Archive for the ‘Offseason’ Category

KG: "Pass the spicy tuna roll, bro!"

Loyal readers of this blog may remember that my girlfriend missed her chance to chat with Dino Radja because she was checking out a lavender sale when he walked by on the Croatian island of Hvar. A missed opportunity, but no biggie—Dino’s retired now, and the appropriateness of approaching a player or celebrity in public is always questionable. (Actually, is it even questionable? Isn’t the right thing to do to just leave them alone and let them enjoy themselves? I think that’s probably true, so please keep that in mind as I proceed with a tongue-in-cheek lament about Saturday night’s events). 

Well, my girlfriend’s sister lives in Toronto, where the Celtics played a pre-season game Sunday. On Saturday night at about 9 p.m., I received the following text message from her: “I am in the same restaurant as Kevin Garnett.” The restaurant was Spice Route, an upscale Asian bistro with couches, pillows, statues of Buddha and the usual stuff you find at upscale Asian bistros. 

I replied back asking her if it would be possible to talk to him or take his picture, even though I understand how uncomfortable it can be to sidle up and greet a superstar athlete when they are enjoying a nice evening out. I’m a reporter at my “real job,” so I have uncomfortable conversations all the time, but those conversations usually take place in a clearly understood reporter-source context. This is much different, and I didn’t expect her to do it. 

But about an hour later, another text message arrived:

“Paul Pierce just walked in.” » More: My Girlfriend’s Family: 0-2 in Celtic Encounters

Remember this shirt? 

That slogan on the back, “We Not Me,” was the perfect mantra for a team of veterans who came together for a goal larger than themselves. 

Now an Illinois man is claiming Adidas swiped the idea from him, according to mediabistro. The story: W. Brand Bobosky, a do-gooder from Naperville, Ill., began using the phrase “We Not Me” around 1999 to promote various fundraisers in Naperville, where he was once president of both the local Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club. (And if you can’t trust the Rotary Club, who can you trust?). He started putting the phrase on keychains and pins, and in 2004 he hired attorneys at a Chicago intellectual property law firm to register for trademark and copyright protections on the phrase, according to a press release (via mediabistro). Bobosky “started small but envisioned infinite growth for the catchy phrase.”

Bobosky even created a Web site to promote the phrase. 

Flash forward to late 2007 and early 2008, when Adidas rolled out its “Basketball is a Brotherhood” campaign featuring KG, Chauncey Billups, Tracy McGrady, Gilbert Arenas and others. The campaign featured the “We Not Me” phrase without permission from Bobosky, according to his lawsuit. Bobosky saw the ads and contacted Adidas about a possible licensing agreement, but the company either or ignored him or turned him down, the suit says. 

The slogan’s popularity jumped when the C’s won the title and Adidas marketed the above shirt. (Though the lawsuit incorrectly states that Kevin Garnett was named the MVP of the Finals. We all know it was Paul Pierce. They need to let basketball fans proofread these things). 

The suit names the Celtics and Garnett as individual defendants, though it’s unclear why, since every count seeking damages names Adidas and not the team or KG. (The ad agency that came up with the campaign is also not named, according to mediabistro). 

I reached out to Stephen Drinnon, the Texas-based lawyer handling the case for Bobosky, to ask why the C’s and KG are named, but he hasn’t gotten back to me as of now. (It should also be noted that Bobosky found some way to file the case in the Eastern District of Texas, long known as one of the most plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions in the U.S. for intellectual property infringement cases). 

I’ll let you know more when I get info. Suffice it to say I don’t think this lawsuit is exactly going to bankrupt the Celtics.

With the start of training camp yesterday, the Celtics roster would appear to be settled for the time being. Not necessarily so, according to Danny Ainge after being questioned by Celtics Hub Monday afternoon. Lots amid the endless glut of throwaway quotes one would expect at media day, I asked Danny about the guard situation and got an interesting response. 

Celtics Hub: Any chance you guys might be bringing in another guard to training camp?

Danny Ainge: There is always that chance yeah, there is always that chance we bring in someone else but this is what we are going to camp with right now today and we will see what happens.

Sounds like someone is waiting on a call back or two from a veteran point. Another reporter proceeded to begin to ask Danny another question at this point, however after a few seconds, Danny felt the need to further clarify himself to the guard inquiry and turned back to me to finishing responding to the question:

Ainge: I don’t feel like we need to bring anyone else in, if that’s what your asking. Could we? Sure, but I don’t think we have a need for it.

Interesting statements by Danny here, as the door was definitely left ajar by him, perhaps a bit too much to his liking when he first answered my question.

He clearly did not want to make a statement that was an indictment on his current PG backup options of Eddie House, Marquis Daniels, and potentially Lester Hudson, as shown with his secondary response. However, the way he responded to the question initially makes me feel like the team is potentially waiting on a couple guards to make up their mind after giving them what likely would be non-guaranteed contract invite to camp. An understandable offer given the amount of money the team has committed for this season as is. 

There are certainly some candidates out there whose names have been thrown around here many a time (Tyronn Lue, Bobby Jackson, Carlos Arroyo) just to name a few. However, the longer the week goes, my guess the less likelihood we see another Celtics in uniform, since you would expect Doc to want to see them have some significant run with the team if they were to have any shot of making it. 

Curious to see what take on this is though.