Oh, the damage that sports fans do to each other.
Boston fans are in a lather after Philly.com writer John Mitchell wrote a blog that said, basically, "Philly fans are fair weather? Well, you guys are racists. Even Bill Russell said so. Nah nah nah."
Now it's a pointless exercise to compare Boston's shameful racial history to Philadelphia's equally shameful racial history. And I don't know about Philly, but Boston in it's adorable Puritan-Irish Catholic hybrid self-punishing martyred way has been bending over backwards trying to make it up to Russell (who last played in Boston in 1969, John), as well as all those guys the all-white Red Sox didn't sign, for decades.
Mitchell brings up some "fans'" reactions when Joel Ward, who is black, scored the series-winning goal in the NHL playoffs earlier this spring. A reaction that was roundly decried, and also, it was pointed out, did not come solely from Boston, but from those cockroaches with keyboards and Internet accounts who come crawling out whenever there's some hating to get in on.
So, for argument's sake, let's concede that there's racism everywhere and we can all do a lot better.
That said, not only was Mitchell's blog a cheap shot, it didn't make one useful point or have one useful insight.
Any time of the day or night a person, not just a sports fan, can turn on the TV or keyboard and find men sitting around tables or standing on fields talking reverentially and with great gravity about, let's face it, some pretty silly stuff. I know now I'm the one being trite, but professional sports are grownups dressed in silly clothes getting paid obscene amounts of money to play games most people wish they had the time or money to do for free.
And that's fine. Let the guys play. And let the sportswriters talk, blog, cover it. We love it. We watch it. We pay for it. We keep it going.
But keep in mind what it is.
When your fans are accused of being fair-weather, come up with a better argument. Maybe one having to do with sports. Give us a little insight into the mind of the Philly fan. Or tell us why Garnett is wrong.
Because when all those guys sitting around the tables and standing on the fields start talking about things better left to those who know how to talk about it with some knowledge and insight, it just gets stupid.
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