THE "I HATE 'TOINE CLUB" IS CLOSED: Severing one of the final links to the Celtics-practice-at-Brandeis Era (1994-1999), the team on Monday traded Antoine Walker to the Dallas Mavericks in a five-player deal that nets the Celtics Raef LaFrentz. The trade gives Boston something they never had even in the Bird/McHale era (a slow, white center), and ensures that my boy Mark Cuban will have so many scorers and so little defense that the Mavs will be playing a lot of 150-130 games this year.
But more importantly, it ends Walker's often combative period in Boston, where he made multiple All-Star teams but also often struggled, especially under his former Kentucky coach Rick "Negativity Sucks" Pitino. Some friends of mine were so mad at Walker back in the day that they put up a sign-up sheet in their apartment for the "I Hate 'Toine Club."