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We rank 'em. You react. That's how the Daily List rolls.
Favorite Celtics of all time
As the Celtics continue their quest toward title No. 17, Boston native Andy Gray looks at his five favorite Celtics of all time. Who are your favorite Celtics? 1. Tommy Heinsohn: Quite simply, the ultimate Celtic. After winning eight NBA championships as a player and two more as a coach, Heinsohn entered the announcing booth in 1981 and has been the voice to a new generation of Celtics fans. Sure, he's a homer and may argue a referee's call from time to time, but after 54 years with one organization, he's earned that right. 2. Reggie Lewis: After playing four years under Jim Calhoun at local Northeastern, Lewis helped ease the transition out of the Bird years and became the team leader until his unfortunate death in 1993. I also ran into him one time at Staples when I was 12 and attacked him like a little schoolgirl seeing Justin Timberlake. He was remarkably calm and even signed an autographed picture for me. 3. Paul Pierce: Forget everything he's done on the court in his 10 seasons with the Celtics. The guy was stabbed 11 times in the face, neck and back at a downtown bar and returned to the court a month later! Imagine how big a distraction it would be had this happened to T.O. or Derek Jeter. 4. Robert Parish: Larry Bird has received enough pats on the back for his contributions to the great Celtics teams of the 1980s. It's time to give some love to The Chief, the steady, underrated anchor of three championship teams. Not only did he play 12 seasons without changing his facial expression (a record Kenrick Perkins is currently trying to break), but he laid the smackdown on Bill Laimbeer like nobody else (take 30 seconds and watch this video. 5. Bill Russell: Has anyone had a more successful career in sports history? In his 13 NBA season, he won 11 championships (including three as player/coach), five MVP awards and an Olympic gold medal. In addition to all this, he bested longtime rival Wilt Chamberlain by marrying a former Miss USA. Quality over quantity, Wilt. Honorable Mention (Top Fan)-- Donnie Wahlberg: The Lakers have Jack Nicholson. The Knicks have Spike Lee. The Celtics have Donnie from New Kids on the Block. Sure, it's not as sexy a name, but over the past decade or so, Wahlberg has had a permanent seat in the front row of the Garden and deserves credit for sticking with the team through thick and thin. Top Five SI Covers of All Time
You can call me a company man if you like, but since SI.com launched The Vault, the overwhelming collection of every cover and article ever in the magazine, I've spent hours perusing the stacks, reading old stories. I've also loved flipping through the classic SI covers, which both inform and remind. Here are my top five SI covers of all time... 1. This one's personal, but the 1995 cover with Junior Griffey not only captured Griffey in his iconic follow-through, but the issue also featured a fiery letter from a young man in Atlanta who was furious that SI refused to rate Deion Sanders as one of the greatest cornerbacks of all-time. 2. I'll always remember this cover, Kevin Garnett's first, because it made me aware of the media's ability to change expectations. Nobody knew anything about KG when that cover came out. One week later, every NBA team wanted to draft him. Unfortunately for KG, Kevin McHale ended up getting him. 3. He might be known as the Greatest Of All Time, but even Muhammad Ali had a first SI cover. This one, back when he was known as Cassius Clay, just looks awesome. 4. Back in 1987, Brian Bosworth not only flunked a steroid test, he flunked a common sense test for getting this haircut. Luckily, since then, nobody in football takes steroids anymore. 5. Larry Bird's first SI cover came in 1977, as the Indiana State Sycamore arrived with two cheerleaders crouching oddly in front of him. I shudder to think how the blogosphere would react to this pose today. What's your all-time favorite SI cover? Let us know below... Lang Whitaker is the executive editor of SLAM magazine and writes daily at SLAMonline.com Five Sports Franchises We Love to Hate
What's fun about rooting for sports teams isn't just rooting for the teams we like, but cheering against the teams we don't like. I'm an Atlanta Braves fan, but would being a Braves fan be as satisfying and gratifying without the existence of the New York Mets to provide the yin to the Braves' yang? It's nothing personal -- I have many Mets fans I consider friends. I just don't like your collection of athletes because they're you're collection of athletes. Here are the five most fun sports franchises to hate... 1. Any Major Team From Boston: The Red Sox, Celts and Patriots currently occupy that number one slot. Not so much because they all have more money than the treasury and have basically managed to assemble All-Star teams, but because they all win, all the time, and their fans love nothing more than to make sure everyone else knows about this. And nobody loves a winner who rubs it in. 2. New York Yankees: Run by a family of husky men with bad haircuts, the Yanks win and win and win and then remain competitive by throwing money at their issues. 3. Los Angeles Lakers: Lakers fans seem to have some sort of "us against them" mentality, and believe that if people aren't Lakers fans, they must hate anything and everything to do with the Lakers and/or Kobe Bryant. They may be correct. 4. THE Ohio State University: Buckeye fans have had the legs for their argument for dominance knocked out from under them lately, what with the way they keep losing in championship games. But you'd never know State can't win the big one by listening to them Buckeyes. (By the way, we get it: You're THE Ohio State University. Nice sweater vests.) 5. Chelsea: After a few years of mediocrity, the Blues were purchased by a billionaire, bought every great player in Europe, installed a coach who called himself "the special one" and spent a few years dominating everyone. The Special One is gone, but that sense of entitlement from their fans remains. Which team do you most love to hate? Let us know below... Lang Whitaker is the executive editor of SLAM magazine and writes daily at SLAMonline.com  |
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