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Boom! This is Books & Biceps #322!

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BOOKS

The Boston Globe Story of the Boston Celtics by Chad Finn

If you’re a Boston Celtics fan stop reading right now, click on the link above, and buy this book. Just do it. There’s no need to hesitate. If you’re an NBA fan or grew up with the Celtics in your sports life in the 70s, 80s, early 90s, 2000s and today, then do the same. Just buy it. And lastly, if you are simply a fan of excellent journalism and world-class writing, buy it.

This book is a phenomenal compilation of the very best Globe articles by the very best Globe writers (legends: Bob Ryan, Leigh Montville, Jackie Mac, etc…) dating all the way back to 1946! We’ve got columns, features, long form stories, game reports and more on everyone from Red Auerbach, Bill Russell and Bob Cousy to Joe Mazzulla, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

It covers everything, and it’s all been organized and edited by one of my favorite current writers, the Boston Globe’s Chad Finn.

And since Chad’s awesome, and I had a TON of questions about how you put a book like this together AND about the book itself, he agreed to do an exclusive Books & Biceps Q&A for us. This was a real treat. And it’s a long one, so be sure to click through and read the whole thing. Enjoy:

FINKEL: While you could read this book chronologically, taking little bites out of Celtics history at a time, I found that it's more fun to bounce around and let the headlines and stories grab you. One of my favorite random articles that I read was from April of 1979 and it was called "Cowens Says Enough - Quits Coaching". It's a piece by Leigh Montville and it opens with Dave Cowens trying to light a cigar. It's brilliant. Then he explains why being a player/coach didn't work out. There was something quintessentially "Celtics" about this piece and Montville nailed it, as always. How often did you read his pieces and get blown away by the details he opened with? Did you have a favorite open of his?

FINN: Oh, man, it’s so cool that you pointed this out. The most challenging thing – in an awesome, fulfilling way – about putting this book together was deciding which story to use when different writers had touched on the same subject.

This was particularly true in the ‘80s on the occasions when Montville, Bob Ryan, Dan Shaughnessy, or a little later Jackie MacMullan and Ian Thomsen would write about the same subject. There were multiple incredibly written stories to choose from (which is one reason why the Larry Bird/Big 3 chapter is by far the longest in the book – the subject matter, sure, but also the extraordinary caliber of the work during the Globe’s heyday as a “writer’s paper.”)

The story you reference is from the late ‘70s, but it is a good example of this – I used Montville’s column rather than a news story of Cowens quitting because it was so rich with detail. It was quintessentially Celtics and quintessentially Cowens too, with his intention to light up a cigar after his last game in the spirit of Red Auerbach, but also in a self-deprecating way.

If you polled Globe columnists past and present, they would tell you that Montville was the best at the job in the paper’s history, I think. My favorite piece in the book is by him – a whimsical look in 1988 about Larry Bird’s sculpture and aging. Only Montville could pull off such a piece. 

Up until his death, Red Auerbach was the main character for the Celtics. Stars would come and go. Superstars would come and go. Hall of Famers would come and go! But there was one Red. I found this quote from him in a feature Jackie Mac wrote about him: "If you do something great, kid, then don't apologize to anyone. If you're a winner, act like one." He was a man of a thousand quotes. Do you have one that sticks with you?

I do, and it’s one fans might have thought was apocryphal, but it’s true. In 1950, Red’s first year here, the Celtics had the first pick in the draft. Fans clamored for him to select local hero Bob Cousy, who had dazzled at Holy Cross in Worcester. Red, being Red, was not about to cave to the pressure. “I don’t give a darn for sentiment of names,’’ he said. “That goes for Cousy or anyone else. A local yokel doesn’t bring more than a dozen fans into your building.” Imagine calling Cooz a “local yokel.” Red didn’t select him either, instead taking a big man named Charlie Share from Duquesne. The Celtics ended up with Cousy in a dispersal draft, and Red quickly learned that the local yokel was rather special after all. Just goes to show that even geniuses like Red needed a little bit of good fortune along the way.

The tone for the entire success of the early Celtics was set by Red Auerbach's relationship with Bill Russell. Their relationship has been examined for decades, but by re-reading articles written in the moment, we get a good feel for how things were originally, before all the titles. Is there one moment or conversation you read from the early years that gave you new insight into their relationship?

It’s funny, there’s so much in those early stories about Russell’s time with the Celtics and how copacetic his views on the proper way to play basketball were with Red’s. But the greatest insight on their relationship is actually a quote John Powers used in his obit on Russell in August 2022. “Anytime he found me drifting, he found a way to call me back,’’ said Russell, on how Auerbach trusted him to self-motivate. “Not order me back, but call me back. He always let me know more than anybody else, he knew what I was doing. I really loved working with him. It’s almost like we were soulmates.” Soulmates! Now that’s powerful.

To read the rest of this awesome interview, where Chad and I talk about Kevin McHale, Larry, Bird, Reggie Lewis, Paul Pierce’s best games and more, CLICK HERE!

BICEPS

After sharing that my back went out last week, along with the stretches I was doing to get my body right, I ran a poll in Books & Biceps asking how many of you have back issues. The response was overwhelming. It appears that by no stretch (pun intended) am I alone. It looks like about half of you have the same issues I have, where your back just locks up once or twice a year, while some have it worse and a lucky few have the back of an Olympic gymnast.

HOWEVER, my biggest takeaway didn’t come from the poll itself. It came from the comments. And this is why I love our B&B crew so much.

A lot of you who have successfully overcome back issues (or managed to minimize them) wrote in about a series of stretches call The McGill Big 3, developed by renowned back expert, Dr. Stuart McGill.

I had heard of these before, but never done a deep dive on them. Judging from how many of you rely on this short, efficient sequence to “bulletproof” your back from injuries, I should have checked them out sooner.

If you were like me and weren’t familiar, the guys over at Squat University give an excellent breakdown of why they work, along with demonstrations for each movement here. HIGHLY RECOMMEND:

QUICK FLEXES

The McGill Big 3, along with my other stretching protocols and lots of laying on my stomach got me back into the pool early Sunday AM. The “welcome back” workout was rough (but this photo is cool):

And I made a quick video thanking all of you who have pre-ordered my Generation Griffey book so far if you missed it:

DID YOU PRE-ORDER MY NEW BOOK, GENERATION GRIFFEY, YET?

WE NEED YOU!

GENERATION GRIFFEY: RANKFEST - The Ultimate 90s Dude Countdown (90 Columns Ranking What Made Us Legendary)

If you grew up in the 80s and 90s, you will LOVE this book. It is a Books & Biceps guarantee. I literally wrote it for you. For US!

And more importantly, I’m putting this digital book out myself through my Meathead Media imprint. Which means it’s even more rewarding when you buy it because it is 100% on me. I wrote it, hired the designers, editors, etc…

I love these digital books because we can be super creative and break some publishing rules with dimensions and layouts and stuff.

And when you buy a copy, it’s personal. It means more to me. And it helps support this Books & Biceps newsletter and our crew.

Our goal is 100 PRE-ORDERS THIS WEEKEND.

YOUR ORDER TODAY, RIGHT NOW, COUNTS…

Let’s gooooooooooooo:

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→ USE THIS LINK to try Beehiiv and you won’t regret it!

PS: You still reading Gus and Mallory? Thanks for getting through the whole thing! No skimming!