1 on 1 with Bill Russell..

[HarlemHeat37]

Anybody else watch it?..

I thought it was entertaining and informative, much better than the interview with Jordan IMO..

Bill Russell seems like a genuine dude, very well-spoken and intelligent..I'm dismissive of his rankings on all-time lists, but he was a great embassador for the league and an appropriate face of the NBA during the a Civil Rights era..he didn't seem to harbor hatred for the White man, and if he did, he never let racism on either side affect his relationships in the NBA..

[Chinook]

I thought it was great, really well put together. It made me wish I had been around when he played. I don't think he's a dominant as some people say (he played with midgits), but it does seem like he was at the epicenter for a lot of the changes that made the game what it is today.

[DMC]

I'm about tired of seeing and hearing Bill Russell tbh. Respect the guy, all that, but saturation was a few years back.

[Venti Quattro]

:lol naming the Finals MVP after him

:cry the ultimate champion :cry

[racm]

Don't see the big deal about Morgan Freeman as a player tbh

[whitemamba]

Don't see the big deal about Morgan Freeman as a player tbh

:lol

[baseline bum]

Anybody else watch it?..

I thought it was entertaining and informative, much better than the interview with Jordan IMO..

Bill Russell seems like a genuine dude, very well-spoken and intelligent..I'm dismissive of his rankings on all-time lists, but he was a great embassador for the league and an appropriate face of the NBA during the a Civil Rights era..he didn't seem to harbor hatred for the White man, and if he did, he never let racism on either side affect his relationships in the NBA..

You gotta expect an interview with an intelligent human being would be a lot better than one with a Nike salesman.

[BatManu20]

Thought it was a great watch. Really well put together and Bill Russell was enlightening and seems like a wise man. I like Bill Simmons too so that helped.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Does he talk about what it was like being the Ben Wallace of the 1950s?

[Killakobe81]

Anybody else watch it?..

I thought it was entertaining and informative, much better than the interview with Jordan IMO..

Bill Russell seems like a genuine dude, very well-spoken and intelligent..I'm dismissive of his rankings on all-time lists, but he was a great embassador for the league and an appropriate face of the NBA during the a Civil Rights era..he didn't seem to harbor hatred for the White man, and if he did, he never let racism on either side affect his relationships in the NBA..

Read more of his stuff he used to be extremely bitter, especially against the city of Boston. I think teh love the team (and league) has shown him the past 10 years or so has softened that to a great extent. But as Chris rock said old black dudes are more racist then old white ones ... I bet if a cause moved him or somethng sparked it would rekindle that flame.

But he is bright, eloquent and even though he is a celtic a great ambassador that valued rings ... I cant knock him for that. A true pioneer

[baseline bum]

Read more of his stuff he used to be extremely bitter, especially against the city of Boston. I think teh love the team (and league) has shown him the past 10 years or so has softened that to a great extent. But as Chris rock said old black dudes are more racist then old white ones ... I bet if a cause moved him or somethng sparked it would rekindle that flame.

But he is bright, eloquent and even though he is a celtic a great massador that valued rings ... I cant knock him for that. A true pioneer

I wish I could find that quote I heard that went something along the lines of "I never played for Boston; I played for the Celtics".

[Chinook]

Read more of his stuff he used to be extremely bitter, especially against the city of Boston. I think teh love the team (and league) has shown him the past 10 years or so has softened that to a great extent. But as Chris rock said old black dudes are more racist then old white ones ... I bet if a cause moved him or somethng sparked it would rekindle that flame.

But he is bright, eloquent and even though he is a celtic a great massador that valued rings ... I cant knock him for that. A true pioneer

I see him as being more (butt)hurt from the people of Boston than racist against white people. He gave Boston 11 championships, and all the media and fans could think the whole time is how they didn't want a black man on their team, or how (according to the documentary) they thought his coach was propping Russell up because there was no way a black man could do it on his own. If he had hard feelings toward white people, it was probably reflective, like, "I don't think you think we're equal, so I am wary of you." It doesn't seem like he had any issue making friends with white people or supporting people of all ethnicities in his civil rights work.

[Killakobe81]

I see him as being more (butt)hurt from the people of Boston than racist against white people. He gave Boston 11 championships, and all the media and fans could think the whole time is how they didn't want a black man on their team, or how (according to the documentary) they thought his coach was propping Russell up because there was no way a black man could do it on his own. If he had hard feelings toward white people, it was probably reflective, like, "I don't think you think we're equal, so I am wary of you." It doesn't seem like he had any issue making friends with white people or supporting people of all ethnicities in his civil rights work.

I think that is fair and maybe Im painting with to broad of a brush, but even Malcom X warmed to help from white folks, so I dont think that means that doesnt lie underneath. Racism is something that is hard to let go and even if he wasnt racist I was speaking more to resentment for how he was treated since that did come from (mostly) from folks with a fairer complexion I am taking a bit of a leap ...I dont know the man. And liek I said to me it seems he has softened overall ... I dont back away from what I said, but I agree it was a genralization ...based on some comments I read back in the day. So I appreciate you giving another perspective ...great post.

[Chinook]

I think that is fair and maybe Im painting with to broad of a brush, but even Malcom X warmed to help from white folks, so I dont think that means that doesnt lie underneath. Racism is something that is hard to let go and even if he wasnt racist I was speaking more to resentment for how he was treated since that did come from (mostly) from folks with a fairer complexion I am taking a bit of a leap ...I dont know the man. And liek I said to me it seems he has softened overall ... I dont back away from what I said, but I agree it was a genralization ...based on some comments I read back in the day. So I appreciate you giving another perspective ...great post.

I can tell you from experience that old black men have a complicated relationship with racism. My guess is Russell is not racist in an interpersonal sense, but he could be prejudiced in a populist sense. Many old people have little issue making friends with people of other races, but they maintain some remnants of the social psychology they grew up learning. So for a man like Russell, the idea that white people did not consider blacks equal and that blacks had to take everything they got by force probably does persist in his mind. But I don't think that ever really manifested to him wanting to attack individual white people. For Panthers in the 60s, their was this idea of the White Man keeping blacks down, which was pretty much what hippies were saying but without racial distinction. So if anything, I think Russell sees "white people "not as actually people he interacts with, but rather as a cultural system he had to break through in order to reach success.

[DMC]

Except Bill didn't have to break through anything. He's genetically gifted and played basketball for a living and banged white chicks. These guys got more racial profiling in China and abroad than in the US. The Chinese are racist as fuck, and they don't give a fuck about hiding it. People like Rogue are fat, racist immigrants who pretend to hate their own people just to disguise their hate for the white man who built this country up from buffalo shit and indians.

[Latarian Milton]

Except Bill didn't have to break through anything. He's genetically gifted and played basketball for a living and banged white chicks. These guys got more racial profiling in China and abroad than in the US. The Chinese are racist as fuck, and they don't give a fuck about hiding it. People like Rogue are fat, racist immigrants who pretend to hate their own people just to disguise their hate for the white man who built this country up from buffalo shit and indians.
at least we can reach the agreement that it was the white people who built up the world's best industrialized country upon nothing, not the yellow immigrants who came to this country in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

[DMC]

at least we can reach the agreement that it was the white people who built up the world's best industrialized country upon nothing, not the yellow immigrants who came to this country in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Even though your people did help construct the railroads, and by "help" I mean do the laundry and cook noodles. Oh and a few of them maybe laid a rail or two, but not much.

[Latarian Milton]

Even though your people did help construct the railroads, and by "help" I mean do the laundry and cook noodles. Oh and a few of them maybe laid a rail or two, but not much.
and i can't think of even one thing those modern-day immigrants like yourself have done to this country except taking a lion share of the welfare that you motherfuckers never deserved.

[Thebesteva]

Bill Russell is a good dude. Even tho you're supposed to hate everything Celtic as a Laker fan, he is a genuine guy TBH