Those Dirt-ay Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs are now the dirtiest team in the NBA. At least that's how ESPN, NBA beat writers, and many fans are painting them. The same Spurs who have been called "model citizens," "the quintessential NBA franchise," and "winners" for the past decade plus. In that time period, they've also been called my favorite (non-Charlotte) NBA team.

In 1988, I went to the first Diet Pepsi Tournament of Champions at the then-new Charlotte Coliseum. The beloved Tar Heels were playing their first game in the gargantuan arena and my Dad ensured that we were there to see it. In this tournament were four teams, matching a double-header Friday night with a loser vs loser & winner vs winner double-header on Saturday night. Carolina, Temple, Missouri, and Arizona comprised the field that season, with all four team ranked in the top 25 of the AP poll. Carolina played Arizona in the first round, winning the advance to Saturday night's championship game versus Missouri. I went home a happy Tar Heel after the squad defeated Stormin' Norman's Mizzou Tigers...and I also went home with some perspective. As a bright and shining six-year old, this was the first time I saw a team play in a game that did not involve Carolina. Somehow I became fixated with Arizona (I guess I had forgiven the Wildcats for eliminating the Tar Heels in the West Regional Final the prior season). I also got stuck on a particular player: Sean Elliott. Don't ask me why, as I honestly think I thought he had a cool name (which is also why I started pulling for BYU football: Ty Detmer had a cool name). I continued to follow Elliott as much as a six-year old could that year.

The following June, the San Antonio Spurs drafted Elliott third overall in the NBA Draft. My Dad also told me about David Robinson, who was to be a rookie that season for the Spurs following two years of military service with the Naval Academy. Combine those two young players with hip new colors (remember, neon blue, pink, and orange were soooo in during the early nineties) and I had a Western Conference team to cheer for. I had two Spurs shirts and a hat by fourth grade. I used to attend Charlotte Hornets games versus San Antonio every year, pulling for the home team, but also pulling for my two favorite players not named Michael Jeffery Jordan.

This continued throughout the nineties, painful as it could be at times, as the Spurs lost every season in the playoffs. Portland, Houston, Phoenix...never reaching the NBA Finals. Until the season that changed their franchise's trajectory.

David Robinson went down early in the 1996-1997 season. Bob Hill was fired as coach and some guy named Gregg Popovich took over. The Spurs struggled all year long, finishing at the bottom of the old Midwest Division. As luck, fate, and possibly some Jesus would have it, the Spurs ended up with the number one overall pick and drafted some dude named Tim Duncan.

Duncan terrorized my Tar Heels for four seasons. Unemotional, almost assassin-like, a methodical 20 & 12 what seemed like every night. But I knew, though I screamed against him many a night, that he was really good. Plus, he stayed in school for his senior year. Of course, I knew he'd be a great NBA player, as did everyone else who knew what a basketball was. So when the Spurs captured the number one pick, it was a no-brainer as to who they'd draft.

Fast forward to now. Three titles later, the Spurs are the closest thing to a dynasty in the league right now. Duncan is all that remains from that 1999 team's players, along with much of the coaching staff. However, I have continued to pull for San Antonio over all these years. Had the Hornets and Spurs played, I'd have been rooting on my home-town Hornets; of course, this never happened because George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge are pompous jerks (this blog is rated PG). Today, I'd pull for the Bobcats. But since that's not happening for a while, I'll continue to enjoy the Spurs.

Now, on to the dirty part of the Spurs. I love how all of a sudden, the Spurs are the bad guys. It's great. It just goes to show that no one likes a winner. People love to see Duke & Carolina lose. Why? Because chances are one or both have kicked their teams' ass at some point (PG-13). Same for the Yankees. Same for the Detroit Red Wings & New Jersey Devils. Same for the Dallas Cowboys of old or New England Patriots of today. Notre Dame? Different story for another day.

The Spurs play ugly basketball. Not much personality, some whining, some clutching, some grabbing...and some serious winning. Every time someone asks Gregg Popovich about his squad being dirty, he should rub his face with his right hand, three NBA Championship rings shining in the light, and ask them to repeat their question. As Jimmie Johnson's Sprint/Nextel commercials says, "I'm gonna need it again" as his teammate brings over his championship trophy from last season. I fully expect Coach Pop to be able to do that next season as well.

I have nothing against the Phoenix Suns. They play fun, exciting basketball. Extremely talented team, albeit a little on the soft side at times. Everyone who doesn't have a favorite team or whose team is sitting at home is pulling for them. That's cool, I'd likely be on that side if I was not a Spurs fan. But somehow I don't think the Spurs will be rattled by being the hated, "dirty" team. They'll be too busy thinking about the design for their next title ring.