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Why America Hates the Spurs

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  • #1

    Why America Hates the Spurs

    There's a lot of truth to it but honestly I find their fans annoying above all else and frankly the lack of ratings for the Spurs just proves how hypocritical American sports fans truly are. They talk about wanting humble and decent players but they don't go in droves for a team like the Spurs.

    At least I can admit to wanting entertainment above all else.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews

    Why America Hates the Spurs



    Who's Blogging» Links to this article
    By Mike Wise
    Wednesday, May 21, 2008; Page E01

    "I don't understand -- why don't people like us?" Bruce Bowen asked.

    This Story
    Garnett, Celtics Take Game 1
    Box Score: Celtics 88, Pistons 79
    Mike Wise: Why America Hates the Spurs
    A Rivalry That Hasn't Gotten Old
    Bulls Win NBA Lottery, 2nd Pick to Heat
    Western Conference Finals Preview
    Spurs vs. Lakers
    News & Notes: Barkley Pays Casino Debt, but Lawsuit Remains
    Wednesday, May 21, 2 p.m. ET: Wizards/NBA
    Talking Points
    View All Items in This Story
    View Only Top Items in This Story
    You really want to know?

    "Go ahead."

    Because you and the mean ol' San Antonio Spurs ruin happy endings for players and teams whom fans want to see keep playing. Oh, and also because you're too reliable and humble, in a league where mouthy and enigmatic happens.

    "Is that it?" the Spurs' veteran forward said. "We're not who people want to see? That's funny, because when Ron Artest was having issues and the league was having image problems, all you heard was, 'Why can't teams be more like the Spurs?'

    "The public thinks they want other things -- all the chest-pounding and screaming. But at the end of the day, quietly, parents want their kids to grow up in a way that they work hard, keep their mouth shut and act like you've been there before."

    Bowen spoke from his cellphone in New Orleans on Monday night, three hours before his team methodically knocked out the Hornets in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals -- three hours before a player less than a month away from 37 years old, maybe the premier perimeter defender in NBA history, frustrated Chris Paul and some bold kid named Jannero Pargo, who thought he was going to save the day for New Orleans before Bowen got in his grille late and the rickety Spurs sent a bunch of postseason adolescents home for the season.

    Palms out, feet shuffling laterally, limbs fluttering like bat wings, Bowen was a microcosm of the franchise the past decade -- that annoying insect impossible to shoo away.


    "We're goin' back to Podunk, Texas, again," Charles Barkley bemoaned, shaking his head in mock disgust on TNT after San Antonio held off New Orleans. Summing up most NBA fans' feelings outside south Texas, Barkley added: "Damn. They're like cockroaches. They won't die."

    Watching the Spurs reject another marketable NBA plot -- this one featured young Chris Paul and the city he helped raise from Hurricane Katrina's ruin (a big seller at the All-Star Game in February) -- it's becoming clear that Bowen, Tim Duncan and their teammates are this millennium's Larry Holmes.

    The Spurs are among the least- loved champions in the history of sport, right alongside Holmes, the former heavyweight great who had the misfortune of following boxing's king of kings, Muhammad Ali.

    They've got what Grant Hill once actually called "Larry Holmes syndrome." He used the term to describe the impossible responsibility he, Jerry Stackhouse and other young skywalkers had following in Michael Jordan's footsteps. But it's just as apt for the Spurs, who in 1999 became the first team to win a championship after Jordan and the Incredi-Bulls -- San Antonio's first of four titles the past decade.
    Like Holmes, they have learned that coming after the greatest is more burden than blessing.

    This Story
    Garnett, Celtics Take Game 1
    Box Score: Celtics 88, Pistons 79
    Mike Wise: Why America Hates the Spurs
    A Rivalry That Hasn't Gotten Old
    Bulls Win NBA Lottery, 2nd Pick to Heat
    Western Conference Finals Preview
    Spurs vs. Lakers
    News & Notes: Barkley Pays Casino Debt, but Lawsuit Remains
    Wednesday, May 21, 2 p.m. ET: Wizards/NBA
    Talking Points
    View All Items in This Story
    View Only Top Items in This Story
    In succeeding Jordan, the Spurs have not just taken out their share of white hopes (dumping Dirk Nowitzki and Dallas, bloodying and hip-checking Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns out of the playoffs in consecutive years); they're the small-market spoilers, annually crushing a young superstar's dreams.

    Before Paul, the Spurs outlasted Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant's dysfunctional dynasty; they swept aside the league's new golden child, LeBron James, in four games last June; and they have played in some of the most ratings-challenged NBA Finals in memory, including a yawner against the Nets in 2003.

    If they can send a reinvigorated Bryant and the Lakers packing in the Western Conference finals, they will have successfully removed Shaq and Kobe from the playoffs again while simultaneously ruining the best Finals story line David Stern could imagine:

    Lakers-Celtics Redux -- Kobe and the Lake Show vs. Kevin Garnett and Boston, 21 years after Magic's junior sky hook buried Bird.

    What is it about the Spurs, always beating the players and teams America wants to see win?

    "Part of it is the selling of the sensational," Bowen said. "Like: 'Oh my gosh! Look at that guy pound his chest after he made that basket.' We're not Vegas. We don't have this me-against-the-world attitude. But that's what sells now. So they need to come up with labels for us."

    Like, boring and dirty?

    "Exactly," Bowen added. "Look at Robert Horry. In San Antonio he's a dirty player. But he wasn't dirty when he played in L.A. Why is that?"


    Indeed, Horry was a clutch player for the Lakers who took and made all the pressure shots. But in San Antonio, the player known as Big Shot Rob has suddenly become "Cheap Shot Bob," as Yahoo Sports's Adrian Wojnarowski dubbed Horry after the veteran had the temerity to set a back pick on David West, a Hornets player with a bad back, who went down in Game 6 almost as hard as New Orleans in Game 7.

    "Look at my reputation. It's easy to say, 'He's dirty,' " Bowen said. "But what defines dirty? Because I play defense against a guy whose job is to score on me at will? You don't see me going out hitting anyone, but it's amazing when you deal with certain darlings in the league and the perception that they're supposed to score."

    Another reason the country turns on San Antonio is because of Duncan's unemotional on-court demeanor. He makes Alan Greenspan look like a hard partyer. Spock on antidepressants is more exciting.

    But the real reason is that the Spurs continue to resemble the old geezers who show up at the YMCA each weekend, yell "Next!" and somehow figure out a way to hold the court against a bunch of uppity kids. After three straight blowouts in New Orleans, their season on the brink, the Spurs again made do in Game 7.

    They basically made younger, superior athletes with fresher legs play their way, slowing down the game, making every possession count. It was like taking a hyperactive kid off his medication, until he became so antsy and frustrated he didn't know what to do except sulk and go away. They specialize in making supernovas burn out before their time. And like Barkley said, they won't die.

    Poor Kobe. He's got next.


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  • #2
    Re: Why America Hates the Spurs

    I don't hate the Spurs at all. I enjoy watching them. I do hope another team wins this year though, not for any other reason than I want a new team to win. (although all 4 teams have won their share over the years. Celts haven't won in 22 years, so I am rooting for the Green

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    • #3
      Re: Why America Hates the Spurs

      Uncle Buck and I agree.

      I don't hate the Spurs either.

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Why America Hates the Spurs

        I think the majority of people who hate the Spurs do so because they win "too much" or they don't like the whining and/or flopping of some players or the dirtiness Bowen and Horry have previously displayed. I think those flaws are somehow being used as what DEFINES the Spurs, and that's simply not true at all. If it did, they wouldn't have a single ring. They're much more than those things.

        Before that, it was "they're boring". Well if good basketball is boring, then you have the wrong sport.

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        • #5
          Re: Why America Hates the Spurs

          I'd sort of like to see SA win again just to truly plant that greatness flag in everyone's mind. Technically it's already true but we all know that people don't see this juggernaut in the same light as Jordan's Bulls despite the monster run.

          I don't love them but I do like them and like their all around play. The issue is that they just don't seem to that flash or hook.

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          • #6
            Re: Why America Hates the Spurs

            I don't hate the Spurs at all. In fact, they're probably my second favorite NBA team. Yes, they are humble and "boring." But they play the right way.

            Yes, they have some floppers, but what NBA team doesn't at this point? Chris Paul is certainly guilty of it. And besides, probably the most beloved Pacer ever--Reggie-- was also a notorious flopper.

            I think the majority of fans that hate the Spurs are the fans of their Western Conference rivals, who the Spurs have been beating regularly over the past decade. I want them to win again, because I'd rather see them be the "team of the decade" instead of the Lakers.

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            • #7
              Re: Why America Hates the Spurs

              Taking a charge != flopping. Though you can flop when trying to take a charge.

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Why America Hates the Spurs

                I love the way the Spurs play, watching that NO/Spurs series, I saw the Hornets play no offense whatsoever... just Paul or whoever else trying to break people off the dribble and create. Total playground ball. The Spurs on the other hand are a joy for me to watch. They always make the extra pass, everyone is playing with the intention of running the offense the right way. I won't even go into how well they play defense.

                They play basketball the way it is supposed to be played.

                For me I think I would rather see the Spurs win than any of the other final 4. Boston - they are too much like the patriots for me to actually root for. Lakers... uhhg most hated team for me besides the Pistons. And well the Pistons, I can't ever forget or forgive, even though they play the closest to good structured basketball next to the spurs.

                It is always interesting to me to see peoples views on what is good basketball. It seems more and more people just want to see one man dominate the ball, ala CP or PP or LBJ. While those duels are fun to watch, it is not pure basketball, it is not how the game is supposed to be played and only a few players that are the best of the best, 5 or less in the entire world, can pull off that type of play.
                Last edited by PaceBalls; 05-21-2008, 05:11 PM.

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                • #9
                  Re: Why America Hates the Spurs

                  I don't hate the Spurs, but it's getting harder to like them (partly because I'm more of a NO fan now). I can't stand Bruce Bowen and Robert Horry.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Why America Hates the Spurs

                    Obviously this idea does not permeat the Indy area. I don't hate the Spurs and they could well be my favorite team if I wasn't a Pacers fan. Teams I hate are the ones with the whiny little b!tches like Kobe.
                    The best exercise of the human heart is reaching down and picking someone else up.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Re: Why America Hates the Spurs

                      Let me count the reasons.

                      1. Obnoxious fans, many of whom know little about basketball.

                      2. Horry and Bowen are both dirty players. It's hilarious that Bowen out of all people in wondering why people hate the Spurs, when he is the #1 reason why many people hate the Spurs because of his blatantly dirty play. At the same time, it's great to have a guy like him in your team.

                      3. Ginobili is a drama queen, a flopper, and a crybaby all mixed up in one. At least that's your perception if he's playing for a team you're not rooting for. If he plays for the Pacers, then he's automatically kinda like Reggie.

                      4. The press coverage of Tony Parker and his wife is obnoxious and I hate the fact that the NBA covered their marriage and stuff during the half time of the Finals last year. I want to watch basketball, not ****ing TMZ. Oh, and Parker is overrated.

                      I do actually like Duncan a lot however, he is your consumate star player.

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Re: Why America Hates the Spurs

                        LOL. . .sometimes, I think it's stupid to characterize these teams. Especially the Spurs, they aren't a dirty team, the NBA is just full of softies who cry and complain. I mean they change the rules so that the game can be faster and more points on the board. And they get mad when Spurs play their game.

                        If you watched New Orleans play, they were playing just as aggressive as the Spurs, did they think the Spurs were gonna back down?

                        The Spurs are a team who get hacked up and beat down and get no calls in their favor (especially when Joey Crawford is reffing the game) But they still manage to win. With that said, you have to respect the Spurs. If not go back and watch game 1 of the first round between them and Phoenix, they just don't get rattled. You have to respect them
                        R.I.P. Bernic Mac & Isaac Hayes

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                        • #13
                          Re: Why America Hates the Spurs

                          I don't like the Spurs because they're a bunch of crybabies. Every single play, one of them is complaining about a call with their hands up in the air and a pouty look on their face. It's just annoying to watch.
                          Sometimes a player's greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team. -- Scottie Pippen

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                          • #14
                            Re: Why America Hates the Spurs

                            I like the Spurs. I think the rest of league needs to grow up and take notes. They generally play the right way. Poor losers complain about them playing dirty...yet you don't see many fights and there's not a flood of grievances...only a few wimpering losers.

                            In any event, if you've watched basketball for 20+ years, you know the Spurs are relatively clean compared to the Knicks and Pistons...and you know they play the game pretty well.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Why America Hates the Spurs

                              The Spurs are weird to me. I like Tim Duncan I always have. I hate Robert Horry/Bruce Bowen and I always have even when they played for past teams (Horry - Lakers, Bowen - Heat)

                              I rooted for the Spurs heavily (still nowhere close to my rooting of the Pacers) for years.

                              Then all of a sudden over the past few seasons I have really started to dislike them. I don't know why, but they just rub me the wrong way. I may be wrong but it just seems to me that their team is pretty much Duncan surrounded by a bunch of dirty players and whiners.

                              I'm not one who roots for the flashy players like the article implies all Spurs haters do. It's not their anti-flashiness workman attitude that makes me hate them. Maybe they've just won to much and the only teams I can stand to win that much are the Pacers and Colts. I don't know

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