Posted on 07/31/2022 10:50:33 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Bill Russell, NBA Hall of Famer, passed away peacefully on Sunday at age 88, his family announced. During his remarkable career, Russell won 11 championships in 13 seasons with the Boston Celtics. He was also a leader in civil rights and awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Photo via @wbzsports
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Thanks.
Like I said, I give people who grew up during that period somewhat of a pass on those things.
RIP Bill Russell.
Sports TV incident——
Rick Barry— during Game 5 of the 1981 NBA Finals, Barry forced watchers to endure one of the more awkward moments in the history of the NBA Finals.
With Bill Russell sitting next to him, Barry showed a picture of a man who was allegedly Russell during his younger days, calling him a “fool with a watermelon-eating grin.”
From Adam Fromal article on bad NBA announcers. October 21, 2011.
RIP.
Got it!
RIP.
5.56mm
That was a professional sports era that will never be repeated. You could stack a team and dominate for a decade. Take nothing from Mr. Russell. There’s a huge difference between ‘should win’ and actually doing it.
Well, he was a successful black man in a pretty racist city. He was adored on the court, but faced some crap outside.
I used to do some work for the Basketball Hall of Fame. I’ve met most of “the giants” of the game, behind the scenes. I never got a bad vibe from BR. Kareem was a jerk…but not Bill.
My idea for three point shot-because I think good outside shooters should be rewarded- is that the 3 point line should only be enforced for the last 5 minutes of each half. That way it’s still true the game. Play defense, big men can still dominate on the inside. More than one or two passes in the offensive zone. More rebounding. More strategy.
Meh, anyone can be a good three-point shooter with practice.
But who has the skill to thread a pass inside for an easy layup?
I was on the freshman team that played against Russel and his USF teammates. (Freshmen were then not allowed to play varsity sports.) We lost by a point, and USF won thanks to the play of a 5’11” guard. Russel was a presence around the basket, as he was when he played ball at Maclymonds High in Oakland. Never much of a shooter, he made his rep when the next year he outplayed Cal-Berkeley center Bob McKean who was then being prepped for All-American. He finally came to the attention of eastern reporters when he played in Madison Square Garden in what I believe was then called the Winter Festival. He and KC Jones starred, and Tommy Heinsohn, who was then the East Coast star, was shaded by the USF team which went on to win the NCAA championship. Ironically, Russel, Jones and Heinsohn went on to star with the great Boston Celtics teams.
I like our new head coach that just came over from USF.
Poor Bill and Nichelle, they will not get to throw Sniffer out of office, unless, they were Bolshekrats, then they will never have voted as much when they were alive.
No, actually not anyone can be a three point shooter. Limit the three point shot to 5 minutes of each half and the game can go back to all phases.
Very cool!
While coaching the Seattle Supersonics, he married a white girl from the suburbs of south King County. I was buying gas in that neighborhood and he was filling his Rolls Royce right next to me, (self service) with nobody else around.
I said something quietly like “how’s it going coach?”, or something similarly innocuous but he gave no response whatsoever. Wouldn’t even look my way. It was pretty cold. Great player, though.
Wilt might have won the stats game, but Russell won the games.
no doubt about that...
Memory Eternal!!!!
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