The Lunatic Fringe

A little break from baseball to talk a little Golden State Warriors basketball, if you can call it that.

Look, I’m not the biggest basketball fan, but when I was old enough to take an interest, it was in Run TMC.  To this day, I still think that’s how a team should be run.  Not a superstar like Kobe and a bunch of interchangeable role guys.  Even Jordan had Pippen as a partner.  And Chris Mullin has always, ALWAYS been my favorite basketball player.  Hell, I picked up NBA Jam on my iPad just so I could play as him.

So a part of me was upset that his jersey retirement night was ruined and upstaged by all the boos.

But in all seriousness, Warrior fans have the right to boo like no others.  Many agree that there is no more rabid fan base when the team is winning, and it’s still strong when it’s losing.  (Hear that, Oakland Athletics?  What are YOU guys doing wrong?)

But the tipping point for me was this eye-opening timeline by Bill Simmons on Grantland (an offshoot of ESPN.com).  I know why, as a Warrior fan, I have no faith.  But I’ve never seen it laid out in such detail as in this article.

And you know what?  Good on Warrior fans.  Even as much as I want Mullin to be the one who’s remembered, it’s about time Warrior fans made it clear they are tired of this middling-diddling crap.

And Lacob better be careful.  Before he knows it, the guy he outbid for the Warriors might just make the Bay Area a two-NBA team market, and create the San Jose Grizzlies.  (To be fair, that is a nickname more suited for anywhere in California rather than in Tennessee.)

Then again, I might be using the term ‘NBA Team’ just a little too lightly when it comes to discussing either the Warriors or the Grizzlies.