Celtics ☘️ Sentinel

 I am guessing the timeline was roughly the mid-1950's. The place was the Old Boston Garden. I was there with my family for a circus, and being around nine years old at the time, my father antagonized me, "I'm going to have it come over here" is what he said to me. The "IT" he referred to was a live monkey - across the arena - l eaping wildly from seat to seat - sometimes landing on the scared-or-delighted attendees. That's all I needed. I have not liked monkeys since that moment. When I related this story to others, I was usually met with skepticism. That was until the remains of (what I believe) that same monkey was found in 1998.   The Boston Garden monkey, photographed while taken out of hiding in 1998. If you hit on the above link, you will learn that the demolition crew taking down the old Garden had some fun with the mummified remains of the creature, apparently hiding the grisly find from superiors. Thus, the legend of the "rogue pri...

  In the 1970's , you could count the black families in my town on one hand . One such family lived in our development, and one of the sons, Fred, and his white friend, Mike, would often use the basketball hoop in my driveway. One day while my wife, Linda, was hanging wash outdoors, Fred and Mike showed up. My very young son, Marc, not familiar with those of African descent, yelled out, "Hey mom, guess who's here. Mike and the shiny kid." Linda, hoping this embarassment would end quickly, ignored Marc's heralding-of-the-arrival of the young duo. Marc, not to be deterred , yelled out once again, "Mom, look who it is. Mike and the shiny kid". Whether there was a third outcry from our offspring , we can't recall. But Fred and Mike stettled in for basketball competition - the clothes got hung out to dry - and the world went on. Fred and I became good friends . I once took Fred, Mike and a friend to a Celtics-Knicks game at the Old Boston Garden. It tu...

Let’s get this out of the way. I love the city of Boston, I love the sounds, smells, activity, history, architecture and people. And I think that Boston has always felt the same way about me. In the early 90’s I drove with a buddy to Boston in my 1986 Champaign coloured Saab 900s (my first car). We were looking for Fenway Park to see the Red Sox play the Indians. I was lost. No GPS at the time and no street allowed me to make a left turn to cross the river, so I did what is perfectly legal in most of Canada. I made a u-turn.  And then I saw the sirens. A policeman pulled me over. “Where are going ?” Fenway Park to watch the Sox, I replied, “Who’s pitching?” Roger Clemens, I told him. He went to his car and came back with a piece of paper and handed it to me. “No more u-turns” he said. He walked back to his car and drove away. I looked at the paper. He had written directions to Fenway! “I love this city”, I told my buddy.  Fenway was amazing. I had my first steak tip sandwich f...

On this morning's broadcast of "Open Court" on NBA TV, the question was raised, "Is there is another place (other than Madison Square Garden) in line as being the place to watch an NBA basketball game?" The Open Court crew were broaching New York's Madison Square Garden as the "Mecca of NBA basketball". One member of the cast spoke right up in favor of Boston and the Celtics fans. Shaq's comments follow: Shaquille O'Neal: : "New York and Boston have very similar fans. They (Boston fans) have knowledge of the game and they're die-hard fans. They may give up during the season if the season isn't going well, but they always fall back on next year. ' Okay, you got us this year, but we'll be better next year. Got a couple of draft picks coming - gonna make a couple trades'." O'Neal got a good taste of the City of Boston and the Celtics as an opponent and as as a member of the team during the 2010-11 season when ...