Celtics, Boston sports aren’t suffering from receding support

Last week, the Sporting News ranked Boston the third greatest sports city for the calendar year 2008-2009; Boston actually slipped from first to third place. After all, it has been an entire year since the city has won a championship.Bostonians are lucky. We live in a city where winning is more than just a nice story; winning has become expected, a way of life – a point clearly made by last weekend’s epic failures of two of the city’s finest clutch performers, Jonathan Papelbon and Tom Brady.Even in a world where his average weekly paycheck will eclipse this writer’s entire annual salary, Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce is concerned. While Pierce may not be worried about his own club, what scares him is the lack of a financial commitment from other less fortunate clubs in smaller sports markets.”I think it’s going to be a very different kind of year,” Pierce said. “You obviously have your teams at the top, your teams in the middle. But the difference this year is that the teams at the top got better, and the teams at the bottom didn’t get any better.”To Pierce’s larger point, the NBA’s elite teams have added Hall of Fame talent, from the Celtics’ addition of Rasheed Wallace to Orlando’s trade for Vince Carter. One needs not look further than the Atlantic Division to understand Pierce’s point.Also on the mind of the captain is the well-being and livelihood of his former colleagues. The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement says that teams must carry a minimum of 13 players and a maximum of 15. NBA owners in smaller markets have been trimming rosters and slashing payroll, taking jobs away from otherwise NBA-caliber players.Pierce explained, “You have to factor in the economy, factor in rule changes, changes as far as players going to different places, players not getting guaranteed deals. It’s changing with the times ? There are guys right now who you think, ‘Man, they should be on someone’s roster with a guaranteed deal,’ but teams are cutting their rosters down to 13 guys.”Former Celtics and former All-Stars Antoine Walker and Wally Szczerbiak are prime examples of quality talent without a deal and without a home. Pierce himself just celebrated his 32nd birthday, making him just one year younger than the now-unemployed Walker and Szczerbiak.With less than two weeks remaining before the Green take the court in a meaningful game, it is refreshing to know that we live in a city where sports will never suffer due to a lack of financial commitment from team owners. Then again, we live in a city where fans continue to pay ever-rising ticket prices and players play to sold-out venues. Recession? Maybe, but hey, I got tickets to the game.