However, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist John Mitchell has already responded, and he has come out swinging, attacking the City of Boston and its history.
More specifically, he's attacking the city's sometimes ugly racist connections.
In a blog post titled "KG: 'fair-weathered' beats bigoted any day," Mitchell slams Boston and its fans. The West Philly native uses the racist reaction to Joel Ward's Game 7 game-winner against the Bruins this season as his jumping-off point.
"You think we’re the fair weather type, do you?" he writes. "OK, to that I say that it’s better to be fair weather than to be anything remotely akin the cretins that unleashed their racist vitriol via Twitter upon Washington Capitals defenseman Joel Ward, a Black hockey player, last month after he eliminated Boston’s Bruins from the NHL playoffs with an overtime goal."
Mitchell does make sure to say that that incident didn't represent the entire Boston fan base — "not at all," he said — but is also quick to remind everyone (in the next sentence) that "it's not a coincidence that Bill Russell, the biggest sports winner in the history of Boston sports, absolutely loathed the city and a fan base that he saw as racist."
Finally, he sends a message to Garnett that advises him to win the NBA championship because one doesn't know what Boston fans would "unleash" on Garnett otherwise, saying "We do know what they are capable of."
