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June 7, 2008

R.I.P. Gino

If you've been to a Celtics game, you know the phenomenon that is Gino.

And if you haven't: At each game, when the Celtics appear on the verge of victory, the team plays a video clip on the Jumbotron from a late-1970s American Bandstand show featuing, among others, a disco king in a Gino Vanelli T-shirt. The fans -- some in their own "Gino" T-shirts -- roar whenever "Gino" appears on screen and the Jumbotron then shows them dancing in Gino-like fashion.

Hard to believe? Take a look, via YouTube:

With the Celtics in the NBA Finals, Gino-mania is at an all-time high and the Wall Street Journal set out to find the man in the Gino shirt who is the star of what has become Boston's basketball version of Sweet Caroline. Alas, it discovered that the dancer -- Joe Massoni of Rialto, Calif. -- died of pneumonia in 1990 at the age of 34.

" 'Gino' has provided a lot of enjoyment for our fans," said Celtics president Rich Gotham, "and his spirit will live on during the NBA Finals."

Posted by Art Martone  at 10:50 AM | Permalink

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