Where Have I Seen This Dangerous Man Before?

Damian Lewis

     After being out Sunday night watching the Giants slaughter the Packers, I managed to catch up on Homeland and Boardwalk Empire yesterday, which seems to have become an exercise in rooting for the survival of people who are duplicitous at best and downright evil at worst.
     With the conclusion of Homeland's ninth episode, season two, I wasn't quite sure what Brody (played by the English actor Damian Lewis) was up to, or which side he was being honest with. Perhaps he doesn't quite know yet. At least I have finally figured out who Brody has reminded me of for the entire first season and handful of episodes of the second. Coincidentally, another tough guy with admirable qualities but -- from my vantage point as a young Knicks fan -- one thoroughly embedded with the enemy.
     That would be Dave Cowens of the hated 1970s Celtics.

     Cowens was one of those guys you absolutely loved if he was on your side and couldn't stand the sight of if he wasn't. An undersized center, he played with boundless energy and aggression. In the reporting of my 2011 book, When The Garden Was Eden, Tommy Heinsohn told me that Cowens -- who came along after Willis Reed's knees were failing -- took special delight running our iconic Game 7 (1970) savior ragged, one end to the other. I almost wanted to lash Heinsohn with my video recorder for that but he -- and Cowens, for that matter -- were actual charmers in post-playing life.
     A classic Brody tactic, I might add.

Dave Cowens

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