The Finals Begin

 6/1

The Warriors...and Jerry 

So. The NBA Finals begin tomorrow night.  The Boston Celtics versus the Golden State Warriors. That’s a tough one for me. When I was growing up, my favorite basketball team was the Boston Celtics. Part of that was their classiness, the sense that excellence and teamwork mattered to them. There was their iconic coach Red Auerbach, famous for his victory cigar. When he felt the  game was in hand, he would light up a celebratory cigar, right there on the bench. (Back in those  days, a cloud of smoke would always ring an arena.)

Even more important, I had a very close friend. A tall gangly basketball player with red hair . When he was a high school freshman, the older players called him Bambi. Hs favorite player was Bill Russell, the stoic center and captain of the Celtics known for his epic battles with Wilt ("the Stilt" Chamberlain. Almost  always the  Celtics and Russell would win the title.   At one point, winning eight NBA championships in a row. And Russell would be named to succeed Auerbach as coach.  Personal pride and dignity were uppermost for Russell who regularly spoke out against racism.So yeah, Boston.

But….then there’s Golden State’s coach Steve Kerr. Son of the assassinated President of American University  in Beirut, Malcolm Kerr, Steve Kerr has been an outspoken advocate for social justice, including his long standing support for Palestinians. (His father and American University were part of the Presbyterian church’s historic commitment to health and education  around the world, in this case educating  a generation of Middle Eastern Arab leaders.) Most recently, Steve devoted his pre-finals press conference  to denouncing  the failure  of US congress to deal with gun violence. 

His Warrior teams have featured player like the  amazing Steph Curry and play a solid team game. Fun to watch. But mainly because of Steve Kerr, for me it’s the Warriors.

The Warriors began in Philadelphia, Wilt Chamberlain’s first team challenging the Celtics. They then moved to San Francisco playing in the Cow Palace in Daly City and then for many years in  Oakland where they were renamed the Golden State  Warriors. Finally, last year they moved back across the Bay to San Francisco and a new arena. 

back view...the Bridge

My hat is in Warriors blue and yellow and has the San Francisco Giants interlocking SF. The back has a Warriors  Bay Bridge logo and an NBA patch on the side. The original version is a much sought after Giants give away. The shirt of course connects Jerry Garcia of the Grateful  Dead and the Warriors featuring  his iconic hand print with a mission finger digit.

So today it’s hats off to and hats on for the Golden State Warriors.