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)
Well said.
Wow..some folks go out with some dignity, and then there's Philly. The truth hurts doesn't it? Ask the Philly fans who turn-on their teams the moment something goes wrong. Enjoy another year of being knocked-out of the playoffs. And another...and probably many more after that.— desperate phillyfans- man, you're really going to battle on this one, John. I don't care what KG says about Philly fans - dude is just an obnoxious player from another city.— phils_tnj1
- Garnett needs to brush up on his history. The perennially celler dwelling Bruins of the 60s sold out regularly while the Celtics of that era, winning tiotle after title, played to the 13909 capacity at the old Garden only during the playoffs. If was only when Dave Cowens arrived in the early 70s did the Celtics become popular.
Take THAT how you want, Garnett.— tudorcity - Boston fans being bigots doesnt change the fact that Sixers fans are bandwagon jumpers. Last time I went to a Sixers game ('10) they were lucky if there was 2,000 people in the building. Granted the NBA is an awful product now, and the Sixers weren't good then but that doesn't excuse playing in an empty area. The Sixers are the team nobody cares about in Philly, if we want basketball we'll watch the Big 5.— Greg S
- glad you attempted the article john but don't you have more than a 30 second read on such a big topic. you spent most of the time talking about bruins fans. we're not playing the bruins. this isn't the flyers page. how bout talking about boston's half empty stadium the last two decades before 08? how bout talking more about the racist stuff russell had to go through or the lakers and pistons went through in the 80s and 90s before the fan base ditched the team?
and i lived in boston from 04-09. for kg to call the sixers fans fair weather is the pot calling the kettle black. got lower level tix to opening night in 06 for $10 and the place wasn't near sold out. you could hear a pin drop 90% of the time before kg got there. i'm not saying he's wrong to be honest with you. i'm a die hard w/season tix so i can tell you that the stadium isn't filling up like it should and probably won't unless you bring in a star that makes the sixers title contenders.
i hate that KG's right about the fan base but he's definitely wrong about the celts fan base and john has a great point he just did an awful job of explaining it.— 76ers in 2076 - Wow. Just, wow.
I don't comment on articles, but this was way too much. You, sir, should be embarrassed. Anyone who agrees with you should be embarrassed. I'm sorry KG's comments hurt your feelings or whatever, but you are journalist (or are supposed to be anyways, this makes me think you're a sad excuse for one) and this just flatout irresponsible.
It's funny, the way you wrote this column makes it sound like you already knew you were wrong. Taking a basketball series and deciding to use it as an opportunity to SLANDER a fan base is inexcusable. To me, this is just as bad as any stupid tweet that an ignorant teenager posts. No, it's worse, because supposedly, people are supposed to trust journalists.
You should be embarrassed. I'm embarrassed for having even read it.— GreenBean - "I'm a nobody, how can I get my name into the conversation today? How about Boston is racist - ask Bill Russell circa 1965 - because idiots recently took to twitter to direct vile statements to Joe Ward. Also, just assume all of those tweets were from Boston, since it had to be all Bruins fans and all coming from Boston. Please ignore the fact that twitter is anonymous and worldwide as well"— raintrain
- this coming from people that think cheeze whiz is a delicacy...— BigBadBubba
- the majority of racist tweets against joel ward eminated from locations other than boston such as canada, western ny, and they were stupid kids - boston has had its share of racial tension based on ignorance like everywhere else, but is a far more harmonious place than when bill russell came to boston, 55 years ago - bill russell is over it and for this columnist to paint boston as racist is incredibly irresponsible— entasisor
- This is way off base. First off, the so-called "Boston fans" that tweeted about the African American hockey player were overwhelmingly proven to be from places outside of Massachusetts, many from that super-tolerant place called Canada. Secondly, Bill Russell's comments were from 40+ years ago, when most of the country was in a racial upheaval. (How would a black person living in Mobile, AL at that time feel?) If you asked ANY of the modern-day black athletes that play in Boston, you will hear how great this city has become in embracing its stars, regardless of race. Some of the most beloved stars in the past few decades were Pedro Martinez, Big Papi, Willie McGinest, Troy Brown, Paul Pierce, KG, Ray Allen, etc. So, it is unfair to categorize this city as racist. Comparatively, I remember the Philly mayor having to put a curfew on his constituents last summer as many of them were attacking people randomly in downtown Philly. Does that make Philadelphia wild, ungovernable bunch of savages? No. Of course not. So, categorizing Boston fans as racist is just as ignorant.— terrier89
- pathetic attempt at calling Boston fans racist...Philly fans are disgusting animals
— bruins11 - Bill Russell? Wow, that's timely.
Any other examples within the last 3 decades other than the stupid, ignorant haters of Joel Ward?
Thank you for acknowledging that was not everyone, BTW...— Besidemyself - Isn't it fun to read a prejudiced column accusing bigotry on a fan base, sure you have your little one line disclaimer that sure "this wasn't the whole entire fan base". No as a matter of fact it was about 20-30 people on twitter maybe 50 max? So it really wasn't even a fraction of a fan base. KG made an equally poor comment, but he was looking at thousands of empty seats at a prior game of fans that were acting fair-weather at the time, he had proof right in front of him. You took to jumping on the bandwagon of a several week old issue involving mostly individuals not from the boston area and the majority of them were minors who hardly equate to any considerable part of the fan base. You then go on to discuss Bill Russell who played in the league during some of our nation's darkest times, do you think players in any city were unscathed during that time? The entire country was experiencing very similar issues but you think that is a valid argument?
You should be ashamed of this article, this makes you look like a media hack who hasn't done any research and just spews bias like a little fanboy. Garnett plays basketball for a living, him misstating something at a press conference after a game in which he was all hyped up from the adrenaline can be explained away. You actually went through a thought process for your "job" and came up with a prejudiced garbage article and posted it online. If I wanted to make an argument equal to your article I would say that fact that you are employed by this paper shows the quality of content on philly.com, but I know that would be attacking people other than you who probably don't deserve it. So instead I will leave them alone and hope to see your name on monster.com soon looking for another job seeing as you clearly can't handle this one.— HoldenQ - So here we go again. first of all, Garnett threw the bait out to you and you bit at it. Is KG eight nope. DO you have your facts right. uhhh no. The Joel Ward stuff was tweeted by some idiot teenagers in CANADA. Maybe you should look things up before writing things you know nothing about. this has been a good series, which the Sixers will lose, probably because KG kills you guys tonight, and you have to throw race into this. The Bill Russell stuff was 40 plus years ago. Get a clue. Good luck to your team....they are going to need it— teddygoogs
- "Great" article John but the Celtics are not the Bruins or the Red Sox and in fact have been at the forefront of breaking important race barriers throughout their history. Three questions you should have known the answer to before you wrote this article:
1. Which team had he first all Black starting five in NBA history?
2. Which NBA team had the first Black coach?
3. Which NBA team had the first Black superstar in the NBA?
— Celticsfan - John, you have been writing for the post for 6 months, KG has been in the NBA for 18 years. You came from covering the Wizards. Stop trying to become the guy who wrote the article that sparked the team.
Boston fans were not the ones with the Ward comments after the NHL series, that was a group of HOCKEY fans. People who watch hockey took the comments entirely too far, mostly Canadians.
Your 15 seconds of fame are up.— 4SportBoston - What KG said about your fans is completely true... are you forgetting or simply ignoring the history of sports fans from your city? There is a reason so many sports reporters and writers across the country say that Philly fans are THE WORST in the US...Did you forget about booing Santa Claus? Did you forget about throwing ice chunks at an opposing team? Did you forget about cheering when an opposing player gets hurt? (several times btw...in fact i heard it as recently as when Noah went down in the last playoff series) Ill give you a term for Philly fans....CLASSLESS...and to confirm what KG said... wasnt it YOUR fans that booed the Sixers out of the building when they were down at the half in the last home game? Take your shot all you want at Boston fans...Philly fans are THE ABSOLUTE WORST ....— bigshow2569
- This coming from the town where 2 drunk bozos puked on a 12 year old girl at a baseball game.... Yup, reeks of class in Philly.... Oh and on the racist front there John, why don't you ask your city of Brotherly Love how it treated Jackie Robinson in 1947? I'm sure you wouldn't assign that behavior to the modern Philadelphia would you? So now you assign Bill Russell's comments from 40+ years ago to modern day Boston and use 12 morons on twitter, almost none from the Boston area to paint the city as racist. Buy a clue my friend. Using your logic, I will paint the entire city of Philadelphia as complete drunken imbeciles who assault 12 year old girls at sporting events. Congratulations.... Boston wins... again. But hey, at least you guys can claim that you are still the only city with a court room in its football stadium....— Reggie_Lewis
- "His words, not mine"...Wait so you're a journalist right? So when you say "his words", it's pretty much assumed that a quote of some sort will precede or follow......John Mitchell, I've never read pieces by you before, but just from this one I can clearly tell that you take your fan-dom more seriously than your job. This is the most biased and misconstrued article I've ever read. Ever. I don't even need to correct your absurdly false statements, because everyone already has for me!.....But hey look at it this way, after everything's said and done, you may qualify as the 78th most famous John Mitchell still alive today. Congrats!— pqueen01
- Celticsfan, in your post did you think to review some history did you look up any questions on the teams you knocked from Boston? In the NHL the Bruins were the first to have a black player, Willie O'Ree in the late 50's. Just because they don't have any black players currently doesn't mean anything against them, the NHL just hasn't had a big number of black players over the years. Look across the NHL as a whole and guess what percent of players are black in the entire league, probably 25-30 active black players in the entire league right now and probably a similar number or closer to 40 retired that are no longer in the league.
There are a number of factors involved in the low number of players in the NHL I'm sure, but the Bruins haven't been reluctant to sign black players. Of the 40 or so players who have retired I know 8 played for the Bruins, so 20% or so of inactive players. This hardly seems like a racist history for the franchise, not many of the current active players have played for the Bruins if any, but who knows for what reason that is.— HoldenQ - Bill Russell was right in 1959 and even in 1969 when he retired for the Celtics. Much has changed in Boston since I was 15 and the Celtics won championship #11. Bill Russell of the 50s and 60s, not much support for the racist argument in 2012.
I've lived in Boston and Philly, there are racists in both cities. And good fans in both. And bad fans in both.— I S GREENBERG - Bill Russell was right in 1959 and even in 1969 when he retired for the Celtics. Much has changed in Boston since I was 15 and the Celtics won championship #11. Bill Russell of the 50s and 60s, not much support for the racist argument in 2012. I've lived in Boston and Philly, there are racists in both cities. And good fans in both. And bad fans in both. (HTML deleted)— I S GREENBERG
- So - if we are going to bring up Bill Russell from the 60s, we gotta bring up Philly's own Dick Allen, too, right? Y'know the black player that had to wear a batting helmet in the field because Philly fans threw batteries at him?
It is irresponsible journalism at its highest to paint an entire fanbase as racist for incidents that happen 50 years ago while ignoring similar, if not worse, incidents in your own city.
Jeez - an opposing player notices empty seats and the hometown team being booed by their fans and says something about it - and you need to irresponsibly lash out painting an entire city as racist in response? What a tool.— jrboston - Fact #1: Celtics one of three teams to integrate the NBA in 1950.
Fact #2: Celtics name Bill Russell first African-American head coach in NBA.
Fact #3: Four African-Americans have coached an NBA team to a championship. Three of them were coaching for the Celtics.
Fact #4: Anyone can call him/herself a Bruins fan, and then spout racist blather.
Fact #5: The Bruins went out of their way to distance themselves from the situation, Ward (that aggrieved party) said that many Bruins fans came to his defense, and the organization apologized, even though they had nothing to do with the racist Tweets.
Fact #6: John Mitchell doesn't know what he's talking about.— bidemytime - Generalizing populations based on twitter is like using Wikipedia as a trusted source. However, if you took more than 8 seconds to evaluate your "sources" you would've seen profile pictures on Twitter of Red Wings and Sabres logos specifically among the worst comments.
Your argument is so weak that you go back to the 60s to prove how racist a city is, but Civil Rights movements were isolated to Boston at that time, right?
Finally, about being "fair weather fans", would you pay $10 for product that is terrible and has little entertainment value, or would you rather spend $75-80 on a product that gives you exactly what you want? The post original Big 3 Celtics were awful, thats why tickets were 10 bucks. You couldn't have paid me $10 to go to those games.
I bet you still think the Pats owe you a Superbowl too.— mp1514 - So a black athlete from Boston says that the fans from Boston are better than the fans from Philly, and your response is to say that the Boston fans hate black athletes? This is typical racist drivel coming from a half-wit black writer because he has nothing else to defend his fan base with. "Fair-weathered beats bigoted anyday"? Boston fans are not bigoted...however, congratulations for outright stating that the Philly fans are fair-weathered. Philly fans...I don't think you're fair-weathered. I'm a hardcore Boston everything fan, and I can agree that all fans everywhere have their issues, but how do you all feel about this "writer", this voice of your sports, calling you all fair-weathered in agreement with KG?
You, sir, are a racist idiot.— Jalah413 - I think you are a bit late on this one. What's wrong you didn't get your cheap shot in when The Bruins lost to Washington?
You are being blatantly prejudice towards Bostonians. You have prejudged a whole city as bigoted based on the Twitter rants from a couple dozen losers across North America and assigned them all to Bostonians and by extension made the whole city responsible. Twitter isn't 100% anonymous and if you did any homework you'd find there were more tweets from Canada and NY than from the Boston area (3 of them were from the Boston Area). Was Boston fans who took to Twitter after Joel Ward committed a penalty, in the waning moments of game 5 vs the Rangers, that cost Washington the game? Or is Washington also bigoted because Twitter erupted in racist comments, aimed at Ward, after that game?
Before KG came to Boston he sought out former Celtic players to ask them what their opinion of the city was. He had heard the stories of Boston being racist he heard that Bill Russell called Boston a racist city and KG wasn't going to play in Boston if it was true. The consensus was that Boston is no different than anywhere else. Unfortunately racism exists everywhere even in The City of Brotherly Love.
So John you are just hurting race relations by perpetuating a stereotype of Bostonians. You are no better than the idiots on Twitter.
Boston in 6— **JG** - SO....
Yo call Boston a racist city because of comments Bill Russel made last century and because some anonymous people on the internet who could be from anywhere make a racist comment? That's pretty weak and exposes you as the racist. Here is a fact for you. The first Black man that played in the NHL played for the Boston Bruins. Boston and Philadelphia have the same problems with racism, and it's people like you that are a detriment to advancement.
Worse part of all this? You probably called Boston racist to get attention for yourself and to bump your twitter followers up from the measly 1000 you have. Way to propagate the hate at the expense of a nation.— Truth34 - First,as a sixers fan who lived in boston for years, I don't know if Boston fans are more or less racist than philly fans and concede that racism is still everywhere. there's no reason for john to write that dribble and for you celts fans who don't know, he's been writing garbage all year long and should have been fired in Feb!
However, towards your last point mp 1514, if you read my earlier statement, i'm not saying you should pay $10 for a product you won't enjoy. what i said was that kg calling us fair weather fans is a joke b/c every city is full of fair weather fans. he said boston had real fans but where were they when you guys stunk after the original big 3 left. he suggested that the celts have a real fan base b/c unlike the sixers, they're there win or lose and we both know that's not the case. if the measure of real fans is selling out a stadium when the product stinks than both teams are fair weather as is most of the cities around the country?
— 76ers in 2076 - Garnett knows exactly what he's doing. The haters motivate KG and KG motivates the Celtics. The more the fans in Philly boo him, the better the team will play, and the more likely they will win the game. It is what it is...— Truth34
- Ooohh, I guess the truth hurts, eh?
So, the Bill Russell stuff was so old, it's no longer relevant? Right, just like calling up the Santa Snow Ball incident from the same era, right? Pot meet Kettle.
Three words for all you Boston apologists- "Boston Busing Riots"
Google it and face facts - Boston is the MOST Racist City in the entire Northeast....— NYC sucks - JOHN MITCHELL has clearly never ventured into South Philly... I'd be careful calling any one racists when you come from Philadelphia.— iwasthere45
- Dear John, it's articles like this that remind us why Philadelphia has the dumbest, most hateful fans. Keep spreading the hate, whether it's real or just in your narrow mind.— Bostonchris
- yet another reason why philly.com and the sports section of it sucks. this article is so stupid, it defies logic. race bait much inky? and the credentials for this character are that he grew up near will smith?? really? go check out a real website, maybe you will learn how to provide a service to your readers. boston's past history has nothing to do with philly's basketball fans being fair weather, ask any sixers fan, or better yet stop by any local bar and see how many people are out watching the game and then compare that to how many people are out watching the eagles or phillies even when they are having losing seasons. drop the race card bro, it makes you look incredibly ill informed. will smith would be disappointed.— George D
- One of the most embarrassing and ignorant things I've ever read. Refreshing to see that the journalism here in Philly is as amateur as the performances of the sports team. Philly- the classless city of losers.— ajyod
- You sir, are an idiot. KG called your fans fair weather because hmm let's see, THERE WERE 4,900 TICKETS ON SALE FOR GAME FIVE! GOING AT $9 A PIECE!!! Have you been to a game in Boston? The stadium is electric! ANY TEAM YOU SEE! You call Boston racist? Look at our Deval Patrick, ring a bell?? Look at racial demographic at TD during ANY Celtics game. A predominately Caucasian crowd rooting on a predominantly African-American team??? Just because some dumb fans had some racist tweets (by the way Boston was NOT the only city to do it) you call our entire city racist. You should be absolutely ashamed of yourself and find yourself a new profession. Journalism certainly isn't cutting it for you.— michaelwinter2222
- "A predominately Caucasian crowd rooting on a predominantly African-American team???"
Funny One, Mike.
The Celtics have ALWAYS been known as the team that had the MOST Caucasian players on their team...in a league that was primarily Black, the Celtics always had the highest number of White players. I guess it was only a coincidence that Cousy, Heinsohn, Havlicheck, Cowens,Robey, Bird, McHale, Walton, Ainge all just happened to end up playing for the Celtics.
Face the facts - Boston Celtics have always been the most racist team in the most racist city in the entire Northeast...
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else
— NYC sucks - Actually it's the Pacers right now. So you're wrong by saying Always. — **JG**
- How am I supposed to respect a writer who has this in his bio: "Born and raised in West Philadelphia - not too far from Will Smith -" haha...why don't you say you live near the Rocky statue too?? What a joke, and the article shows the kind of below average writer you truly are. Crybaby. Get your facts right, those tweets were sent from THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, while you admit that you DO have the biggest joke fanbase in the country. KG has guts, can't say the same about you.
— bigforehead - The easiest way for a weak mind to try score points is to scream "racism".— White Troll
- The fact is that is Boston is a racist city with a history of that behavior. It's funny the SAME people who want to bring up "snow balls at santa" say the Mitchell is bringing up "timely" things lol The fact is the "non professional beloved athletes" have not been beloved in that city. Im not saying all of Boston that way but anyone who says there is not a racial element in that town is just being silly— chuck3rd
- I guess that Philadelphia doesn't have any racist fans.— White Troll
- Lets be real. I've been reading stuff from Mitchell for a while and he has had some bad moments but none worse than this. This looks like something you would see in comments. Pathetic.— drewh88
- Boston not nearly as racist as Philly. First black hockey player in the NHL was Boston Bruin Willie O'Ree. He played for the team in 1958. How many decades later before the Flyers had a black player?
Hopefully this guy is not an average/racist Philly sports fan:
http://mobilwi.typepad.com/.a/6a0120a6dde087970b016765e60fd1970b-pi— fiosguy - Boston is the first NBA team to put 5 black players on the floor at the same time.— Truth34
- Will Smith was at the game in Boston, so how I'd take it is that Mitchell's "not to far childhood neighbor" is OK with Boston's fan base.— Truth34
- i'm tired of all these stats about the first black player this and the the first black coach that. no doubt, the organizations in boston have been on the right side of the race debate for a long time but get it through your idiotic front running celtic heads that we're not talking about your organizations. we're talking about you the fans. in no way am i backing what this idiot wrote but lets not use what the organizations in boston did as a way of saying their fans aren't racist b/c the first black coach in boston has nothing to do with proving celtic fans aren't racist. most fans in boston aren't but some are and the same can be said in philly. leave it at that.— 76ers in 2076
- Agreed, but why was this article even written?...From the Sixers are "free falling" to classifying an entire city as "racist", this is truly drivel...I guess if his aim was to flare the ire of the opposing city's fans, I guess he achieved his goals, as I've NEVER read so many comments from the opposing team's fans...Play the game,leave your personal agenda out of it. Go Sixers, better luck next year,Celtics. — bearsfriend
- This is some of the laziest writing I've ever seen. Philly.com should be ashamed this post exists on their site.— tomf
- chuck3rd, sadly every city has racists among them. It's a sad fact in this great country. And yes, Bill Russell made a note of this when he was a player. Well he has done a 180, loves this city, and for all of his work is having a statue dedicated for him in the near future. Garnett made a simple statement which was a fact, and this guy Mitchell got so defensive that he brought up racism as a defense. Just flat out pathetic. Yes, Boston has racists as dos every other city and town in America. That being said, Philadelphia has racists and fair weather fans. Fact, not opinion.— bigforehead
- "Mayor Michael A. Nutter, telling marauding black youths “you have damaged your own race,” imposed a tougher curfew Monday in response to the latest “flash mob” — spontaneous groups of teens who attack people at random on the streets of the city’s tourist and fashionable shopping districts.".....and what do you call THIS John Mitchell? You're a hypocrite!! I hope your sons weren't involved in this.— bigforehead
- People bang on supposed "band wagon" fans but the real losers are the people who shell out all of the money to watch losing teams because they are "real" fans. That just makes you stupid.— UncleStosh
- Just accept it and move on. BTW Quit calling Philly fans dirtbags you need to seriously look in the mirror.— tfoz5150
- I happen to recall the Celtics playing to fairly empty buildings pre-KG as well. Fans are fair-weathered everywhere. Some fans are loyal regardless. I follow my team through the great times to the dark days when they can't win a game. I like to see my team grow from losers into winners. A young team like this defying the odds at every turn without taking the shortcut or having a former player (McHale) basically give his former team an elite player. Let's face it Al Jefferson is not in KG's league player-wise. Never was, never will be. Unfortunately there are no former 76ers as a GM somewhere willing to give us a top notch player for scraps. As a person KG is a jerk. Always has been always will be.....— joecooler2u
- UncleStosh- if you can afford the tix and decide to support your team win or lose that doesn't make you a loser. it means you're a fan. you cheer the people who represent your team regardless of the talent level. the thing i like about us fans in philly is that when our team sucks we boo them. we don't make excuses like curses, or beer in the clubhouse, or the other team got lucky when our teams fail. going to the games allows us to be heard. lucky for me there's a lot of front running fans like you so when i yell at the players they can actually hear me. thanks for that.— 76ers in 2076
- Garnett is a mental midget. The NBA is a business. If the product is of poor quality the customer is under no obligation to purchase it. If the quality of the product improves increased sales should be expected. Only a fool spends hard earned money on lousy sports teams. is— 2ndNlong
- A poor product to me is a team that is defeated before it gets in the stadium, doesn't play hard and doesn't care if they win or lose. That's a poor product. Outside of 09 and 04, you really can't say that about this team for the last 15 years. I'm not happy with the Ed Snyder era but if you want to say it's dumb to go watch a team killing it to win, then i'm saying the same thing kg is- that you're a front runner. only problem is that just about every teams fan base is full of them....including boston.— 76ers in 2076
- I'm a Philly fan and I think that this article was pretty stupid and short-sighted. If he wanted to shoot back at Boston fans, he could have brought up that the Patriots had horrible attendence and blackout after blackout for years when they weren't a good team...and then they became a dynasty and the stadium is sold out..just saying. There are fair weather fans in every city...but the Celtics have won tons of titles (including one a few years ago), and the 76ers have not had much success at all lately and haven't had a star in 5 years...so it is understandable why our attendence may have been lower than theirs...— Oak31
- Hey JoeUncool, you must be awfully old to remember when the Celtics played to fairly empty buildings in Boston. Or you need to revisit math class.
Boston Celtics Attendance
Year Total Avg
2009-10 744,961 18,169
2008-09 763,584 18,624
2007-08 763,584 18,624
2006-07 690,576 16,843
2005-06 692,513 16,890
2004-05 656,081 16,001
2003-04 664,248 16,201
2002-03 709,049 17,294
2001-02 659,751 16,091
2000-01 629,201 15,346
1999-00 683,608 16,673
1998-99 440,602 17,624
1997-98 743,422 18,132
1996-97 664,022 16,196
1995-96 732,841 17,874
1994-95 606,870 14,802
1993-94 604,867 14,753
1992-93 608,495 14,841
1991-92 610,976 14,902
1990-91 611,537 14,916
1989-90 611,537 14,916
1988-89 611,537 14,916
1987-88 611,222 14,908
1986-87 611,222 14,908
1985-86 610,581 14,892
1984-85 610,727 14,896
1983-84 606,857 14,801
1982-83 621,829 15,167
1980-81 595,444 14,523
1979-80 596,349 14,545— WayneKreklow - 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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