There’s nothing wrong with hating a team or a team’s players. Laker fans have grown to despise Celtic fans over the years and vice-versa. That will happen when two teams face each other in the NBA Finals 12 times in 40 years. For the most part, the hatred that accompanies a rivalry like this one brings fun and excitement to the game. However, an LA Times blog post that was published briefly on Monday morning represented an example of how even writers can get caught up in a heated rivalry and forget that at the end of the day it’s just a game.
LA Times columnist Ted Green got completely carried away in a blog post he wrote on Monday morning. In his thorough compilation of reasons to hate the Celtics, Green slipped in a comment that poked fun at Paul Pierce for having been stabbed at a night club back in 2000. Here is what Green said about Pierce, courtesy of The Big Lead:
“By the way, Pierce’s idea of a fun night is going clubbing and getting stabbed. Good times!”
I don’t know if Ted Green forgot his morning coffee or what, but I can’t figure out how he would think that publishing a comment like that is appropriate or funny in any way. Even if he thinks it’s funny — and that would be pretty disturbing — you’d think he’d have enough common sense to realize that he’s taking things too far by saying something like that. The LA Times certainly realized it was out of line; they edited that line out of the article. There are plenty of things to make fun of the Celtics’ captain for, and Green hit on a couple when he criticized Pierce for taking flops and being a drama queen. He could have even taken a shot at his arrogance, which was on display two years ago when he claimed to be the best player in the world.
You don’t have to like Paul Pierce as a player or a person, but you should respect the comeback he made regardless of the team for whom you root. Pierce was stabbed 11 times in the face, back, and neck and doctors weren’t sure if he was going to live, let alone return to the NBA at the top of his game. There’s nothing funny about it. Kevin Garnett is a maniac. Kendrick Perkins is a cry-baby. The Celtics get away with a lot of fouls. All are fair points and legitimate reasons to dislike the men in green. Unfortunately — amidst a somewhat funny compilation of heckling ammunition — Ted Green made one pretty significant mistake.
Sources:
LA Times Pulls Blog Post That Jokes, “Pierce’s idea of a fun night is going clubbing and getting stabbed” [The Big Lead]
LA Times Writer Kicks Off Finals Fever With Questionable Paul-Pierce-Stabbing “Joke” [Deadspin]
Ted Green: Your guide to hating the Celtics [LA Times via Google Cache]
