I know there has been a lot written about the amazing Celtics victory both here and in countless other places. Bill Simmons, the Sports Guy for ESPN, has written some great stuff about it and one of his notable comments about Paul Pierce jibed exactly with how I felt about the triumph. Simmons wrote:
The guy gave us everything he had, altered his NBA tombstone, earned a place in the rafters and brought us a 17th title — just like he promised, by the way — and his sterling play in Games 4 and 5 ranks among the all-time greatest Celtic performances. We spend so much time complaining about sports and being disappointed that our favorite players never end up being who we wanted them to be, but in Pierce’s case, he became everything we wanted him to be. When he held up the Finals MVP trophy after the game and screamed to the crowd in delight, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier for a Boston athlete.
As our local sports teams have become dominant in the 21st century their victories have meant different things to different people. I always felt like the Red Sox triumphs, of course 2004 most of all, were for the long-suffering fans. The Patriots, while fan pleasing, have become about history, as Brady, Belichick and Co. are trying to ink their place as the NFL’s greatest of all time. But, the Celtics victory was most of all about the players. As did Simmons, I felt most pleased and touched by Pierce’s achievement; that he made it where he always wanted to be. And even though both Garnett and Allen didn’t toil in the wilderness in Boston, they had played on losing teams for years, despite their own abilities. So I felt good for all of them – as they came together as a team to first aspire and then achieve greatness.
So what does this have to do with politics? For one, as with our sports stars, we spend a huge amount of time complaining about politicians when they fail to be who we want them to be. Not only do we often have completely unrealistic expectations about who they are and what they can achieve, but a great many of us fail to recognize our own role in the myriad failures of our politics. More than sports certainly, although home court and the sixth-man of the crowd make a huge difference, success in politics cannot be left to leaders alone. The crowd is a part of the team, so when the game is lost, fingers should be pointed our way as well.
But returning to the theme of greatness – what Pierce and colleagues did was aspire to it. For Pierce, who played 10 years in a gym literally littered with the banners of bygone glories, in the shadows of Russell, Bird and Co., he got to turn his resentment at losing into an unyielding desire to place his name amongst those of Celtic greats. It was like toiling in the minority party in Congress waiting for a chance to chair a committee and then when the opportunity came, seizing the gavel and passing those bills you first came to office to pass. History stared Pierce in the face every time he played on Causeway Street and finally he (with Garnett and Allen brought in) got the gavel and the chance to live up to the past.
Politicians, especially those in Massachusetts stare history in the face every day as well. The ghosts of Adams, Webster, Lodge, JFK and brother Teddy, and O’Neill to name but a few – cast a long shadow over our institutions and set a high bar for our politicians. And yet just as Pierce craved to put his name alongside Russell and Bird’s, so our politicians today should aspire to do the same with their forebears. They have the platform and must take the chance. Massachusetts is not any old state, just like the Celtics are not any old team. Leading and winning come with the territory and all our politicians (and the people they serve) should look to the past as motivation to tackle the big challenges, come up with the big ideas and retain the Bay State’s place at the center of efforts to create a more just and perfect world. That is the lesson of Paul Pierce’s years of patience and recent performance.
Allright, I know drawing these links is a stretch. But I’m a Bostonian so politics and sports are my civic religions and I can’t help but think they have much to teach us all about human nature. So be it.
