what a lovely song. RIP
― symsymsym, Saturday, 30 July 2022 23:27 (one year ago) link
RIP Ray. Sorry for your loss, Clay. From that song it sounds like he was a real one.
― Chyiv Kyiv (Fetchboy), Sunday, 31 July 2022 03:28 (one year ago) link
Sorry Clay, RIP Ray.
― doomposting is the new composting (PBKR), Sunday, 31 July 2022 12:01 (one year ago) link
An announcement… pic.twitter.com/KMJ7pG4R5Z— TheBillRussell (@RealBillRussell) July 31, 2022
― 龜, Sunday, 31 July 2022 17:28 (one year ago) link
rip big man
― lag∞n, Sunday, 31 July 2022 17:30 (one year ago) link
one of GOATs on and off the court. i dont think anyone will ever come close to his 11 titles.
― terence trent d'ilfer (m bison), Sunday, 31 July 2022 17:39 (one year ago) link
that stings. he set the standard while he played and in retirement.
― call all destroyer, Sunday, 31 July 2022 17:44 (one year ago) link
An absolute legend. RIP big man.
― Spottie, Sunday, 31 July 2022 17:49 (one year ago) link
I didn't know blocked-shots weren't officially kept track of until '73 or so. According to this, there's data on Russell for 135 games:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fRFgkADAK80/VkG0j3zRocI/AAAAAAAAHTA/swVybP9vvpE/s0-Ic42/Russell%252520blocked%252520shots%252520135g.jpg
That averages out to 8.1 per game, which, for his career, would project to ~7,800 blocked shots--more than twice as many as Olajuwon's 3,830 (#1 on the career-leaders list).
Chamberlain averaged 8.8 for 112 known games...I know it was a much smaller game when those guys started, but still.
― clemenza, Sunday, 31 July 2022 21:11 (one year ago) link
rest in peace, bill. hard to imagine a bigger legend of the game, even mj isn't really more important. i noticed he wasn't at the finals this year, but understandably i don't think he'd been there since 2019.
― circles, Sunday, 31 July 2022 21:34 (one year ago) link
Yah the last clip they showed of him after the finals looked like he was declining pretty bad
― Spottie, Sunday, 31 July 2022 21:55 (one year ago) link
this article from his daughter 35 years ago is incredible
https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/14/magazine/growing-up-with-privilege-and-prejudice.html
from 1987: "The neo-conservative movement, personified by President Reagan, seems to be leading the way toward retrenchment. To me, the slogan ''Let's Make America Great Again'' is scary.
How far back do these people want to go? Moreover, if making America great again entails the perpetual existence of a poor underclass, I don't know if I want it. If it means enormous military buildup at the expense of social programs, I don't know that I'm for it."
― terence trent d'ilfer (m bison), Sunday, 31 July 2022 22:12 (one year ago) link
the striking thing about russell is how he never became bitter, about anything--about how he was treated as a player, about how the game changed around him as he aged, about how his impact wasn't always fully understood. he just kept on going out there with dignity and decency till the end.
i was checking in on a boston sports forum and we've got children of old boston garden employees posting in near tears because they met him once and he made that kind of impact on them.
― call all destroyer, Monday, 1 August 2022 02:20 (one year ago) link
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/07/bill-russell-champion-nba-civil-rights/671010/
[b]Russell had seen Barkley on television complaining about how much he paid in taxes. Russell was displeased with Barkley’s comments.
“He called me. ‘Charles Barkley, this is Bill Russell.’ I said, ‘Oh hey, Mr. Russell,’” Barkley told me.
“He said, ‘I need you to shut the fuck up.’ I said, ‘Okay.’”
“[Russell] said, ‘Son, let me tell you something,” Barkley said. “‘You grew up poor. You went to public school, and I bet the police came to your neighborhood when somebody called the cops.’ I said, ‘Yes, Mr. Russell.’ He said, ‘Somebody was paying those people, and you didn’t have any money. I don’t ever want to see your Black ass on TV complain about taxes ever again.’ And I never did.”[/b']
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 2 August 2022 00:14 (one year ago) link
“He said, ‘I need you to shut the fuck up.
Fucking amazing lmao
― frogbs, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 01:25 (one year ago) link
who else can say that and get an 'okay' response from charles
sonned by bill russell in a taxation beef
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 01:52 (one year ago) link
lol
― Spottie, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 02:03 (one year ago) link
i don't know if it's better than the stuff that's getting published this week, but i think this frank deford feature was my first exposure to the legend of russell, and it holds up pretty well.
https://vault.si.com/vault/1999/05/10/the-ring-leader-the-greatest-team-player-of-all-time-bill-russell-was-the-hub-of-a-celtics-dynasty-that-ruled-its-sport-as-no-other-team-ever-has
it's very weird to reread something from a long time ago and realize what little parts have been stuck in my brain the whole time.
― circles, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 03:41 (one year ago) link
I’ll give that a read tomorrow
― Spottie, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 05:59 (one year ago) link
"Look, all I know is, the guy won two NCAA championships, 50-some college games in a row, the ['56] Olympics, then he came to Boston and won 11 championships in 13 years, and they named a f------ tunnel after Ted Williams."
love this quote
― symsymsym, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 06:16 (one year ago) link
tbf williams was better than russell
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 12:18 (one year ago) link
and just FWIW many of those years the celtics won with him there were literally eight teams in the whole nba, iirc some others there were ten
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 12:21 (one year ago) link
in his final year there were 14!
― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 2 August 2022 12:58 (one year ago) link
thats a lotta teams
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 13:30 (one year ago) link
almost too many to count
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 13:37 (one year ago) link
i have mixed feelings about russell and his image which tbf was not totally his doing, the whole triumphalist ultimate winner thing is really unappealing to me its yankees monument park type shit making heroes and meaning out of guys who were good at ball sport is tedious and dumb IMHO and as mentioned in this case the winning part when examined is suspect, i greatly admire his participation in the civil rights movement but i do think always trying to make everything about celebrities is fundamentally a psyop, stuff like telling barkley to stfu about taxes is awesome and hilarious but most of the time when you saw him interviewed he was super serious to the point of ponderousness despite his protestations a consumer of his own mythology, also it must be said that and the evidence is available on youtube the basketball they were playing back then was just absolute garbage, guys running up and down jacking weird jumpers everyone shooting 30% while not even really being defended and russell himself on offense looked like he had never touched a basketball before its kind of shocking to see he was the dennis rodman of his day i guess, one thing to understand about that era was basketball wasnt popular, the garden wasnt even sold out during those finals, obvs the players were just working with what they had and building the foundations of the game and they should be recognized and appreciated for it, but they really were on some baseball dead ball era shit all the kinks had just not been worked out
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 14:03 (one year ago) link
It really struck me when I learned years ago that, according to his teammates, Russell would throw up before just about every game he played.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 2 August 2022 15:23 (one year ago) link
Bones Hyland put up 62 POINTS at the @BrunsonLeague 🔥 (h/t @swishcultures_) pic.twitter.com/LyMUs6wYgb— Overtime (@overtime) August 2, 2022
― k3vin k., Tuesday, 2 August 2022 16:13 (one year ago) link
the what league
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 2 August 2022 16:24 (one year ago) link
Maryland's #1 🏀Pro-Am. Featured on @ESPN’s @TheUndefeated
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 16:29 (one year ago) link
speaking of
The NBA has started an investigation of the Knicks for alleged tampering in their signing of Jalen Brunson, per @ChrisBHaynes pic.twitter.com/xIrxO1qxHY— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 1, 2022
this will be the shortest investigation ever
― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 2 August 2022 16:30 (one year ago) link
when youve tampered too hard for the nba you know youve really tampered
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 16:32 (one year ago) link
lagoon i respect your hate for myth-building and sentiment. you take a very dry approach to sports fandom, provides a balance in here.
i really dont know much about bill or the early days of pro hoop so its been fun to dive into some articles/videos a bit this week to really understand his impact.
― Spottie, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 17:20 (one year ago) link
500k fine for NY is my prediction.
maybe a 2nd round pick
― Spottie, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 17:21 (one year ago) link
― Spottie, Tuesday, August 2, 2022 1:20 PM (fifty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
im def generally not a very sentimental person but particularly with sports im just like miss me with dat shit, which is not to say i dont have warm feelings for my particular fave teams and players but i just want no part of whatever industrial extruded emotion is being offered by sportswriters public relations professionals and so forth, its dumb and i hate the yankees
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 18:19 (one year ago) link
i tend to be like that too i like cool sports moments but believe they can speak for themselves and dont need to be wrapped in myth
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 18:22 (one year ago) link
i like the game baby the game is cool i like big wins thunderous dunks and grand slams
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 18:23 (one year ago) link
also basketball doesn't truly start until they added the 3pt line, ball without hoisting is no ball at all
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 18:24 (one year ago) link
even many of the players are interesting people that i like to know more about but the idea of heros is just something we tell children to protected them from the harsh realities of the world
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 18:26 (one year ago) link
sometimes thats good, tho mostly its not
― Spottie, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 18:35 (one year ago) link
ball without hoisting is no ball at all
― ciderpress, Tuesday, August 2, 2022 11:24 AM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
otmfm. new board descrip
― Spottie, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 18:36 (one year ago) link
crazy it took ~15 years after the line was added for the league to really embrace hoisting
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 18:38 (one year ago) link
its crazy that math didnt exist at that time in history
― Spottie, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 18:41 (one year ago) link
a lot of people are against math but i say look it gave us hoisting so it cant be all bad
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 18:44 (one year ago) link
― Spottie, Tuesday, August 2, 2022 2:35 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
the thing with the sport version is its mostly safe and inconsequential so who really cares, tho with russell hagiography you can see the standard denaturing of the civil right movement
they really were on some baseball dead ball era shit all the kinks had just not been worked out
hoops strategy responds very swiftly to rule changes. each era maximizes the skills and style that produces wins. since the mid-1950s there have been huge changes to the rules and how they are enforced.
during russell's era hoisting was not a well-rewarded skill, so it wasn't embraced. dunking was theoretically possible, but the pool of players big enough to do it was tiny. but every team was playing to win using the best means available to them and russell's teams always found a way to the top of the heap. eleven times. it was a feat. like breaking the 4 minute mile. it doesn't matter that it's been done tens of thousands of times since.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 2 August 2022 18:53 (one year ago) link
this guy was the first to make more than 5 attempts per game, almost a decade after they added the line. the first true hoister
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/adamsmi01.html
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 18:55 (one year ago) link
i remember michael adams he was short, salute to a true hoister
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 18:58 (one year ago) link
it was a feat. like breaking the 4 minute mile. it doesn't matter that it's been done tens of thousands of times since.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, August 2, 2022 2:53 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
dont get me wrong they were trailblazers worthy of admiration but on the other hand they would get absolutely cooked by a decent 2022 high school team