Lowell Deeds

As a youth I grew up watching the Boston Celtics dominate the NBA. Thirteen World Championships in a row. Something like that. But it was the 1968-69 season I remember the most as a kid. The most vivid sports memory I have came from that post season. It is of Bill Russell, the Celtic’s legendary center. The Celtic only won 48 games that year. Sam Jones was 35 years old and Bill Russell 34, both about to retire. They barely made the playoffs and were huge underdogs. Against all odds they did win the 68-69 Championship. I can’t remember who they were playing…the 76ers, the Knicks or the Lakers. But I can visualize Russell as if it were yesterday. The Celtics had come from behind and locked up a crucial post season victory. No one could believe it. This aged team with just 48 wins was doing it again. During a time out, Russell stood slightly slouched with both hands on his thighs. His head tilled looking up toward the basket. I could see the character in that face. It didn’t matter that most doubted him and his team. He gave his all. I thought, “this is a real Champion”. Not because he won…but because of intensity with which he played. I can still see that image. Through the years I turned off on professional sports… the agents, the money and the wining. Last night I watched a hurting Curt Schilling fire 94 mile an hour fastballs from the mound in Yankee Stadium. No excuses. I was impressed. Then the TV camera zoomed in on his foot. It was bleeding. You could see the blood seeping through his sock. The same feeling I had thirty five years earlier came rushing back to me. For Schilling, like Russell, it isn’t about the money. I thought…this is a real Champion.
Go Sox!

The “New York Times” ran an interesting article on Tuesday. Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Alan Greenspan recently defended the big increase in homeowner debt over the past five years. Greenspan acknowledged that consumer debt has risen sharply in the last five years but feels that family finances are still in reasonably good shape. Mortgage debt and housing prices have both soared since 2001. Some economists worry that rising interest rates will increase monthly payments for homeowners with adjustable first mortgages or equity lines. This could spell trouble if housing prices fall. Critics feel that the Feds contributed to an artificially high housing market by keeping interest rates at record low levels. Greenspan disputes this thinking. He feels the fears are exaggerated since people do not buy and sell homes as easily as stocks. In other words, housing doesn’t lend itself to being a bubble since it is harder to buy and sell. Greenspan also notes that while mortgage rates increase so have housing prices. At this time there is not a decline in housing prices. On the other hand “according to Federal Reserve data, homeowner’s equity was equal to 66% of the value of their real estate during the 1970’s. That share declined to an average of 56.8% in the 1990’s and is now 55%”.