From: TASTIC
To: JohnVancouver
Hey buddy how goes it?
you've created a bit of a discussion in the Suns Community thread, when did you jump ship to those damn dirty Lakers?
cheers
Mace / TASTIC"
So - yeah, I've been absent on the Suns board most of the year and over on the Lakers one, intermittently. Since I was so active on this one I feel I owe you all an explanation, given the level of ... non-love for L.A.
Heh.
I grew up a Lakers fan in the Jerry. Gail, and Wilt years, then into Showtime and it was really only when the Suns drafted my homeboy Nash that I started following the Suns ( although I was a fan during the Connie era. Still love the Hawk.) I was the kid who got **** for dribbling a ball in class, is how much I loved the game, but in those days a West Coast Canadian had zero chance of getting anywhere, even if he wasn't 5'10" and very white. Seeing a guy who played the game the same way i had was just so exhilarating .... I made the NBA through osmosis with Steve. I think a lot of Canadians did.)
The five or so years I was around here all the time were about the happiest I've had in basketball. Great people, some brilliantly funny and insightful posts. But I have to say as they broke up the SSOL teams and finally moved Steve, I felt kind of deflated.
But I followed Steve to LA and hoped he'd get a ring to finish his career. I even got to admire Kobe in a lot of ways ... blasphemy, I know. But I did get to root for EClark, and then KMarshall along with Steve, though I've never been able to stomach Dwight. That was a weird year, that first one, and I found the L.A. board not anywhere near as much fun as the Suns gang, so I didn't post very much and even less this season.
I have kept tabs on the Suns and McD has done a masterful job of rebuilding - looking forward to seeing an all-PG lineup at some point, joke joke. You guys are poised, with a few more moves. I still mistrust the Len pick, though.
So the truth is I'm kin of going through a lull in my NBA-watching career. Thise D'Antoni/Amare/Shawn/Nash years were so special, I think I have a hangover and a post-high depression at them being over. We were so lucky to have that team to enjoy. Once in a generation there's one that perfectly assembled and the thrill of watching them is always tinged with knowing it can't last forever, unless your'e San Antonio, Hell, I even rooted for them this year against Miami.
Now I have to pull for the Cavs, because they have three Canadian kids on the roster. The idea that two Canucks would go first in the NBA draft, in consecutive years, is boggling.
So they're you have it. I hope I;'m still welcome to check in here from time to time. I've been concentrating on writing - three books in three years, out at the agents looking for good homes currently - and less on the league, but I can't shake it. It's in the blood.
