Quotes for Today

 Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.

July 31st

July 31st in kind of a big deal in Boston and in my life.

Boston Celtics trade for Kevin Garnett in 2007.

Rowdy Roddy Piper dies in 2015.

Celtics icon Bill Russell passes away.

Nomar Garciaparra is traded from the Red Sox in 2004.

Boston trades Heathcliff Slocum for Jason Varitek and Derick Lowe.

JK Rowling's birthday.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks!

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks!

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

 "I have learned to seek happiness by limiting my desires, rather than trying to satisfy them." - John Stuart Mill

"If you take a job and they pay you five dollars a day, give them seven dollars a day worth of work." - Bill Russell

"A fool and his money is soon elected." - Will Rogers

"Hunting, bathing , gaming, laughing - that's living!" - Ancient Roman saying

July 31st

July 31st in kind of a big deal in Boston and in my life. Including Garnett's picture because he was my favorite NBA player until the day he retired:

Boston Celtics trade for Kevin Garnett in 2007.

Rowdy Roddy Piper dies in 2015.

Celtics icon Bill Russell passes away.

Nomar Garciaparra is traded from the Red Sox in 2004.

JK Rowling's birthday.

EDIT: Should have added trade with Seattle where Boston got Varitek and Lowe in 1997.

Quotes for Today

 Some quotes I hope may resonate with you. 

"Professional athletes are not paid to play, they're paid to WIN." - Bill Russell

"Wisdom is foreseeing the consequences." - Shane Parrish

"Sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without passport; whereas Virtue, if  a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers." - Herman Melville

"No one, needless to say, who shares a delusion ever recognizes it as such." - Sigmund Freud

A Well Deserved Honor

Well deserved but too bad they couldn't have announced this while Bill was still alive.

Bill Russell RIP

"Professional athletes are not paid to play, they're paid to WIN." - Bill Russell

Bill Russell passed quietly at age 88. Having someone pass at age 88 should not be surprising but this news did come unexpected. Think I was deluded into thinking Bill Russell was an iconic fixture that would always be there. A lot will be made of the fact that Russell was the greatest winner in team sport history. One stat always blew me away - Russell was 10-0 in win or go home game 7's in his career. At 10-0 there's no way that's a fluke. The man just refused to lose. 

Russell was also the first black head coach in North American pro sports history - an accomplishment that should get more attention. I have to think Mr. Russell knew the end was near. Last summer he auctioned off much of his memorabilia. 

"If you take a job and they pay you five dollars a day, give them seven dollars a day worth of work." - Bill Russell

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"You make money to solve your money and material problems. I think the best way to stay away from this constant love of money is to not upgrade your lifestyle when you make money." - Naval Ravikant

"Judgement is the art of knowing what to ignore." - Shane Parrish

"If you take a job and they pay you five dollars a day, give them seven dollars a day worth of work." - Bill Russell

"Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be first overcome." - Dr. Samuel Johnson 

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you. 

"Professional athletes are not paid to play, they're paid to WIN." - Bill Russell

"Wisdom is foreseeing the consequences." - Shane Parrish

"Sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without passport; whereas Virtue, if  a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers." - Herman Melville

"One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation." - Thomas Brackett Reed

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Bill Russell to auction off most of his prized memorabilia.

- Johns Hopkins study find ZERO COVID deaths among healthy children.  The CDC's credibility is in the toilet.

- Heh Heh

- Masks are useless. What happened to "believe the science?"

- Great story of sportsmanship coming out of the Olympics

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you. 

"Professional athletes are not paid to play, they're paid to WIN." - Bill Russell

"I can't believe that there's a patron saint for beekeepers and bell-makers but if you're a rodeo clown you're on your own." - Father Kelly

"Insects don't have politics." - Jeff Goldblum in The Fly

"Wisdom is foreseeing the consequences." - Shane Parrish

"Where you stand depends on where you sit." - Rufus Miles

"Sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without passport; whereas Virtue, if  a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers." - Herman Melville

"One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation." - Thomas Brackett Reed

Drew Brees

Drew Brees is the all-time NFL leader in passing yards and yet he never seems to come up in discussion of the greatest NFL QB's (which by now everyone agrees is Tom Brady).

Yes Brees is vastly underrated. I agree with that. But what's been circling in my head is the similarity to another great in another sport.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA's all-time leading scorer but you never hear his name come up when discussing the greatest of all-time. Heck some people don't even list Jabbar as the best center in NBA history (that would be Bill Russell).

Kareem, like Brees, probably doesn't get the historical credit he's due.

Back to Brees for a moment - my favorite stat of Brees is the fact that he's had five 5,000 yard passing seasons. All of the other QB's in NFL history have combined for just four.

Sihugo Green

People talk about Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan as the biggest draft day mistake in history but for my money Sihugo Green was a much bigger mistake.

In the 1956 NBA draft, the Rochester Royals had the first pick and the Boston Celtics had the second pick (via a trade with St. Louis). With the first pick Rochester selected 6'2" Sihugo Green of Duquesne. With the second pick, the Boston Celtics selected Bill Russell of San Francisco.

The rest is history.

In case you never heard of Sihugo - he ended up playing 9 season (his last with the Celtics BTW) and averaged 9.2 points per game and 3.3 assists for his career.

Red Auerbach

It has been ten years to the day of the passing of Arnold "Red" Auerbach. It is probably impossible to overstate what Red Auerbach was to basketball especially in New England. He was the architect of the Celtics first 16 World Championships. His "Red on Roundball" tutorials and his books probably taught ten times as many people basketball fundamentals than Tom Emansky did for baseball. He was more important as a GM in his sport than Branch Rickey was to his and he was a better coach in his sport than Bear Bryant was in his. One man accomplished all that.

It irks me to no end to see people praise Phil Jackson as the best NBA coach of all-time. Simply put - Phil Jackson couldn't carry Red's jockstrap.

Red was coach of the Celtics for just 16 years but during that time he won 9 championships (including 8 in a row). When it was time for him to step aside - he named Bill Russell as his replacement. It made no difference to Red that he was making history by naming the first black head coach in NBA history. Red named Bill Russell player-coach because Red figured that after he was gone - the only person who could get the best out of Bill Russell was Bill Russell himself.

Because of my age - I knew Red as a GM not as a coach and I would argue that he was not just the best coach of all-time but the best general manager as well. In the 1956 NBA draft, the Rochester Royals had the first pick and the Boston Celtics had the second pick (via a shrewd trade Red made with St. Louis). With the first pick Rochester selected 6'2" Sihugo Green of Duquesne. With the second pick, the Boston Celtics selected Bill Russell of San Francisco. Red drafted Larry Bird as a "junior eligible". He exposed that loophole and the NBA changed the rules because of Red. Dennis Johnson in exchange for Rick Robey? One of the great forgotten trades of all-time. Robert Parish and the third pick (Kevin McHale) in exchange for the first pick of the draft (Joe Barry Carroll) - perhaps the greatest trade of all-time. Taking a third round risk on a mediocre baseball player named Danny Ainge? The list could go on and on.

Speaking of Danny Ainge - it was of no small importance to Boston fans that the first thing he and the new owners did when taking over the Celtics was to reinstate Red as the "President" of the Celtics. Red was stripped of that honorary title by ego-maniac Rick Pitino whose name is now mud in New England.

One of my favorite stories about Red involves the landmark Boston restaurant Legal Seafoods who banned cigar smoking in their establishments years ago with the written exception of Red Auerbach. One day Red was having lunch and after lunch he lit up a cigar. A lady complained (it's always a lady who complains isn't it?). Red asked her to read the asterix on the menu and then told her "I'm Red Auerbach" while blowing a big big cloud of smoke. 

I've heard some people say that they would light up a cigar today in Red Auerbach's honor and that is a fine idea. However, if smoke is not your thing then how about getting some Chinese food? After his wife and kids and basketball - Chinese food was probably Red's greatest joy. I know where I'll be going for lunch today.

Flotsam and Jetsam NBA Championship Edition

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Congratulations to LeBron James and the Cavaliers for bringing a chmpionship to the long-suffering City of Cleveland... Chad Finn has a nice appreciation of what this win means for LeBron James... LeBron James in now 4-2 in playoff game 7's. I need to remind people the Bill Russell was 10-0 in game 7's. It bugs me that Russell always seems to be left out of these conversations... Good question...  It can be argued that Kevin Love had a much better game last night than Steph Curry. I wonder how the Cavs winning the championship effects all the "trade Kevin Love" talk... Fence Jumping Alligators would be a good name for a band... Now that the Finals are over the NBA world turns to the upcoming Draft. I'm really curious what Danny Ainge ends up doing with all the assets he's stock-piled. My guess is that he keeps the 3rd pick and takes Buddy Hield from Oklahoma. It is also worthy to note that their's not a single player on the Nets that would be worthy trading the 3rd pick for straight-up. Think of that...

Sihugo Green

People talk about Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan as the biggest draft day mistake in history but for my money Sihugo Green was a much bigger mistake.

In the 1956 NBA draft, the Rochester Royals had the first pick and the Boston Celtics had the second pick (via a trade with St. Louis). With the first pick Rochester selected 6'2" Sihugo Green of Duquesne. With the second pick, the Boston Celtics selected Bill Russell of San Francisco.

The rest is history.

In case you never heard of Sihugo - he ended up playing 9 season (his last with the Celtics BTW) and averaged 9.2 points per game and 3.3 assists for his career.