Now, I'm not one of these uber-PC, so-easily-offended types (Bob Ryan has become acquainted with quite a few of those lately) but here's my beef ... Considering that it wasn't all that long ago that Paul Pierce was left stabbed and bleeding to death in a Boston nightclub - where he needed several emergency operations to be (literally) pulled from the brink of death - was it really a good call on the webmaster's part to include his image next to the line "Bringing Back the Dead"?
Again, it's not like I'm really complaining or calling for a boycott of ESPN or anything like that , but it just seems like a poor choice to me (they even "spruced up" the font with little pixelated droplets of blood; I mean, come on) ...
I think if the attack on Pierce had ruined/ended his career or left him visibly disfigured, I would agree. But without actually reading the article in question (Never stopped me before!), I would assume that the the article probably touches on how he went from the brink of death to NBA greatness. If that IS the case, I think it fits well and I wouldnt be mad at all if I were him.
As a Celtics fan I have no problems with it. I took the graphic as simply meaning Pierce bringing the franchise back to life, or trying to to win a fucking game against the fucking Nets. I wouldn't have thought of his stabbing if you hadn't mentioned it.
[Edit: I am compelled to mention that I think Rick Pitino quitting is what brought the franchise back to life.]
I think Fab has a point about Pitino. He really sucked the life out of the franchise. Jim O'Brien just goes about business. It helps that Pierce is one of the best in the game, but O'Brien has done a lot with very little besides Pierce. Now losing Vin Baker has been a bonus, but if Antoine Walker doesn't start hitting at better than 25% from the field, it's going to be a sweep for the Nets.
He's Rolie Polie Olie - and in his world of curves and curls, he's the swellest kid around.
Antoine's the kind of player who you can see every emotion run through. He's transparant and he's a frickin' emotional guy. It lets people fuck with him entirely too well. The guy's been a non-factor. I definitely agree that he needs to step it up.
In fact, a fan apparantly just now took a swing at him. Jebus.
I'm gonna cross my fingers for Danny Ainge right now...
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