:28/:58 Update
My previous post was served with a possibly too large a side dish of cockiness. Since then, the Dodgers have lost two straight by a combined score of 15-2. It's a long season, and I can't make any definitive judgments yet.
But when it comes to basketball, I can. The Suns rule. I angered a Seattle Supersonics with my last email, and I quote his outraged perspective in full here. Let me reply first, and then you can enjoy his pathetic whining about a perceived injustice that occurred 12 years ago. Excuse me, young sir. Read this piece by an ESPN sports columnist, a man who is able to look at the NBA with relative objectivity, even if he is nerdy enough to still watch Survivor. Go home and kiss your Shawn Kemp bobblehead doll and gaze longingly at your poster of Gary Payton. Aloha, and thanks for the nice words. Now the email:
Hey Neal -
"I've long been a fan of your writing - I saw you last time you were in Seattle, I may have purchased one of your books, I always say nice things about you when The Stranger prints your articles, etc...This is why it pains me to see such talk on your site of the 1993 Phoenix Suns. It has been documented by many people - including sportswriters far more knowledgeable than I could even pretend to be - that Game 7 of the 1993 Western Conference Finals was the most ridiculous example of poor officiating in the history of professional basketball. More one-sided than the invasion of Granada. More one-sided than a dance-off between Paula Abdul and Stephen Hawking. I was 13 at the time. These things stick with you. Every one of those 64 goddamn free throws.
Now I love the way this Suns team plays ball. Old school, like it was meant to be. A true point guard running the floor and looking to pass first, a starting lineup filled with scoring threats, a bench teeming with - well, let's not talk about the bench. Unfortunately though, Phoenix has no shot. None.
Whatever deal Kevin Johnson made with the devil has long since expired. Which is too bad. Because, realistically, my Sonics don't have much of a shot. But there is just too much bad karma still lingering around the Suns from 12 years ago for them to win it this year - not the championship, anyway. It just can't happen. Regardless of the semi-recent rise of the republican party (the new energy bill frightens and confuses me), I still have to believe there is a certain amount of justice in the universe. And the universe remembers 1993. Hell, I know a lot of Sonic fans who do. I'm sorry - really I am. But don't expect the calls this time.
And good luck with Dallas."
We don't need luck with Dallas, pal.