Father Time

It figures that Shank finds a way to criticize older professional athletes in a respectful manner in his weekly CNN / SI column.

NEW YORK -- I was in Miami last week when the Miami Heat dusted off the old Boston Celtics. The Celts had been hoping that 39-year-old Shaquille O'Neal would rescue their thirtysomething stars, but Shaq never got on track. After contributing early in the season, O'Neal succumbed to leg injuries. After Feb. 1, he played in only three games -- never more than six minutes.

When it was over, Cedric Maxwell, once an NBA Finals MVP, looked at the final stat sheet and said, "Father Time wins again."

I thought of the Old Man and the C's when I got to New York for the weekend series featuring the Red Sox and the Yankees. The Sox swept the Yankees, but the big story in the Bronx was the Posada Adventure.

There's nothing wrong with mentioning this fact. What is wrong is the apparent glee with which Shank writes a few dozen Celtics columns over the past few years mentioning their collective age ad nauseum, like something to bludgeon them with. The other difference(s) - this column exudes a certain amount of respect for Posada. I fail to see this same level of respect with any consistency applied to any local athletes (exclude Adrian Gonzalez - I think you need at least 6 months on Shank's radar screen to be graded), and you'd think he might find room for praise elsewhere. I just find it interesting that Shank finds the time to hype a New York Yankee and next to no one else. Not saying I'm surprised, mind you...