Customer Reviews

The Boston Celtics Encyclopedia

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Reviewing Bjarkman's "Celtics Encyclopedia" on Todaysports.com prolific sports author Harvey Frommer has the following to say about this most attractive volume: "The great glory days for the Celtics may be a thing of the past but Bjarkman's opus reminds us in words and pictures of what once was. From its opening chapter on the Celtic Mystique through The Russell Era all the way into Statistical Appendices - the book is loaded with the kind of information basketball fans (and especially Celtics fans) will savor. Bjarkman has published more than 35 books and this is one of his best focusing as it does in great depth on the NBA's most storied franchise. We are there through many magic moments, with memorable journeymen as well as major stars. A celebration and an archive, "The Boston Celtics Encyclopedia" belongs in a place of prominence on your basketball bookself."

I help run a website (http://www.celtic-nation.com) and we got a ton of good information from this book. Great for the die hard Celtics fan! Highly recommended for anyone in your family or life who wants to know everything about the Boston Celtics!

... during the Golden Era of American professional sports, 1955-70, featuring it's greatest, most hard-nosed performer (Bill Russell) and its greatest, most successful statesman (Red Auerbach). Plus a few other "pretty good" players .... my memory is fading but I do remember a couple of last names starting with "H" and a couple of them starting with "J."

As a sports-hungry kid back then, I was a Jerry West fan but the Celtics were so damn good I actually thought them to be cheating.

Though in hindsight I guess I was really a "Celtics fan in Lakers clothing" because I have finally admitted after all these years that things turned out just the way they were supposed to.

Too bad we didn't have the video technology back then that have today; in which case I would be watching tapes of the Old Celtics 24/7 .... starving, but very, very happy.

At any rate the NBA, at the very least, will never be the same.

THIS IS A GREAT BOOK. IT ABOUT THE CELTICS THE NBA.

Great source for information. If you love the Boston Celtics, this book is a must have! Bjarkman does his research. As a fan you know he is not just some quack looking to make money off of fans.

THIS IS A MUST READ FOR ALL CELTIC AND BASKETBALL FANS. THIS BOOK COVERS THE HISTORY OF THE CELTICS UP TO 2002. IT HAS SO MUCH INFO AND STATS IT WILL TAKE AWHILE TO GET THROUGH THE WHOLE THING. IT IS ALSO A GREAT BOOK TO USE OVER AND OVER AGAIN TO CHECK YEAR TO YEAR STATS OF EVERY CELTIC WHO EVER PLAYED. ALSO HAS EVERY SEASON TO SEASON COVERAGE AND ANALYSIS AND A GREAT COLLECTION OF PHOTOS OF OWNERS, PLAYER AND BROADCASTERS. A MUST FOR ALL CELTIC FANS.

Despite being from Basque Country, Europe, i've been a big Celtic fan since 1985-86, when i was a child and became watching on tv the greatest team my eyes have ever seen. In the following years, despite all the sufferings, i've continue being a big fan, and tough i'm from Vitoria, where plays one of the greatest team in Europe, a team where have played for example Calderon, Nocioni, Macijauskas and right now are playing future NBA players like Scola and Splitter, my only team are the Celtics.

I bought this book despite knowing all the history of the Celtics, but i thought that it would be interesting to have all it in a book ordered and with nice photos and stats.

So when i put my hands on the book, i was pretty happy. The encyclopedia looked serious, with chapters embracing all the Celts history, with a lot of images ( in black and white, only 8 pages of the book are in colour, in the middle of the book ), a lot of stats, description of the Hall of Famers, other Celtic important players....

The problem started when i began to read the book. I don't mind that the writter won't be a diehard Celtic fan. Is an encyclopedia, so i expect objective facts wrote without passion. The problem is that the writer wrotes with passion, but with ANTICELTIC passion. Yes friends, Peter C. Bjarkman is the most Anticeltic person you could ever know, specially AntiBird era, and he has wrote a Celtic Encyclopedia, for the money, of course. The stupidities start soon; for example, he accuses Red Auerbach of be a racist ! Ok, you will say, sure he will have a lot of information about this unknown fact, no? No. His only proof is so surrealistic that you will understand by this guy is so pathetic. Red said one time that if he would have to pick a player to build a champion team, he would chose Larry Bird. Ok, maybe you would pick Magic, Russell, Jordan, Chamberlain... Maybe Jabbar... But is very clear that Larry, the most complete player of the NBA history along with Magic Johnson, is one of the clear choices. But for our writer, this Red's afirmation is so stupid, that this proves that is a racist, because for him is so obvious that Russell was a much better player that the only reason to not chose him proves that Red, the person that give Russell the opportunity to became the first black coach in NBA, is a racist. Unbelievable. Of course his ration of garbage don't finish here. He also says that any person would choose Robertson (?), Wilt or Jordan and not Bird. Then he continues his AntiCeltic attacks saying that " The Big Three " (almost unanimously considered the best frontcourt that has ever played the game ), isn't by any means the best. He cites the Minneapolis Lakers frontcourt of the beginning of the 50s, one in which played Mikan, and his main reason is that they won 5 NBA championships. Yes, but quantity and quality are equal terms? Of course not. In that era, there were only 10 teams in the league, the clock possession doesn't existed, and the basketball average level of play was quite low.

He continues his attacks saying that the '86 Celts, considered by all the experts to be the greatest team ever along with the '87 Lakers, isn't the greatest Celt team. He says that the 60's Celts were a better team.... Well, i don't know if in the 1985-86 season you were in coma or watching only the Bulls games, but any person that watched that level of play knows that that team was probably the best team ever. I will die and that 50-1 record at home will continue unbreakable.

The conclusion i reached after reading all the book is that the writer hates the Bird Celtics. He tries to minimize the importance of Bird in the develop of the NBA, the excellence of that team, and most pathetic, he forgets that he is writing a book that surely only Celtics fans will buy, and tries to convince the reader that his anticeltic statements are the only truth. For all of this, if you are a diehard Celtic fan, i don't recommend this book, you will feel hurt.
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