homegame

The Old Guard (Plural) May Be Ready to Surrender

Bob Cousy had had enough last night. Maybe Tom Heinsohn felt the same way. The seeds of a Green Revolution may be germinating at the Garden.

For those who missed it, in his low-key mournful manner, Cousy absolutely murdered the 2006 Celtics in his color commentary on FSN. There were, of course, grounds for Cousy's displeasure. Losing at home to a team without a home on opening night is bad. Losing the first game after Red Auerbach's death is a disgrace to the uniform.

Heinsohn's whole schtick as an announcer is flagrant homerism, Tommypoints and all that. In the final, hopeless time out before the end of New Orleans/Oklahoma City's 91-87 win, Heinsohn was positively baiting Cousy to take off on the current Celtics.

The following dialogue is from memory, so its accuracy is not total.

Heinsohn: "Come on Cooz, tell us what you saw tonight."

Cousy: "What I saw in the few parts of the exhibition season I saw. A bunch of guys running up and down the court."

Those comments should sure spark a rush to the ticket windows for tomorrow's game. Bob Cousy thinks we suck, but hey, look at the dancing girls! Of course, the Celtics did suck, at least last night they did. What's significant is that Cousy had no qualms about saying so.

Cousy is in the inner circle of the most exclusive and best club on earth-the old Celtics. He and Heinsohn are charter members, Hall of Fame players on the first of Boston's 16 NBA champions. And his remarks were a massive violation of one of the club's prime rules.

The old Celtics club is no myth. These guys really are a band of brothers, linked by bonds of affection and accomplishment it's genuinely moving to see in action. This is exemplified by club rule one-all Celtic champions are created equal. Bill Russell was one of the two best players in history. M.L. Carr waved a mean towel and took the occasional flagrant foul. They're both members in good standing.

Rule number two is loyalty to the brand. The Celtics are always right, at least for public consumption. In two decades of decline and stagnation, the old Celtics have kept stoic silence, even in the midst of the Pitino catastrophe.

That was Auerbach's way. On the record, anything the Celtics did was a good move as far as Red was concerned. Auerbach had a million different ways of knifing someone like Pitino without fingerprints, but it was beneath his dignity to carp in public.

This was wise. The old Celtics have a moral authority with the franchise's fans that makes them nuclear superpowers. They could erase a player, coach, GM, or owner from the Boston scene with about a week's worth of public criticism. If Bill Russell, say, was to give an interview dissecting Doc Rivers' substitution patterns, Rivers' position would be untenable.

The old Celtics buried Auerbach this week. One wonders if that was the last straw, if the cone of loyal silence is now to be shattered by the horrid realization that the current Celtics are worse than a failure, they're an irrelevance.

The old Celtics are really old. A funeral for a beloved father figure makes anyone more aware of their own mortality. Now, this elite group turns to the organization THEY made famous, the monument to their lives' work, their talents, their devotion, and what do they see?

They see a devoted but clueless ownership group grasping at any straw to recoup their overinvestment. They see a fellow of the club, Danny Ainge, with three years of hard work as the boss and nothing to show for it. They see a pleasant coach as yet unable to get much production out of some talented young men who, face it, haven't really learned how to play basketball.

Speaking as someone brought up to hate the Celtics and all their works, I can't stand this state of affairs. There's no fun in rooting against a team that isn't very good. They need not be champions every year, but a proper villian has to matter. It's disgusting to feel pity for the Boston Celtics, but I do. Nothing in sports depresses me more than knowing my son, 22, and daughter, 18, have no idea the Celtics ever were any good. That's something to read about in books. When the Celts are on network TV, the channel is ESPN Classic.

If garden-variety Celtic haters feel that way, imagine the emotions of the old Celtics. They're the men who MADE the Celts matter. It's their sports legacy, and to see it vanishing into the mists of history must be painful beyond description. Auerbach's death wasn't unexpected, no 89-year old man's passing can be, but it had to focus every old Celtics' attention back to the wreck of the modern-day green and white, with its best-case scenario of a 7th or 8th seed in the playoffs. There are no banners for that. Yet.

Bob Ryan is as close to the old Celtics as a non-member can be. His Globe column today allowed Ainge and Rivers to call, once more, for patience from the team's fans. Maybe not this year, but we'll matter again someday soon. Just hang in there. All I can say is as a fan, my response to a team calling for patience is to answer, "Fine. You just be patient, too, and maybe I'll buy another ticket someday."

Cousy's 78. Just how patient is he supposed to be? How's he supposed to tolerate knowing for the foreseeable future the only celebrations of Celtic greatness will be memorial services?

posted by Michael Gee @ 12:24 PM