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
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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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