Your Original Team

[WayOutWest]

... I am playing Halo...  

cough-LOSER-cough 

[SPURSX3]

sooo, you still playing with duct tape on your mic and headset???


 

[WayOutWest]

sooo, you still playing with duct tape on your mic and headset???
 

I keep forgetting to get a new one, can't seem to find a black one to go with the "Elite" color scheme.  You know the XBox 360 Elite line right?  It's the one that is SUPERIOR to the "Pro" line, like the one YOU have. 

[rickortreat]

I was seven when I moved to Phila. and became a Sixers, Eagles and Phillies fan as a result.  When the Flyers came along and won a Championship, I became a Flyers fan too.

When I lived overseas, I followed the Sixers as well as I could. When I lived in Dallas, I had season tickets to the Mavericks games, but I was still a Sixers fan first.

The Sixers have a good history.  Not quite as good as a few others, but very respectable.  Less quantity, more quality, or at least more character. Erving was something of a legend, the man who could fly. A generation earlier, Wilt changed the game and the rules.

It's been a long, bleak time in Phila. sports until just recently when the Eagles started getting good and the Sixers got Iverson. Now it looks like all the teams are back to being competitive again.

[Wolverine]

First of all, while I enjoy the NBA and the product it puts on the court, it will never impassion me the same way baseball and - to a lesser extent - football do.  That said, I follow the league now more than I ever have before.

I first started watching in the early '90s, when I was about 10.  And in the same way Skander and Joe were inhibited due to a lack of local teams, I simply couldn't pick my hometown squad and blindly follow them through thick and thin.  BUT, my favorite player was Larry Johnson, so - naturally - the Charlotte Hornets were my favorite team.  My interest waned after a few years, however, and after LJ's trade to the Knicks, I pretty much stopped watching completely - sans a Finals game here and there.

That pattern continued until Joe invited me to join this board's fantasy league four years ago.  I didn't know the league AT ALL when I first participated because I hadn't followed the game in over ten years.  It took me a year or two to acquaint myself with all of the players and teams, but I had a pretty solid grasp of what was going on after my second fantasy season concluded.

During that time, I quickly took a liking to the way in which the Phoenix Suns operated.  Their game was FUN ... their players generally admirable ... and Amare Stoudemire was captivating - what an athletic freak!

However, I wasn't eager to jump on the bandwagon.  I've always been very aware of the stigma associated with "jumpers" - and I never wanted to be known as one myself.  So I never really called myself a Phoenix Suns fan.  They were a lot of fun to watch, but when someone asked which was my favorite team, I'd simply say I didn't have one.

And then came last year, when I read :07 Seconds or Less by Jack McCallum.  What a great read.  I was instantly hooked - and no longer had any qualms about standing up and shouting "The Phoenix Suns are my favorite team!"

If people want to call me a bandwagon fan, that's their right.  I think they're WRONG, of course, but only because I take my sports VERY seriously, and once I become a fan, it takes A LOT to pull me away from a team.  With the Suns, I'm in deep - and I don't see any other team grabbing my heart through a last-minute sell.

Besides, it's not like they've won the title yet, right?

[jn]

The Trailblazers and the Sixers.  The first two NBA players I cared about were Mychal Thompson of the Blazers because he went to U of MN and Dr J, because he was Dr J. 

I think some time back there was a thread about teams we are closet fans of.  The Blazers remain my closet team and it all started with Thompson.

[Joe Vancil]

I never watched Basketball until David Robinsons rookie year, or atleast never really paid attention to it, I remember people making a big deal about the Lakers back when Magic was playing and also the Bulls when Jordan started blowing up, but I really did not pay much attention to the NBA.  Don't knnow what to say except that seeing David sprint from one end to another and block shots was pretty impressive.  That and the whole "small town" mentality we have here may have been swayed to watch when they started doing those "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood" commercials.  SA was tiny back then compared to what it is today, I mean it is not the size of LA or Chicago or anything like that, but I have seen this city grow, and grow, and grow.  It was cool having our town in the spot light back then and, in my eyes atleast, David Robinson had a lot to do with that.  I have been a Spurs/NBA fan ever since.  



speaking of back in the day commercials, anyone miss those old "Gran Maw Maw" commercials???

 

AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!

That reminds me of something that I've been meaning to ask.

Does anyone remember the "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood" when LARRY BROWN was in the commercial?  Larry Brown was the Spurs coach at the time.  The commercial went something like this.

Robinson:  "It's Coach Brown with today's word!"

Brown:  "Today's word is CONDITIONING."

<segments of Robinson going through all sorts of workouts>

Robinson, dripping with sweat and exhausted:  "I don't think we'll be having Coach Brown back on the show any more."

I WANT A COPY OF THAT!  And it's not on YouTube!

[westkoast]

The Trailblazers and the Sixers.  The first two NBA players I cared about were Mychal Thompson of the Blazers because he went to U of MN and Dr J, because he was Dr J. 

I think some time back there was a thread about teams we are closet fans of.  The Blazers remain my closet team and it all started with Thompson.

So does that mean you were also a closet Lakers fan at one time?!?!

I am a fan of Mychal Thompson as well...but for a different reason.  I think he is an excellent radio commentator.  He is the local Lakers radio commentator for AM570 and I think his experience as a player really reflects in how he comments on the game.  He is very good at breaking down pre-game match ups.  Sounds almost like a coach at times.

[jn]

Nope.  I liked those teams and was glad to see Mychal win a championship but I never took a side in the Boston/LA duels.   Especially not with Mychal's MN connection balanced out by Boston's having not one but two of his former teammates in McHale and Ray Williams. 

And since I brought those names up don't even try and tell me your not having flashbacks of Kurt Rambis getting thrown around. 

Mychal did nice work for the Wolves TV broadcasts before bailing for LA.  He has two kids playing college ball now, by the way.  Let's just say they don't even have half of Dad's talents.

[Reality]

Liked the late 60s Celts but also liked Wilt the Stilt.  Too young to really get into that tho.

The Dave Cow Jo Jo White Johny Havlichek Celts absolutely loved.  Watching Cow work over Kareem was a highlight and planted the seeds for my love of the Celts teamball workmanlike dominance over the glittery Lakeshow.  I taught myself to do a lefthanded hook and scored with regularity over my larger neighbor "Kareem", trying to always finish a win with a lefthanded hook.  The Phoenix Finals series was also a barn burner.

Enjoyed the Dr. J early NBA years, especially the finals vs Portland.  Lots of good players in those years, Marques Johnson on the Bucks never got a finals sniff but was a very good player.

When Larry Bird joined the Celts and Red additionally pulled off the McHale and Bob Parish manuevers, it was on for the GOAT Celts Sixers series.  1984 you might think that was the pinnacle for me, actually i was very turned off by the lack of sportsmanship on BOTH teams.  The 7th game tho was pure heaven watching Cornbread Maxwell expose the overated Magic.  After 1986s tragic death of Lenny Bias, i kind of lost interest as the NBA went into some off years of subpar performances.  Liked a lot of players, one of my favorites was Sidney Moncrief.

1978 I did a lot of work in the Seattle area, many times staying overnight.  Caught a lot of the Sonics games, fell in love with them.  The title team was great and the asshole owner who failed to extend Gus Williams and thus ruin the repeat chances will go down as one of the worst moves in NBA history.  Probably paid off by Buss thus opening the Lakers chances.  Ditto in 1995 or so when the Superdoops had it all going on, Shawn Kemp and Payton working over Stockton and The Cheapshot to advance.  The 1994 Sonics were in the finals, robbed just as much as the Champion Kings in 2002.  Perhaps moreso in a 66-19 freethow fiasco awarded to Charles Barkley and the Suns.  Got to talk at length in person with Michael Cage about this.  It was fixed and everyone with a basketball brain knew it.  The Sonics owner 1995 failing to sign Clyde the Glyde Drexler (Seattle was his 1st choice) midseason and previous failing to redo Reignmans contract finished me with Seattle.

Timmy Dunks I immediately liked altho i never have liked Popavichs offense.  Got on board prior to the 2002-3 season when all you Laker posters were slobbering over Kobes knob.  So much for "bandwaggoning" when the Spurs worked the Lakers.   Have stuck with them ever since.

[westkoast]

Reality you also forgot that you are a fan of a team who is playing against the Lakers that night.

Oh ya and when you were a Miami fan when Shaq left LA....

Oh ya and when you were a PHX Suns fan when they were beating the Lakers in the playoffs....

[Reality]

Free your mind (and the rest will follow).

[Joe Vancil]

Be color blind, don't be so shallow.

[Reality]

I cant change your mind you cant
Change my color

This is getting fun!

[westkoast]

Free your mind (and the rest will follow).

It's official that your original team wears rainbow jerseys now that you are quoting En Vogue....