Boston’s enthusiasm for their iconic sports franchises has never been questioned, and for that, we should all agree that it is one of the best sports cities — if not the best — in North America. They love their superstars to the point that it gets kind of weird (see: Deflategate), and who can really blame them? Tom Brady, Larry Bird, Bobby Orr, David Ortiz — they’ve had more than their fair share of larger than life figures delivering countless epic moments for close to a century. But there’s always been an uncomfortable reality to that city’s fandom: it REALLY likes it when those superstars are white. As any self aware New Englander will confirm, this well-documented reality isn’t really up for debate.
When it comes to the NBA — a sport dominated by African Americans — Boston’s racial preference seems to rear its ugly head around free agency, when fans begin to lobby the Celtics’ front office for the basketball players they want on their favorite team. Three years ago it was Kevin Love. This year it’s Gordon Hayward. On one hand, you can’t blame them for getting so specific with their requests — Love and Hayward are perennial All-Stars and as Danny Ainge has been the best general manager at acquiring studs since he took the job back in 2003. But on the other hand, those guys, albeit just two players, are literally the two best white basketball players on the planet. There’s a reason why those guys are always on Boston fans’ wishlist, and it’d be naive to ignore the obvious reason.
They’re white.
So when Celtics latest free agent acquisition, small forward Jae Crowder, heard fans at the TD Garden cheering soon-to-be free agent small forward Gordon Hayward during player introductions on Tuesday night, naturally, he was a little pissed.
HOME TEAM FANS CHEERING FOR THE OPPOSING PLAYERS NOW.. AW MAN OK… SMH BUT GOOD WIN FELLAS ONTO THE NEXT ONE.!!
— JAE CROWDER (@CJC9BOSS) January 4, 2017
When Celtics fans started going at him on Twitter for being so “sensitive”, telling him to go back to Dallas if he had a problem with them rooting for an opposing player who, in all likelihood, would take his job, he threw his arms up in disgust.
Though there’s no telling what specifically irked Crowder the most about this bizarre situation, he has every right to be upset that the people who should be cheering for him were doing the opposite. But the fact that he doesn’t hear those same fans cheering for the other All-Stars in 2017’s free agent class that come to town — the Blake Griffins and Kevin Durants and Steph Currys and Chris Pauls — probably isn’t lost on him.
Sure, people will say “we just want to reunite Hayward with his college coach” and “Hayward is the best young free agent who’s feasibly within reach”, and justifiably so. But this is a playoff team with the third-best record in an Eastern Conference that has a superteam bound to the Finals for the foreseeable future. What good will adding Gordon Hayward do against stopping the Cavaliers come May? More importantly, Danny Ainge’s backlog of first-round draft picks means this team has just as much if not more of a chance of upgrading their roster through a trade — something he does better/more often than any GM in the NBA — so buttering up a soon-to-be free agent isn’t exactly the only way this team can/will improve their chances at a title. Why not cheer for the stars on the trading block? Why doesn’t DeMarcus Cousins or Paul Millsap or Bradley Beal or CJ McCollum get the red carpet treatment? Because they didn’t play under Brad Stevens? Give me a break.
There are plenty of players in the NBA who would make the Boston Celtics a better team, it just seems like the white ones are the ones who get the most attention, and it’s gross.
Check out the rest of Crowder’s deleted Twitter interactions with Boston fans who found nothing odd about their very visible, suspiciously specific free agent preferences trumping their hometown allegiance, below…
');
window._taboola = window._taboola || [];
_taboola.push({
mode: 'alternating-thumbnails-a',
container: 'taboola-right-rail-thumbnails',
placement: 'Right Rail Thumbnails',
target_type: 'mix'
});
_taboola.push({flush: true});
/* === */
/* Desktop : below post content ad === */
jQuery('#taboola-below-article-content').html('');
jQuery('#taboola-below-article-content').html('
');
window._taboola = window._taboola || [];
_taboola.push({
mode: 'thumbnails-a',
container: 'taboola-below-article-thumbnails',
placement: 'Below Article Thumbnails',
target_type: 'mix'
});
_taboola.push({flush: true});
/* === */
/* Mobile : below post content ad === */
jQuery('#taboola-mobile-below-article-content').html('');
jQuery('#taboola-mobile-below-article-content').html('
');
window._taboola = window._taboola || [];
_taboola.push({
mode: 'thumbnails-m',
container: 'taboola-mobile-below-article-thumbnails',
placement: 'Mobile Below Article Thumbnails',
target_type: 'mix'
});
_taboola.push({flush: true});
/* === */
if (typeof _gaq !== "undefined")
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); //google
if (typeof ga !== "undefined")
ga('send', 'pageview');
/*jQuery('#rectangle-atf').empty().append("
");
jQuery('#div-gpt-unit-jd-ss-300x250-atf').empty().append("
");*/
/*var unix = Math.round(+new Date()/1000);
var $time = unix + '_'+ Math.floor(Math.random() * (9999 - 1 + 1)) + 1;
var $slug = $time + '_slider1';
var html = "
";
jQuery('#rectangle-atf').empty().append(html);
console.log('adding '+$slug);
try {
postscribe("#"+$slug, "
cmnUNT('100x100', tile_num++);
"+"ipt>");
} catch (err) {
console.log(err);
}*/
if(!unit_jd_ss_300_250_atf) {
var unix = Math.round(+new Date()/1000);
var $time = unix + '_'+ Math.floor(Math.random() * (9999 - 1 + 1)) + 1;
var $slug = $time + '_slider2';
var html = "
";
jQuery('#div-gpt-unit-jd-ss-300x250-atf').empty().append(html);
console.log('adding '+$slug);
unit_jd_ss_300_250_atf = true;
try {
postscribe("#"+$slug, "
cmnUNT('100x100', tile_num++);
"+"ipt>");
} catch (err) {
console.log(err);
}
} else {
CMNUNT.refreshAds();
console.log('refreshAds');
}
};
jQuery('.hide_all_but_not_slider').on('click', function(){
var $id = jQuery(this).attr('href').replace('#','');
//var $slug = '-mobile';
var $slug = slideshow_get_slug ();
jQuery('.post_content_am_ngg > :not(#'+$id+$slug+')').hide();
if(jQuery('#'+$id+$slug).parent().is(":hidden"))
jQuery('#'+$id+$slug).parent().show();
jQuery('.post_content_am_ngg > #'+$id+$slug).show();
console.log($slug);
if($slug == '-mobile')
jQuery('#'+$id+$slug+' .slides').slick("slickGoTo", 0, 0);
if($slug == '-mobile')
document.getElementById('nav-container').scrollIntoView();
else
document.getElementById($id+'-desktop').scrollIntoView();
});
jQuery('.next').on('click', function(){
counter++;
showCurrent();
changeAd();
});
jQuery('.prev').on('click', function(){
counter--;
showCurrent();
changeAd();
});
jQuery('.first').on('click', function(){
counter = 0;
showCurrent();
changeAd();
});
jQuery('.last').on('click', function(){
counter = numItems-1;
showCurrent();
changeAd();
});
/*if('ontouchstart' in window){
jQuery(".mobile-wrapper .slides").swipe({
swipeLeft:function() {
counter++;
showCurrent();
},
swipeRight:function() {
counter--;
showCurrent();
}
});
}*/
jQuery('.mobile-wrapper .slides').slick({
adaptiveHeight: true,
mobileFirst: true,
appendArrows: $('#nav-container')
});
jQuery('.mobile-wrapper .slides').on('afterChange', function(){
changeAd();
});
jQuery('.next-arrow').on('click', function(){
jQuery('.mobile-wrapper .slides').slick('slickNext');
});
jQuery('.prev-arrow').on('click', function(){
jQuery('.mobile-wrapper .slides').slick('slickPrev');
});
if( slideshow_get_slug() == '-mobile') {
/*jQuery('#div-gpt-unit-jd-ss-300x250-atf').empty().append("
");*/
if(!unit_jd_ss_300_250_atf) {
var unix = Math.round(+new Date()/1000);
var $time = unix + '_'+ Math.floor(Math.random() * (9999 - 1 + 1)) + 1;
var $slug = $time + '_slider2';
var html = "
";
jQuery('#div-gpt-unit-jd-ss-300x250-atf').empty().append(html);
console.log('adding '+$slug);
unit_jd_ss_300_250_atf = true;
try {
postscribe("#"+$slug, "
cmnUNT('100x100', tile_num++);
"+"ipt>");
} catch (err) {
console.log(err);
}
} else {
CMNUNT.refreshAds();
console.log('refreshAds');
}
}
jQuery(".back-to-post").click ( function () {
jQuery('.post_content_am_ngg > *').show();
jQuery(".desktop-wrapper").hide();
jQuery(".mobile-wrapper").hide();
document.getElementById('innermain').scrollIntoView();
});
});
Begin slideshow
View as one page
1/4
screen-shot-2017-01-04-at-9-51-17-am
2/4
screen-shot-2017-01-04-at-9-51-08-am
3/4
screen-shot-2017-01-04-at-9-50-56-am
4/4
screen-shot-2017-01-04-at-9-50-00-am
1/4
screen-shot-2017-01-04-at-9-51-17-am
2/4
screen-shot-2017-01-04-at-9-51-08-am
3/4
screen-shot-2017-01-04-at-9-50-56-am
4/4
screen-shot-2017-01-04-at-9-50-00-am
« Return to article