By Jeff Jacobs, The Hartford Courant –
HARTFORD, Conn. — The Connecticut sports fan isn’t the Boston sports fan. New England geography makes for as many nuances as gaping differences. And that’s why I asked through the wonders of Twitter for opinions about Ray Allen after he agreed Friday night to join the Heat.
By bidding adieu to Boston, did my Connecticut-centric peeps think Jesus Shuttlesworth turned into Judas Shuttlesworthless?
Or did Ray do an honorable thing by turning down about $2.5 million more offered by the Celtics to pursue more championships?
“From a professional standpoint, I get why he went there — to win,” John Zorzi tweeted. “From a personal standpoint, he gets his UConn pass revoked.”
Jeff Beck, UConn and Boston fan, tweeted, “Always liked Ray. But I find this to be lame. Took the easy way out. Don’t care it’s less $. Anywhere else (would) be fine.”
“Took a significant pay cut to have a better chance at winning a ring,” Colin Kupfer tweeted. “Class act.”
“Ray is one of UConn’s greatest ambassadors,” Jon Matzner tweeted. “He deserves a shot at another ring.”
That’s two tweets for and two against, and if you think that adds up to a 50-50 split, that’s not what our unscientific Courant poll shows. Asked if Ray was a traitor or if he did the right thing, a whopping 86 percent of 717 votes cast by 6 p.m. Sunday were in support of the former UConn great.
In a SportsNation poll on ESPN.com, 64 percent were in support of Allen. On Boston.com, 7,466 votes were split this way: awful news (22 percent), Allen can be replaced (34), all good things must end (26) and Celtics will miss him (18).
None of this quantifies how hard the hard-core Celtics fans will be on Ray when he shows up in a Heat uniform at TD Garden. Remember those T-shirts after Johnny Damon left for the Yankees? “Looks like Jesus, acts like Judas, throws like Mary.” What are they going to say about Ray? “Looks like Jesus Shuttlesworth and acts like LeBron James.” Damon, now with the Indians, received a warm Fenway welcome this May for the first time since bolting the Red Sox in 2005. Boston can hold a grudge.
Erik Eichler tweeted: “As much as I hate the #Heat and think they are buying talent like the #Yankees, #RayAllen has to do what he had to do.”
Tom Shaw tweeted: “As a UConn and Knicks fan, couldn’t be more upset. Hard enough having him in Celtics uniform. Heat is worse.”
This much we do know. So many Connecticut fans can’t stand the Heat. Maybe it’s the price LeBron has to pay for using the Greenwich Boys Club for The Decision.
“Heartbroken,” Michael Reynolds, a longtime UConn and Celtic fan, tweeted from Texas.
TJ McConachie tweeted: “Championships mean more than money at this point. Perfect fit.”
Matt Farrell emailed: “Puts Boston fans’ egos back in check as they realize their blue-collar anti-Heat squad isn’t as loyal as they thought. This hurts Boston fans much more than it hurts Ray’s long-term public reception. He’s too likable a guy for resentment to linger.”
Josh Brandfon tweeted: “As a UConn alum from (and living in) MIA …awesome to have him. Prob not the angle you’re looking for, huh?”
“As a 30+ year UConn fan & a hater of all Boston sports teams, I couldn’t be happier. Probably not the demo you’re looking for,” Matthew Edwards tweeted.
Au contraire, Josh and Matthew — that’s the beauty of Connecticut sports. The state is ripped apart by New York and Boston allegiances and tied together by UConn.
Danny Maher went 18th century in his email: “With all due respect to Nathan Hale, Ray was our state hero … Ray going to the Heat (a team becoming full of Benedict Arnolds) is yet another shot to the heart this season for UConn basketball fans. We’ll forgive him, but for the next couple years, you are the enemy — you let us down Ray.”
Brian Zmarlicki of Southington emailed: “Ray Allen’s gonna take half the money and betray Garnett/Pierce to play for the Heat. Nice going.”
Here’s my favorite. Adam Rivers tweets: “Sox suck, Ray’s leaving, next thing you know my mom is gonna call and tell me Santa isn’t real … You don’t spend ¾th of your life having a favorite player and not care when he goes to the enemy.”
Dan Agabiti, sports editor of The (UConn) Daily Campus and a Celtics fan, emailed: “Allen made a decision in regard to what’s best for him. It’s not about the fans at all … Best of luck to him! (But not LeBron).”
You get the feeling that if Ray signed with the Clippers, nobody would be comparing him to Damon.
“Could have gone to any other team and it would have been fine,” Brad McMillan tweeted. “Just got the knife out of my back this morning.”
A word of advice, Ray: Avoid dancing in the smoke at your introductory press conference and going, “not two, not three …”
Erik Sarnowski tweeted: “I love Ray! I guess I’m a Heat fan now!”
“After toiling in MILW & SEA before BOS, I don’t begrudge him 1 bit,” tweeted Robert Townes of Milford, a Lakers fan who said he was friendly with Allen at UConn.
Allen, 37 this month and coming off ankle surgery, could have gotten $12 million for two years from the Celtics instead of the three-year, approximately $9.5 million deal with Miami. Yet after GM Danny Ainge actively tried to trade him — it got so far once that Doc Rivers reportedly had to go tell Ray a deal with Memphis was dead … after Doc made Avery Bradley a starter … with the Celtics signing Jason Terry to a three-year, $15 million deal while still negotiating with Allen … with Rajon Rondo and Allen unable to get along and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports pointing to this rift as a drag on the team … most of my tweeps insisted Ray made the right decision from his Connecticut home Friday.
“Wouldn’t you feel that way too?” emailed Michael Sivo, UConn sophomore and lifelong Celtic fan.
“If I was in his shoes, I probably would have done the same thing,” emailed Mac Cerullo, former managing editor at The Daily Campus. “I can’t say I’ll be rooting for him, but I can respect his decision, and I won’t let his new uniform cloud all the great memories I have of him in green.”
“(Allen) has lived his life the right way and has taken no shortcuts on his path to basketball glory,” UConn senior Mike Chapman emailed. “Does it sting? Yes. Can I blame him or was I blindsided? Absolutely not.”
Josh Postler emailed: “My entire life I have lived 20 minutes from UConn and have been a Knicks fan, and I have been taught two things. Always be loyal to UConn and hate everything about the Miami Heat. Now my favorite UConn player of all time goes to a team that historically has torched my favorite NBA team. But I can’t hold a grudge with Ray Allen. He is a consummate professional.”
Kyle Campbell, UConn senior, but not a Celtic fan, emailed: “I totally see why all of their fans are mad. He ‘Benedict Arnold-ed’ them. …but at the same time the Celtics tried to trade Allen last year and this year, which questions their allegiance to him … As a UConn fan, you have to support Ray Allen through it all.”
In his email, Tyler Wilkinson pointed out how Pat Riley and the Heat put on the full-court press to show how badly they wanted Allen.
“For a guy who (rightfully) felt disrespected in Boston, it must have been nice … Loyalty works both ways, and Ray hasn’t been shown a lot of it in his career.”
“I’m saddened,” tweeted Michael Nichols, head of the UConn Boston alumni chapter. “It’s like a Red Sox player going to the Yankees. He could have gone to the Lakers and it wouldn’t have bothered Celtics fans as much. That said, we’ll always love him. #1, undisputed all-time Husky.”
You’re safe here in Connecticut, Ray.
But once you hop on the Mass Pike, you’re on your own.
