KG: "fair-weathered" beats bigoted any day
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KG: "fair-weathered" beats bigoted any day
John Mitchell, Inquirer Staff Writer
So, Kevin Garnett has decided that he wanted to boost the collective psyche of those wannabe fans in Boston, endearing himself to them by calling the fans of the City of Brotherly Love “fair-weathered.”
“Take that how you want,” Garnett added.
You think we’re the fair weather type, do you? Ok, to that I say that it’s better to be fair weather than to be anything remotely akin the cretins that unleashed their racist vitriol via Twitter upon Washington Capitals defenseman Joel Ward, a Black hockey player, last month after he eliminated Boston’s Bruins from the NHL playoffs with an overtime goal.
Can’t really call this an isolated incident, my friend, not unless you believe that those clowns were gathered together in some sort of Bruins/Skinheads gathering and, after their team went down, they all took to Twitter once Ward drove the stake through Boston’s heart.
No, this wasn’t the whole Boston fan base, not at all. But it’s not a coincidence that Bill Russell, the biggest sports winner in the history of Boston sports, absolutely loathed the city and a fan base that he saw as racist.
His words, not mine.
So my advice to you, KG, is that you’re better off winning this series, the next one and then the next. Because if you let those stalwart fans down, who knows what they’ll unleash on you. We do know what they are capable of.
Take that how you want.
Comments (69)
This is a terrible article. I, like any normal Philly fan, take issue with being called "fair weather" by KG or anyone else for that matter. In spite of our bad rep, we are amongst the most passionate fans in the country in any sport. But you simply cannot compare NBA fans to NHL fans regardless of the city where they play. Apples and oranges. And to label the fans racist is ridiculous. Quite frankly if this article had not been written by a black man, it might have some more credibility. But instead, it comes across as a black beat writer playing the race card to merely incite KG and the Boston fans. I cannot believe that it was even published. The Chief Editor must have been asleep when this hit his desk. By nature, in the NBA you will find that attendance is in direct proportion to the success of the team. That is not the same in the NFL, MLB or the NHL. People are interested in seeing Lebron and Wade come to town! They are not clamoring for tickets to see Tom Brady come to the Linc.— Nedt- waynekrecklo- i'm sure you have a reliable source for those numbers but living in boston for 04-09 and being a big enough hoops fan, i can tell you those numbers make no sense. 16k/night in 06 and 07????? there must have been a lot of people dressed like yellow seats b/c that stadium wasn't half full otherwise.— 76ers in 2076
- hate to say it but African American players (as well as other minorities) are victim to nasty, racist heckling and comments-regardless of whether it's "fair-weather" or rabid fans, regardless of the city. That being said, Boston is notorious for its treatment of people of color, but Philly doesn't get a pass here either. Lotta folks were not happy about Randall being QB (hey, it's a white man's job/privilege or so the talk went). Supposedly we had the Civil Rights Act decades ago in this country-but you would never know it...— KimThL
- This article certainly got a rise out of a lot of boston fans... Why do they need to defend themselves if it's not true. KG can say what he wants about philly fans he has no idea what they are really like— missurichie
- Let's face it, we don't have much standing when it comes to being higher-brow than any other city's fanbase. Boston has racists; we have unruly animals. I mean, aren't we the same folks who cheered when Noah went down with injury in the last round? Yep, that's us. And that wasn't even a few fringe people making us look bad. That was an arena full of cheers. Boston fans suck and Philly fans suck. It comes from an extreme, but misguided passion that people have for things that don't really matter in the greater scheme of things (a.k.a. sports teams).— Melvin Finkelstein
- there's bandwagon fans everywhere... and KG was trying to fire up himself and his home fans
home fans who have been late arriving and not as passionate as in the past... i say this as a die hard c's fan and someone who has been to many games over the years... this year has been odd because the true fans are priced out yet the bandwagon fans aren't interested as much ... if they win on saturday i'm sure people will return because it's lebron and wade... but it's sad that we're in the playoffs and people barely care because it's "only" the sixers.... only the sixers who are close to pulling out the series by taking the ball to the rim AT WILL
anyway... i found it interesting that the philly fans couldn't even take to booing garnett consistently... every so often there would be some boos but they'd die off or never catch... the guy calls you out and you barely respond?? so are there not enough die hards there or people just don't care?— bostonlou - KG was right; I'm a HUGE 6ers fan, and was disgusted to see how many Illadephians were rooting for the visiting team (NY/MI/Bos) this season at the WFargo. At the Miami game, it felt like we were IN MI. And, there was too often too little energy. Can you call fans at a game bandwagon jumpers? Seemed like they only rooted when we would get ahead. Weird that they'd GO to a game, and act like this. Yes, Boston has a history of tense race relations, but, John S. -- you need more and more recent evidence to draw this conclusion. (Oh and read the comments in this paper to see some of the most retrograde racism about much more crucial things than sports.)— concernedwriter
- Mr. Mitchell, it's unfortunate that your laziness allows you to post such drivel without feeling any need to educate yourself re: the source of the Joel Ward Twitter garbage and Boston's racial history over at least the last 25 years.
That being said, those who write or speak about racism have a special responsibility to be careful about facts, opinions and stupid ranting. Irresponsible writing about racism could lead to a "boy who cried wolf" syndrome or worse.
In this case, you failed as a journalist and as someone who, I assume, is concerned about racism.
An apology to your readers and the fans of Boston is appropriate.— nonghao - Edward Brookes - African American - Senator for Massachusetts 1967 - 1979.
Deval Patrick - African American - Elected Governor of Massachusetts 2007 to present.
Pennsylvania - has never had either an African American Senator or Governor. They did elect Rick Santorum to the Senate.
Philadelphia - has been terrorized by roving gangs of African American youths attacking, robbing and beating white people for several years within sight of Independence Hall. But I guess racism only goes one way, eh, Mr. Mitchell?— JohnSteel
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About this blog
John Mitchell is in his second year covering the 76ers for the Inquirer after joining the paper in November 2011. He covered the Washington Wizards for the Washington Times from 1998 to 2008. He's also worked at the Philadelphia Tribune, the Wilmington News Journal, Courier-Post, Trenton Times and Elmira Star-Gazette.Born and raised in West Philadelphia - not too far from Will Smith - he graduated from Overbrook High School the same year the 76ers won their last championship. He's a proud graduate of Howard University and the proud father of two sons, Jared and Jordan.
ABOUT MARC NARDUCCI
Marc Narducci has served in a variety of roles with the Inquirer since beginning in 1983. He has covered the 76ers as a backup and a beat writer. In addition, Narducci has covered everything from the Super Bowl to the World Series and a lot in between. Narducci also has a true passion for South Jersey scholastic sports, which he has covered for many years.
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