Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, on June 17, 1775.

Today is N.B.A. Finals Game 6, in Boston, on June 17, 2008.

Bunker Hill in Charlestown overlooks Boston Garden.

Coincidence? I think not.

You remember the Battle of Bunker Hill from history class?

It was the first time the Patriots built a fort, resulting in the first great battle of the American Revolution. It was the one where the Patriots were running low on ammo, so Colonel William Prescott gave the order, “Don’t shoot ’til you see the whites o’ their eyes!

After they ran out of musket balls, the Patriots resorted to stones, rocks, and fists. It was bloody.

Sounds like an old Celtics game. Or a new Celtics game.

It tells me that to win, coach “Doc” Rivers will be quoting Prescott. The Celtics will need to bang inside, up close and personal, where they can see the whites o’ the Lakers’ eyes.

I grew up around Boston, but had never been to Bunker Hill. In those days, at the height of forced busing (i.e., “desegregation”), black people didn’t really go to Charlestown or Chelsea or “Southie”.

Things are different now. I have kids.

Yesterday, I finally went to Bunker Hill because my kids insisted. They learned about Bunker Hill and Concord and Minutemen and Paul Revere and “the whites ‘o their eyes” from that newly re-released special anniversary edition Schoolhouse Rock DVD.

So I took my 3 boys up inside the 20-story Bunker Hill Monument, went up the 296 stairs, and took that photo (above) of Boston Garden.

One of the National Parks Service rangers there reminded me and my kids that the Continental Congress didn’t declare war via the Declaration of Independence until 13 months after the Battle of Bunker Hill, a clear indication, he said, of their restraint and desire for reconciliation. War was the last and least desirable option.

Meanwhile, remember Schoolhouse Rock?

It was that educational musical 3-minute animated short-film series that ran in between cartoons on Saturday morning television some 35 years ago (on ABC).

The short that teaches about the American Revolution is “The Shot Heard ‘Round The World”:

While we’re on that tangent, another favorite of my kids is “Great American Melting Pot”:

“Great American Melting Pot” is cute, fun, and clever, but I always wondered why it doesn’t explain Slavery and has no black people in it. That’s always bothered me. All these immigrants jumping into the pot, but no black people. Maybe they thought we were the pot itself. Or the seasoning.

Seems like ABC tried to compensate for this Afro-omission (Afromission) with two shorts that featured mostly African American characters: “Verb, That’s What’s Happenin’” and “I Got Six”.

“Verb, That’s What’s Happenin’”:

“I Got Six”:

Speaking of “I Got Six,” that’s likely what David Stern will be saying, when counting up how many games he was able to squeeze out of the 2008 N.B.A. Finals at, reportedly, $80 million in revenue per game.

(Support the National Parks Service.)