By: Michael D. McClellan | The man known as “Cornbread” arrives as the Celtics bottom out, the organization’s future as cloudy as a room filled with Red Auerbach’s cigar smoke. After decades of acquiring talented, high-character players who put the team’s goals ahead of their own, Boston is suddenly a breeding ground for malcontents and me-first […]
Written By: Michael D. McClellan | Miracles. Upsets. Hail Marys. Few athletes know what it’s like to do it against all odds, when the opponent on the other side is considered unbeatable and the world decides the outcome before the battle is ever waged. The 1980 US Olympic hockey team is arguably the gold standard […]
Written By: Michael D. McClellan | His basketball career began in a Kansas railroad town, and while his legacy will forever be defined by his contributions to Kansas State University – first as an All-American guard with a feathery touch from outside, and then as the school’s athletic director and fund-raiser extraordinaire – Ernie Barrett will also […]
By: Michael D. McClellan | I knew that Paul Westphal was special long before I ever had the pleasure of speaking with him about his basketball successes, of which there are many. The year was 1989, and I caught a television news report that the Phoenix Suns were going to retire Westphal’s jersey to their […]
By: Michael D. McClellan | The player Larry Bird calls “the best teammate I’ve ever had” gets his start driving a forklift for $2.75 an hour in a tape warehouse. He arrives in Boston years later with a championship ring and a reputation as a locker room cancer, the former by virtue of one big play […]