The Passing of Red and Other Things Green

Red Aurbach died yesterday. The Celtics icon has been declining for some years and it has been a while since he graced us with his presence on any regular basis (he has usually lived in DC, not Boston). Still, it is sad. His death is one of the final chapters in the end of an era. The real Garden is gone. Now Red, too.

On a somewhat related note, this year marks the first time in history that the Celtics will have cheerleaders. They call them "dancers", however, which is quite a bit more accurate. Cheerleaders usually do stuff like back-flips and pyramids. They even lead cheers which may be a bit quaint for today's modern sport. I realize that the previous absence of cheerleaders had as much to do with the organization's respect for their female fans as their recent presence has to do with improving the quality of Celtic's play. That is to say, absolutely nothing. The more likely reason is the old-fashioned color scheme of the Celtics uniforms. If we--that is, Celtics Province (formerly Celtics Nation)--didn't need them when we were winning, why--in 2006--do we need them now? One of life's great mysteries, I guess....

Here is an earlier post about when I got to meet Red. It is the sort of thing that New Englanders of a certain age do not forget.