Celtic Shakespeare

Oh Po
Oh Po
Where art thou oh Po

to be or not to be, that is the question. to tank or not to tank, to keep doc or not to keep doc. to trade player x or not.

Nicely done Jeff, I really liked it! You and Shakespeare, who’da thunk it?

Ricky’s follow through didn’t bother me. I’m sure he wasn’t happy about the trade. Probably didn’t have many fond memories of rivers either.

Indeed, this is an important summer and I’m supremely confident that mistakes will be made. We must hope for one of the top two picks or it could be very ugly.

Speaking of mistakes, Zoolander was a huge one, in my opinion. All of the injuries and the 32nd largest contract in the league. It’s a match made in heaven. It’s this type of deal that makes me shudder every time I hear a trade rumor linked to Danny Boy.

Also liked the Po reference. Oh POmeo etc. Have to use it in the chat room.

 :D :D

The blogger doth quote too much ;). Seriously, though, great idea for an article, Jeff. I’m a fan of The Bard myself. Once one gets used to the language, and has a good edition of his plays that has notes on the antiquated words, his plays are fantastic. I use the Yale Shakespeare that Barnes and Noble published.

When watching the plays live, the acting company and their interpretation can make or break a play. I used to despise Macbeth, since the performances I saw were weak. Then the National Shakespeare Company performed it at my school, and their production was awesome. Not a lot of props, just great acting and excellent direction. The scene where Lady Macbeth eggs him on to kill Duncan was so erotic that if he hadn’t done it, one of us would have. It is now one of my favorite plays.

For movies, you can’t beat Branagh’s Henry V. I’ve seen it many times, but one time sticks out in particular. I wander into the midshipmen run pub we had on campus, which had the only bigscreen TV that was at the academy. To my great surprise about 30 of the football players were watching it on the bigscreen. I knew most of these guys personally, and I would have been less shocked to see them flipping cars over on the roadside than to see them watching that film.

I sat down and watched it with them, and was kind of taken aback by their apparent concentration on the film. When Branagh finished Henry’s “band of brothers” speech before the battle at Agincourt, they all shot out of their seats and whooped it up as if they were about to go in to battle with him. I’ll never forget seeing that. Such is the power of Shakespeare’s language when delivered in the right way.

If you have the money to make the trip, I recommend the Oregon Shakespear festival in Ashland, Oregon. Beatiful piece of country out there.

And for my next non-sequiter, I believe the Celtics should select Al Horford if they are not lucky enough to get a number one or number two pick in the 2007 draft. This guy is a winner and guaranteed to improve any team right away, which is something Pierce wants and needs at this point in his career. I am optomistic any pick in the top five will nicely complement the rapidly developing current nucleus.

By the way, did anyone read the Duncan quote about Al – “he’s going to be a great one.” Yee haw!

Jeff I was impressed, thank you

   Willy Shake? Never heard of him. What’s his vertical leap? How about his cross-over? Has he got big boys’s three point range? That name sounds like he’s one of those bad-arse dudes out of Rucker ?

“How poor are they that have not patience!
What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
Thou know’st we work by wit, and not by witchcraft;
And wit depends on dilatory time.”

Here’s to a title run in 2009!

Excellent post Jeff. Took a lot of thought and very fun to read.

Nice job Jeff. Way to break things up a little bit, and educate us as well!

Very clever, good read. This is going to be a very interesting offseason, I can’t wait. The draft, and possibly trades. I think this is the year a big trade will be made this offseason. We have so many young, good players that have proven they are solid NBA contributors. I would like to keep just about all of them if we could, but it’s just not possible. There’s not enough positions and minutes to go around. We must decide which players are in the nucleus for our future and use the rest to bring in a piece that could fill any weaknesses we have. I think the main players to build around should be Pierce, Jefferson, Green, West, Rondo, and maybe Tony Allen. I really was liking what Tony was doing before he went down. He brought a toughness and swagger to the team that we didn’t seem to have before. As much as I like Perk, Gomes, Telfair, Powe, and even at times Allen Ray, we just don’t have room for them all. I still believe one day Telfair might all of a sudden “get it”, but I don’t know if it will be here in Boston. If we land a top 2 pick, watch out because this team will be for real in the next few years.

A family story, perhaps apocraphyl. An aunt couldnt use her tickets to Lear, gave them to a member of the secretarial staff at her firm. Next day: Q “how was the play” A “You could have told me it wasnt in English.” Unkindest cut?

We had to memorize the St. Crispin speach from Henry V when I was in 6th grade. That was my intro to Shakespeare and it grew from there. Henry IV is still my favorite piece because of Hal’s rise from obscurity to prominance…Falstaff’s character remains one of the most diverse written bit parts IMO…

Nice piece…

Thanks Jeff interesting. Remember thee – Hamlet, when I first read what you mentioned about Red and DJ I immediately thought of the respect Red had for DJ, it might of been DJ’s night to be honored as a Celtic. Red spoke, but I cannot remember all the words that were said but the look Red gave DJ for his playing days were so appreciated as a Celtic.

Will Ainge draft the best prospect / athlete / brain type? Or will he take Greg Oden? I’m starting to wonder if he wants to convince us this team is done rebuilding, changing rotation minutes and lineups, and is ready to go now and move unnecessary assets — then Oden is the way to go. We have all the offense and wingmen we need. We do not have all the defense and all the centers we need. Durant would leave us still figuring it out, would mean the departure of Gerald, would mean Pierce has to wait to see how things shake out (he’s no spring chicken). Oden would mean we would have a wonderful, well-defined, frontline and we would finally realize we are a halfcourt team.

The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves that we are underlings – Shakespear – (the question is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with failure)

The answer; this current group of Celtics has shown us they are not!

When will all these troublesome questions and doubts be answered?
“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow”. Macbeth

“Come writers and critics who prophesize with pen,
then keep your eyes wide the chance won’t come again,
and don’t speak too soon for the wheel’s still in spin,
and there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’,
for the loser now will be later to win’
for the times they are a changin’”. Bob Dylan

The Shakespeare was fun. Thanks from here for giving me, a native Rhode Islander but now an out-of-towner in NY, the chance to read about and comment on the Celtics. I was very down on NBA play in the 90’s, but team play has made resurgence and I’m enjoying the league more.

As I’ve said (optimist always with what we have) To maintain the literary metaphor, I think this team is turning the page to a new enjoyable chapter in their history. I agree that a healthy Wally will play some very useful roles on and off the court for this improving team (let’s hope for a couple of mostly health years for Wally). I’m becoming more convinced we do not need to get a top two pick and that any pick from 1 – 5 will be a big plus (but a one or a two could well add to the Celtics; story/legend and pride).