Recently retired Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers has never been shy in front of a microphone. Even when the topic is not sports but politics, the 2008 champion will say his piece when he feels the issue rises to the appropriate level of concern. And he has faced backlash for that frankness, even if it is also supported by others. And Rivers felt the need to wade into the status quo when it comes to US politics this week during a recent interview with MS Now as Election Day draws closer.
"My mom stood in the rain, and my dad stood in the rain to vote," said Rivers. "And they voted because… the candidate wasn't the perfect candidate, probably, in their minds. I don't know why they were voting whichever way they voted. But one reason they voted is because they actually could. Because half their lifetime, they couldn't. And so I used to remember my mom would get dressed up to go vote. Like it was like her Sunday outfit, to go vote."
"And when you think about that, and (that) we didn't have to do any of that. And so voting has been made ... it's becoming hard again," said the Celtics coaching alum.
"But at one point, it was made so easy, we didn't do it (...)," said Rivers. "We took it for granted, and we are learning now where it can be taken away from you, and you have to keep working on it. I swear there's so many similarities to sports. It's unbelievable."
"If you stop working in sports, if you take anything for granted in sports, if you take (it for granted), you're just going to continue to win, you'll start losing. You've got to keep doing the work. And honestly ... we stopped doing all the work, and it's hurt all of us."
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Boston Celtics alum Doc Rivers exhorts us to vote, pointing to civil rights struggles