As a long-standing Celtic fan (I stayed up late at night while in grade school to watch the Celts beat the Lakers in the late fifties and early sixties), I enjoyed reading your article on the demise of the Cs. However, Auerbach is not the culprit. He is the victim.

The longest droughts in Celtic history (drought defined as consecutive years without a championship) have occurred during years when the ownership of the Celtics was not committed to winning championships. In the early 70s, John Y. Brown's ego forced Red to actually contemplate switching to the Knickerbockers. The current 'kid Gaston' era is an even bigger disgrace. Money won't be spent on free agents; there will no inventive trades around the salary cap (or mounting a legal challenge to the rule set up to keep the Celts and Lakers at bay); they won't hire competent coaches and general managers. The ticket and concession prices are predatory, the salaries are reflective of the talent level, and the income from non basketball sources (the selling of TV stations) is astounding. There is no need to be championship driven, despite the drivel from M.L. Carr, when the ownership only seeks to maximize profits.

Ah, but this too will pass. Mark my words, the Celtics will win the next championship in this town. We could always fathom the seasonal disappointments of the Bruins and the Patriots, and the tragic downfalls of the Red Sox, because we always had the Celtics to fall back on. The latest Celtic drought will be followed by more reigns. John Walsh, Assistant Director for Design & Production, Harvard University Press