Bill Russell, Vin Scully: Two giants leave the stadium
by Paul Teetor Back in the day – way back in the day, like 500 years ago – some underpaid sportswriter hack named Willie “The Bard” Shakespeare laid out the raw facts of life, for athletes and non-athletes alike: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts.” For two varied and very different men who played huge parts in the LA sports scene, this week provided the stage for their last act: departure from this mortal coil. Vin Scully was the greatest storyteller in all of sports, ever. Bill Russell was the greatest winner in all of sports, ever. Not just Los Angeles sports, mind you – in all of sports, anywhere, any time. As former Yankees Manager Casey Stengel – another guy who knew something about winning – used to say, you could look it up. Scully wove his verbal magic for an astounding 67 years, and Russell led his Boston Celtics team to 11 NBA titles in his 13 years as a player, from 1957 to 1969. Both records are unmatched, or even challenged. And by a simple twist of fate Scully and Russell will be forever linked because they died in the same week, the first week of August…
Read this story on easyreadernews.com