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Sports Briefs: Celtics honored in wet ceremony at Fenway Park
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Published: June 21, 2008
A fast-moving thunderstorm didn't dampen the Fenway Park fans' spirit for the NBA champion Boston Celtics last night.
Honored during a brief pregame ceremony as heavy rain was falling, the NBA champs -- atop three duck boats -- entered from center field and circled Fenway to a standing ovation, a shortened scene from their parade through downtown on Thursday.
With the Red Sox plays wearing green jerseys usually reserved for St. Patrick's Day during spring training in Florida, the Celtics brought the NBA championship trophies from four seasons to Fenway. The players wore their warmups, with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett leading their teammates with pumping fists and waves to a crowd as the rain was pouring and the grounds crew was putting the tarp on the field.
The Red Sox also had their grounds crew cut out a shamrock in the center-field grass prior to the game.
On the center-field scoreboard, a brief video tribute was played before they rode out with Queen's We are the Champions playing in the background. The team brought their trophies from this season, 1981, ‘84 and ‘86, four of the NBA-leading 17 the franchise has captured.
Former Celtics Jo Jo White and Cedrick Maxwell also were in attendance.
A few minutes after it was over, a large rainbow was shining in the distance.
More basketball
■ The New York Knicks added three assistants to Coach Mike D'Antoni's staff yesterday, retaining Herb Williams from the staff of former coach Isiah Thomas and signing two former Phoenix Suns assistants, Phil Weber and Dan D'Antoni.
Dan D'Antoni, Mike's older brother, was an assistant in Phoenix for three seasons and before that coached for 30 years at Socastee High School in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Weber, from Northport, N.Y., was an assistant in Phoenix for nine years, including 4½ under Mike D'Antoni.
He was a college assistant at Florida, Chaminade and Iona.
Football
■ Antonio Henton, Ohio State's backup quarterback, is expected to transfer to Georgia Southern, according to a report Thursday night on the Web site of The Columbus Dispatch.
Patrick Osterman, a Georgia Southern spokesman, wouldn't confirm the transfer and said that Henton is "not enrolled in classes at this moment."
Georgia Southern's offensive coordinator, Rance Gillespie, was Henton's coach at Peach County High School in Fort Valley, Ga. Henton, a 6-2, 210-pound redshirt sophomore, has been battling redshirt freshman Joe Bauserman for the No. 1 backup spot behind senior starter Todd Boeckman.
■ Running back Marshawn Lynch of the Buffalo Bills is expected to plead guilty next week to an unspecified charge stemming from a hit-and-run accident involving his SUV, Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark said yesterday.
Clark declined to detail the charge but said a tentative plea agreement assumes Lynch was driving his 2008 Porsche Cayenne when it hit a woman crossing a Buffalo intersection early May 31, leaving the victim with a bruised hip and in need of stitches.
Soccer
■ Bob Bradley, the coach of the U.S. men's soccer team, added youth to his roster for Sunday's World Cup qualifier at Barbados after the Americans opened an eight-goal lead in the home-and-home series.
The 18-man roster includes three players with no national-team experience -- goalkeepers Dominic Cervi and Chris Switz and forward Chad Barrett -- and two with one national-team match each -- midfielders Danny Szetela and John Thorrington.
Also on the roster are: goalkeeper Brad Guzan; defenders Carlos Bocanegra, Dan Califf, Jay DeMerit, Drew Moor, Oguchi Onyewu and Heath Pearce; midfielders DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley, Sacha Kljestan and Eddie Lewis; and forwards Freddy Adu and Chris Rolfe.
■ Turkey took a 3-1 shootout victory against Croatia to advance to the semifinals of the European Championship yesterday in Vienna.
The Turks needed a tying goal in injury time of the extra period after a 0-0 draw in regulation, just moments after the Croats seemingly had won it.
Semih Sunturk, who later scored in the shootout, got the equalizer from just inside the area off a free kick by goalkeeper Rustu Recber from near midfield.
Hockey
■ John Anderson became the coach of the Atlanta Thrashers yesterday. He replaces General Manager Don Waddell, who became interim coach when Bob Hartley was fired early last season. Anderson led the Chicago Wolves, the Thrashers AHL affialiate, to a league title and has won five championships in 13 seasons as a minor-league coach.
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