So last night the Celtics crushed the Lakers and took their 17^th title. I am delighted.

As I watched the celebration late last night, it took me back to the Eighties, when I lived in Boston and was a Celtics fanatic. I remember two nights before my college graduation in 1985, when I went over to the Charles Hotel where my roommate John Lightfoot’s parents were staying, to watch a game in the Finals of that season (we lost that year, FYI). We hated the Lakers: they had the telegenic “Magic” Johnson as their star; they had the fancy-shmancy “Showtime” fast break offense; they had all the celebs like Jack Nicholson; they were the glamour boys. We had an ugly slow white guy named Larry Bird (and an even uglier white guy named Kevin McHale, who bore a startling resemblance to the Addams’ Family Lurch) as our star; we had a grinding, boring defense that was totally unexciting; and, in the pre Matt Damon/Ben Affleck/Mark Wahlberg days, our biggest celebrity in Boston was Julia Child.

But as much as I loved the Celtics, I was always a little uncomfortable with the faint whiff of racism behind the Eighties Lakers-Celtics rivalry. It felt sometimes to me like some of my fellow Bostonians rooted for our team because it was the white team. But last night I saw folks in the Garden go crazy for an all black Celtics team, one that played just as boring a style of defensive play as my heroes in the Eighties, one that lacked the glamour of the Lakers still, but one that seemed just as loved and embraced by the Boston of 2008 as their predecessors had been by the Boston of the Eighties. The only color that seemed to matter was green.

This time, I could cheer without reservation.

Kevin Says... | No Comments »

I am involved in a lot of causes and often get asked to head up fundraising committees because, well, most people are wimps and are terrified of it. One friend replied to an email today with “it has gotten to the point that when I see them [your emails] I just delete them… I wonder how committed one can be to so many causes and how effective my donation would be.”

I see the former point the writer makes: “I wonder how committed one can be to so many causes” – I ask myself sometimes! But I see no link of that valid point to the end of the sentence (“I wonder …how effective my donation would be”) – wouldn’t the effectiveness of the group have nothing to do with who is asking for money (although I would hope that my friends would trust I have done some due diligence about the causes I get involved with).

Now, to be fair, this is not every reaction I get. Some people understand that fundraising isn’t fun work to do. One friend wrote back “Although you are a PRO at it, I know it is hard to ask people to contribute money (maybe it becomes easier? Maybe it is easy when you believe in the cause?).” Indeed it is easier when you believe in the cause (which is a given – otherwise I would not be spending my time asking for money for them) but, no, it never becomes easy. You always feel a little bit like a stalker or an unwelcome guest when you ask people to support a cause, no matter how worthy you know that cause to be.

I guess I would ask readers to remember that, when your friends ask you to support a cause, they are doing it because they genuinely care about whatever it is they are asking you to support; that it isn’t easy or fun for them but makes them feel vulnerable and awkward; and that – if it wasn’t for folks stepping up and asking for money – the good work that needs to get done to make the world a better place just wouldn’t get done. Organizations and candidates can’t photosynthesize: someone has to pay for the good work they are doing and want to continue to do, which means someone has to ask for the money to pay for that work. So don’t delete your fundraising friends’ emails, don’t put them on your blocked senders list, and don’t use your caller ID to screen out their calls: it’s OK to say no (we understand you can’t support every cause, no matter how generous – the need is infinite and all our resources are finite) – but at least give us a listen and a response.

Kevin Says... | No Comments »