To recap, Mr. Pierce played in the NBA for the Boston Celtics for 15 years. Currently, he co-hosts a popular Sport's show in LA. His Boston Celtics, won the NBA Championship last year.
Opening game this year, round 2 of playoffs... versus the NY Knicks.... Celtics were up by 20, Knicks stormed back, beat Celtics in overtime. Incensed, Paul readied for Game 2 (at Boston) by proclaiming to his cohosts, "Bet the house baby.... if Boston loses Game 2, I'm WALKING to work." TWENTY MILES. "In my robe...... barefooted."
Be careful what you wish for.........
Exact same scenario... Celtics led.. Knicks staged comeback... LOST game 2. Ruh roh.
TV captured Mr. Pierce as he actually jogged, shadowboxed (to the theme of Rocky) the last few steps up, making good on his (outlandish, sorry) promise. "I can't believe I made it. I'm never doing this again, I'm never making a bet like this again."
For the start of the broadcast, his partners guided him out in a wheelchair as Pierce waived Celtic green pom-poms. "There he is... his legs are shot."
Band camp, long ago........... VICTOR! YOU'VE TOLD THIS ONE!
I know, BUT, I tried digging thru all my stupid blogs to find the actual blog, couldn't....so, I PROMISE this will be a Cliffsnotes version.
A Saturday afternoon........ Fall, 1977....
My first REAL teaching job. Platte County High School. High School PE Teacher plus, Girl's Basketball Coach. Drum roll............... $9,800.... but hey, the paychecks were spread out for the calendar year (versus just the nine months)......
Mid-way through the Football Season, Platte County was 1-4. Next up on the schedule, a Saturday afternoon, 1pm away game against Kearney High School, undefeated at 5-0.
"HEY SCHULTZE" the football coach hollered.. (I think it's prolly year three or so before you're esteemed, referred to as "Coach").. . "We told the kids 'If you beat Kearney, we (the coaches) will walk home after the game." Bear in mind, it's 26 miles from Kearney back to Platte City. "Will you walk with us?... George (Principal) and Dan (Art Teacher) said they would."
As a newbie, did I really have a choice, even though I wasn't coaching football? A quick silent rethink, "let's see, we're 1-4, Kearney is 5-0", "Sure Coach, I'll walk with you."
Be careful what you wish for.
I'll be damned if Platte County, assuredly fired up by the Coach's promise, played nearly flawless football, and actually beat Kearney handily. GULP. Of course the kids were HOOTIN' AND HOLLERIN', laughing and saying "You old guys better get-ta walking!"...
1pm game. Musta been about 3:30pm that Saturday we started walking. Narrow, 2 lane highway (92 Hwy to be exact). Did I mention 26 miles? Oh yeah, did! No shoulder. At least 6,874 times, players, girlfriends of players, cheerleaders, pep club gals, students galore, parents - drove West... then back East.. then back West, etc.. HONKING.. LAUGHING! They all wanted to make sure we didn't hail a cab or something - so, we hadta live up to our promise. Damnit.
About halfway to halfway, DARK happened. The head coach, oldest of us all, had pep in his step all the way. Twas impressive. The other coaches pretty much kept up. I was 25 and I'll admit, I was getting tired. Principal, doing ok. Art Teacher, BIG MAN, not so much, but dadgummit he kept going.
Halfway, sometime before midnight. Smithville, MO. Wonderful parents brought us Chili. And.... even a beer. Kids, football players were still doing their West-East thing, honking, yelling, having a blast watching us suffer, walk...
The last half of the walk... ouch.. yawns.. "What the heck noise was that animal?".. Dark. No shoulder. Single file. With the moon as our guide, we actually managed to sneak in some fun, humor, and we replayed all the plays worth replaying.
26 loooooong miles later - we made it just after daybreak - to the Parking lot of the Platte County High School. A few parents, fellow co-teachers, and yeah, even some football players, were there to greet us.
The Kansas City Star caught wind of it... on Monday, brought us walkers out for a picture to simulate what it looked like when we actually arrived... a nifty article... We made it. Even the Grande' art teacher and the blisters on every inch of his feet. I think we all had moments of "I wish we hadn't"... but then life taps ya on the shoulder, and yeah, ya have to agree, "I'm GLAD we did." No way I could approach any such thing today.
Love, Victurd
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