The baseball player. To be honest, I am not sure how you address a man who, among other things, has pushed a glove in an umpire’s face, been tossed out of every National League ballpark at least once, and has children nicknamed the Mad Puppies. I mean, do you just say hello here, or do you need a bone?
LOS ANGELES — I usually do not write about the same subject twice in two days, but if Isiah Thomas can fly halfway across the country to explain a 10-second remark, then the least I can do is devote a day’s space to the same purpose. Let’s get two things straight right now — which apparently some people missed in the column that appeared here Wednesday. 1) Isiah Thomas is not a racist. And 2) Isiah Thomas, like any one of us, has the right to say anything he wants. To deny either of these statements would be ignorant and incorrect.
LOS ANGELES — It was less than an hour after Boston beat Detroit for the Eastern Conference title that the ugly whispers started in the press room.
“Did you hear? . . . ” they began.
“Isiah Thomas said what? . . . “
“Dennis Rodman said what? . . .”
You could feel it swell like an ocean wave. Rodman had commented in the losers’ locker room about Larry Bird’s being “overrated” because he was white. And Thomas, when asked, had said he agreed. And that was enough.
The only newsletter dedicated to updates, exclusive content, and giveaways of Mitch's books!
