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A living legend back in town

Bill Russell

Jeannette Andre photographed Bill Russell at the unveiling of his statue outside City Hall today.

This wasn't Russell's first viewing of the statue, though. On Wednesday, he and President Obama took a look:

Russell and Obama
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Comments

this amazing and overdue moment was lost in the hub-bub over the Sox. Especially in the Globe and Boston.com, both of whom seem a little too eager to please their new overlord.

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Anyone who has ever crossed paths with him knows he was an ass. Hated the fan and refused to sign autographs for kids or anyone.

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Same dude arrested at an airport with a loaded gun in his luggage.

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In the airport "incident," it was all about self-defense.

Wait, I got it: You're just a troll!

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about half the guys on the Red Sox.

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so you can skip the ass/hate part.

Marched to a different drummer...I don't hold that against him.

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Really makes you want to love a city. Yup. Shit smeared on your walls, stuff broken and scattered is quite the welcome, eh?

Larry Bird was beyond an asshole and was worshipped for far fewer titles because he was translucent - and even he knew that was bullshit and called it out!

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larry bird was god.

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What about Larry's daughter from his first marriage, Corrie? You know the one who he refused to have contact with or acknowledge in public for the first 20- years of her life? She was nothing but a court-ordered child support check to him.

You can't get any more asshole-ish than that.

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I crossed paths with him once and he was nice and genuine.

So he doesn't sign autographs and that makes him an ass? He has a long standing and famous policy for not signing autographs. A personal choice. He'd much rather shake your hand and talk to you than a cold, impersonal autograph.

That guy took a lot of abuse from the fans here. How would you react if someone broke into your house and took a shit on your bed?

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for not signing autographs. Was he an asshole?

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And what could be the difference between Mr. Newman and Mr. Russell?

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2 feet?

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…tall people are a-holes. QED.

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aren't people who ask for autographs the real assholes? excluding kids of course but how many kids are asking Bill Russell for his autograph?

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Boston getting overly fixated on the Red Sox has been a thing since long before John Henry bought the Globe. Although I wouldn't be particularly surprised if he's encouraging that sort of reaction, it doesn't take much pushing to get the Globe to wax poetic about the Sox.

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with a big photo too, taking up about 1/3 of the front page. How is that being "lost in the hub-bub" ?

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Russell lived in a town north of Boston with his family and there were a few assholes harassing The Russells by dumping their garbage at night. Bill went to see the chief of police and reported that racoons were knocking over his garbage cans so he was going to buy a shotgun. Apparently the chief got the word out and the assholes stopped fucking with The Russell Family. I love that guy.

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Is the sole reason he has a statue.

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Not a single racist comment was made.

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You called Russell, well, you know what you called him. No, you didn't use the N word or any of its synonyms, but please.

I also doubt you would have used the same word to describe any of the white athletes who've done awful things - white athletes who probably never had thugs break into their homes and do what was done in Russell's.

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Anyone who endured what Mr Russell has over the years in Boston deserves to be bitter. He never asked for a statue and was very gracious for the whole ordeal. The fact that people are on here calling him an asshole for not signing autographs is proof enough why Bill was never in love with Boston. All the papers saying Boston is "past those dark times" are only fooling themselves. Mr Russell will never get the respect he deserves in Boston. Racisim aside, the city will only ever like players that don't speak their mind and sing along to mindless dropkick murphys songs. Being white helps too.

Bill deserves the statue. Just wish the city knew it needed it too.

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