Customer Reviews

The Selling of the Green: The Financial Rise and Moral Decline of the Boston Celtics

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The authors should be ashamed of themselves for playing the race-card against a franchise with the stellar record of minority hires like the Celtics. Five head coaches (including the current one) have been Af.Am., the Celtics were the first to draft a black player, and the first to put on the court an all-black starting five. Yet these "authors" claim the Celtics are racist because the Celtics of the 1980s had an equal number of white and black players when the league was 75% black. It didn't occur to these authors that maybe the Celtics picked up bargain basement talent that was undervalued by the rest of the league becuase the talent was white. Saying that these players were tokens and couldn't play because they were white is like saying that someone who is Af. Am. can't coach because of his race (which they also implied when they denegrated K.C. Jones' coaching). Well the Celtics definitely disproved both of these ideas in 1986 with a 67-15 record (including 40-1 at home) and an NBA title with a black head coach and 8 white players out of 12.

Among the authors' "sources" is Spike Lee, who at the very least is a partisan Knicks fan and at worst a historical revisionist. His only argument is that "the players all look white in a black man's game, so the team must be racist". However, the Knicks have a much worse record of minority hires. And as for the Lakers who struggled to get two white players on the Showtime teams, the only Af. Am. head coach in my recollection was Magic Johnson. Look at the other teams in the league and you would be hard-pressed to find teams who have the record of hiring non-white coaches like the Celtics. And they have the nerve to call the Celtics racist? This piece of anti-Celtics propaganda is not worth the paper on which it's printed.

Then again, I expect no less from New York writers who still long for their own all-white teams - the Knicks from the 1970s.

Harvey Araton is a fine journalist with an eye for detail and context. His observations are often penetrating and well worth consideration. His participation in the writing of this book with Filip Bondy (whose other work I don't know) marks a departure from his usual good sense. The book, simply put, comes close to slander and bull-headedly dismisses considerations that should convince any sensible person that it's main claims are manifestly false.

Certainly Boston is a city whose history is besmirched by ugly racism - especially during, but not restricted to, the 1970's. It has suffered a deservedly negative reputation for this. The reasons for this are various and have been much studied and commented upon by persons who know a lot more about it than the authors of this book.

In brief, Araton and Bundy somehow manage to conflate the racial attitudes of Boston during the '70's with those of the Boston Celtics organization of the 1980's. It also selectively makes a case, an easlily refuted one, that the Celtics organization made decisions which played to the still potent racist attitudes within that city during the 80's. The authors' main claims however, cannot stand up to the following indisputable facts:

1) The Boston Celtics, under the decades long leadership of Red Auerbach, unlike their baseball Red Sox counterparts, were pioneers in attracting and signing black players.

2) Unlike other NBA teams, the Auerbach Celtics did not have a "quota" system for blacks. They were the first team to start five black payers.

3) The Celtics and Auerbach were the first team to hire a black man as coach - Bill Russell in 1966.

4) The supposedly racist Celtics organization of the 1980s, still masterminded by Auerbach, had a black coach, K C Jones, leading its racially mixed stars.

5) The Celtics were, at the time this book was written, the only team to win NBA Championships under two different black coaches - both chosen by Red Auerbach. This remains true today, although the Celtics have now won NBA Championships under THREE different black coaches! (Bill Russell, K C Jones and Doc Rivers) This is a racist organization?

6) Although the Celtics of the eighties had more white players than most NBA teams, the great majority of them - including Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Bill Walton, Danny Ainge and Scott Wedman were great players. The first three are Hall of Famers, the other two, All-Stars. (What team would NOT have wanted players of this caliber?; their aquisition was the result of shrewd talent evaluation and trading, not racism)

7) Events subsequent to the writing of this book seriously call into question the book's claims. How would Araton and Bondy respond to the fact that the Celtics championship team of 2008 was a team that started five black players and was spearheaded by three black superstars? Or that this team was carefully put together by a Celtics organization which continued the philosophy of Red Auerbach and was thoroughly embraced by its city and fans? Or that it's black coach, Doc Rivers is one of the city's most beloved figures?

This book is best forgotten. In contrast, Harvey Araton's WHEN THE GARDEN WAS EDEN - a book about the N Y Knicks teams of the early 70's - is one of the best sports books I've read. I have reviewed it for amazon.com. Have a look.

To put it kindly, authors Araton and Bondy need to do a little soul-searching and examine their own motives for creating this smear-campaign of a book. I find it hard to believe that two otherwise respected sports journalists would allow to have their names attached to this.

The basic premise of the book holds forth that the Celtics organization is a racist organization that caters to a racist Boston fan base and is abetted by a racist local press. Well, let's not apply too broad a brush here! The book then goes on to recount every personnel and organizational decision the Celtics have ever made, always in unflattering racial terms.

Well, let's see... how do I say this? OK, here goes. Fellas, aren't you just a little bit bitter that the Celtics have had such huge success over the years, often in embarrassing fashion over your own favorite teams (Syracuse Nats, New York Knicks, Phil. 76's)? Doesn't it bug you that your hated rival has again and again built champion-caliber squads with players that weere allowed to slip through the cracks by less astute competitors? Don't you feel just a little bit foolish about having written this juvenile ill-informed diatribe and not gotten the least amount of attention? Sure you do. And in the process, you flushed any journalistic integrity you might have had down the drain. Congratulations, authors Araton and Bondy.