JohnnyKK

How can there be no tribute to Red Auerbach?

Here's mine:

My Eulogy For Red Auerbach - By John Karalis

I love basketball. I have for quite some time. And to borrow a famous quote from another sport, basketball has been very, very good to me.
I’ll never forget the first time I saw basketball on TV. It was the Celtics… on the road. I don’t know who they were playing, but I’ll always remember curiously thinking to myself “How does anybody win this game… they’re always making baskets?” There was a good reason they were making baskets. They were the Celtics. And they were awesome. I was instantly hooked.
That is where Red Auerbach, a man I never had the honor of meeting, changed my life forever. Had he not been who he was… had he not done what he had done… maybe that team I was watching wouldn’t have been making baskets. Maybe that team wouldn’t have been so easy to root for. Maybe I wouldn’t have become addicted to watching that celebration as the team I had grown to love hoisted another trophy over their heads, and banner into the rafters. If I never fell in love with Red Auerbach’s Boston Celtics, I would be a completely different person.
When I was in high school, basketball bonded me with my father. One of my most cherished photographs is one of me, in my road blues, with only one person in the stands: My Dad. Basketball brought us together because it showed me how much he cared about what I did. Basketball made me tougher by teaching me how to learn from failure.
When I was in college, basketball gave me another family. It gave me my best friend. And as a testament to how great this game really is, that friend was a Lakers fan. But basketball bridged that gap. And even though he too is no longer with us, basketball still keeps us together in my heart. My former coaches are mentors who shaped me and gave me direction in life. My teammates are friends forever. Even the current players are like younger brothers to me… even though the only thing we have in common is that we’ve worn the same colors, for the same school, playing the same sport.
When I was in Greece, basketball made my dreams come true. Even though my professional career was brief, it showed me the world. Basketball took me to places I’ve never thought I’d see. It made me whole, and sent me off into the real world with round, orange, leather security blanket. I am almost everything I am because of basketball. And I only know basketball because Red Auerbach, a man I never had the honor of meeting, made the game so easy to accept, and love as deeply as I’ve ever loved anything.
I don’t just owe Red Auerbach a “thank you.” I owe him something that even I can’t figure out. But thanks will have to do.
Red Auerbach… Thanks for everything… even though I never had the honor of meeting you.

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"The only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology" - Red Auerbach

Ultimate Celtics Fan-Site: www.redsarmy.com

bigDman

Sad to see such an icon goo

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COME CHECK OUT MY JOURNAL

NoNameNecessary

RIP Red.

You were certainly an icon of our time.