Notes From D. R.

The Beatdown

The Boston Celtics lose their 18th consecutive game. The team's almost as bad as that movie about their fans!

Eternal Flame

Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow, a popular American professional wrestling star in the 1980s and 1990s, passes away at 45. Bigelow made national headlines in April 1995, when he wrestled former professional football star Lawrence Taylor in a high-profile match.

UPDATE: More on Bigelow from the New York Daily News.

The Sixteenth Round

Former boxing star Trevor Berbick passes away at 52.

That Championship Season

Legendary Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach passes away at 89.

Angel In The Outfield

Baseball Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett passes away at 44. More from Power Line.

The Final Score

Legendary sports broadcaster Curt Gowdy passes away at 86.

How Can We Miss You When You Won't Go Away?

The Boston Herald reports that Jimmy Myers, a left-wing gadfly who's bounced around the local sports media for several years, has landed a gig on a Boston radio station geared to black audiences. This ought to be interesting, because it's only a matter of time before Myers says or does something controversial that will get him canned again. (I still remember the paranoid-conspiracy columns he used to write for the Herald's sports pages in 1993 and 1994. Sheesh.)

UPDATE: Disgraced Massachusetts state senator Dianne Wilkerson has also been hired as a talk host for this radio station.  I don't think she'll last too long in this position, as she may find the job a little too taxing...

Memorial Day

Hard to believe it's been a dozen years since Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis died suddenly at the age of 27. A remembrance from the Washington Times.

I Just Can't Believe All The Things People Say...

Kobe Bryant is endorsing sneakers again.

Spurred On

The San Antonio Spurs capture the 2005 NBA Championship.

The Luck of the Irish

The boxing world is still in shock over Mike Tyson's loss to Kevin McBride last Saturday. The former world heavyweight champion, who was expected to clean McBride's clock, couldn't handle the onslaught of the Irish fighter, and abruptly quit the fight after the sixth round; afterward, "Iron Mike" acknowledged that he was contemplating retirement.

McBride, a native of County Monaghan, Ireland who currently resides in Dorchester, Mass., exulted in his victory after his fight, and told the press that his goal is to be the first Irish-born heavyweight champ...which raises an interesting question: if he indeed won one of the world titles, what would people make of his victory? Would reaction to his win split among racial lines?

Although Vitali Klitschko is the current WBC Heavyweight Champion, he has not garnered much media attention. McBride would undoubtedly garner tons: as the man who retired Mike Tyson before winning a world title, McBride would be the most high-profile white heavyweight champion since Rocky Marciano in the 1950s. For good or ill, he'd be perceived as the new Gerry Cooney (if you remember, Cooney challenged then-WBC champ Larry Holmes in the early-1980s; promoter Don King hyped the fight by labeling Cooney "The Great White Hope", and the race-based build for the fight became so extreme and sordid that white supremacist groups threatened to shoot Holmes to guarantee Cooney's victory, causing the fight to take place under extraordinarily heavy security).

I do fear that some African-Americans would be resentful of a McBride world title reign, just as some whites were resentful of Jack Johnson's championship run a century ago. For the last few decades, African-Americans have rallied around Holmes, Muhammad Ali, Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, Lennox Lewis, and Evander Holyfield as role models and symbols of achievement; some may be reluctant to extend the same affection to McBride, for no reason other than ethnicity.

This phenomenon has already manifested itself in the rap music industry, what with the incessant attacks on Eminem by The Source magazine, whose co-founder, Raymond "Benzino" Scott, has made clear his disdain for the fact that a white man is successful in a "black industry", going so far as to call Eminem "the rap David Duke, the rap Hitler." There's no doubt that, despite the legions of fans of all colors who love Marshall Mathers, there are still a few disgruntled souls, like Scott, who judge Eminem not by the content of his character, but by the color of his skin.

If McBride does become world heavyweight champ, he will in all likelihood be in for some of the same rough treatment, which will be a shame. One hopes that, just as Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan transcended race to become role models for all Americans, McBride will eventually be embraced by boxing fans of all hues, and that the angry comments of the race-obsessed will be drowned out by the respectful praise of the race-blind.

UPDATE: More on the Tyson-McBride fight.

SECOND UPDATE: A great profile in the Boston Globe on McBride, whose championship dreams could come true this fall.

THIRD UPDATE: More on McBride.

GREEN DAY

Irish-born boxer Kevin McBride defeats Mike Tyson. More from the Herald and Globe.

The Bonfire of the Vanities

Tom Wolfe's classic comes to mind when you read this story from the Boston Globe about a Pop Warner football controversy.

UPDATE: More from the Globe.

Take Me Out

Some parents are upset by the news that a member of the show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy will throw out the first pitch at tomorrow's Red Sox game. It's hard for me to share the outrage, because honestly, I couldn't care less about the Red Sox...

UPDATE: More from the Herald and Globe.

Shamrock Shake

Two great articles in the Boston Herald and Boston Globe on Kevin McBride, the Irish-born boxer who challenges Mike Tyson next month in Washington, D.C.

Now It's Time for Celtics Fans to Say Wait 'Til Next Year...

The Celtics get slaughtered at the FleetCenter. Sad. Antoine Walker and Doc Rivers are class acts, and I would've loved to have seen 'em with championship rings...

Even MORE News About the BC Basketball Brawl...

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=73533

Not since Prince changed his name have I seen such a bizarre story...

The BC Beatdown Story Gets Curiouser and Curiouser...

http://sports.bostonherald.com/college/view.bg?articleid=73430

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/03/15/landlord_doubts_account_of_raid?mode=PF

Like the ads for SUPERMAN (1978) said, you will believe a man can fly...

BC Basketball Star Takes a Flying Leap (No, It Wasn't a Suicide Attempt)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050313/ap_on_sp_co_ne/bkc_boston_college_player_escapes_1

http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2005/03/13/bcs_watson_injured_fleeing_assailants?mode=PF

Perhaps the strangest story of the young year...