Having spent 15 seasons there and won an NBA Championship together, ten-time former NBA All-Star Paul Pierce will forever be remembered as a Boston Celtic. His #34 jersey hangs from the rafters of the TD Garden and, when his time comes, he will be inaugurated into the Hall of Fame as a Celtic.
Now working as a pundit, it is inevitable that Pierce will be biased towards the team he marshalled for so long. But sometimes, bias comes at the cost of dignity.
Before Boston’s Game Two loss to the New York Knicks in the second round of their playoff series, Pierce – appearing as pundit on Fox Sports 1’s chat show Speak, alongside Joy Taylor and former NFL player Keyshawn Johnson – was asked he confident he was of a Celtics victory. Having blown a 20-point lead in Game One, Pierce – suitably confident in his Celtics team, or at least pretending to be – promised the panel he would walk the 15 miles to the studio (later revised to 20) for the next day’s show, while barefoot and in a bathrobe.
“If the Celtics lose Game 2 at home
“I’m walking here tomorrow.
“Fifteen miles
“In my robe
“Barefoot”
Celtics Loss Made Him Keep His Promise
…yes, well, about that. The Celtics did in fact lose, and did so in embarrassing fashion, dropping another 20-point lead to put themselves in an 0-2 and completely throwing away home court advantage.
To his credit, Pierce has honoured the bet. Within minutes of the end of the game, he took to social media to acknowledge his plight by sharing a map of the route he would now have to walk.
🤮🤮
This morning, it seems, Pierce has embarked on the journey, sharing regular update videos of his progress. The journey of over 20 miles will take him more than eight hours, which explains why it was clearly still dark when he left.
His undertaking should serve as a reminder to us all – never make impulsive and impromptu bets on live international television about outcomes you cannot control. In the social media era, no one forgets.
What Is It With Pundits And Clothing Bets?
When Leicester City were in with a chance of winning the English Premier League title in 2016 despite starting the season as a 5000-1 outsider, former Leicester City player turned TV show host Gary Lineker made a similarly bold claim, albeit in reverse. Expecting his beloved Foxes to fall away over the course of the 38-game season, Lineker claimed that if City did the seemingly impossible and won the title, he would present the next episode of Match of the Day – Britain’s leading football highlights show – wearing only his underwear.
They did, though. And so he did. Pierce, it seems, did not learn from Lineker’s mistake.
After making the bet, Pierce went for the emphatic dismount, saying that viewers had “a better chance of walking out the studio and seeing a dinosaur” than of him needing to do his self-chosen forfeit. As fate would have it, though, anyone walking outside of the studio would see a dinosaur. One in his bathrobe, with expensive shades on, 15 miles of blisters on his feet, and likely ruing his own impulsivity.
