Fan Dance

At the risk of more bandwagon accusations, I feel I must comment on this whole "fan" issue making its way around the net and local talk radio. Unless you've been hanging by the wrists from iron shackles along a grimy Welsh granite dungeon wall for the past week, you have heard Mike D'Antoni's latest criticism of his "team."

I say "team" because he is essentially calling out a vital member of the Suns team that has yet to show up. Fans thought it would be the Matrix who didn't show up this season, and they hoped that Boris Diaw would (both beliefs proved unfounded in reality, so far), but it is they who haven't bothered to bring their energy to the game. They are the fans at America West Arena . . . I mean US Airways Center.

It all started innocently enough. After the Suns thoroughly dominated the Knicks without even trying on Tuesday night (a game that I thought was awesome in every way because Amare was kicking ass), Coach, for whatever reasons, turned his critical eye from the players and placed it squarely on the 18 thousand-some odd fans who are privileged enough to see the games live.

Almost daily a reporter from some paper or website from anywhere around the world asks him about his team's "sluggish start." His team is 6-2 with injury induced rotation shuffles. D'Antoni has been saying all along that the team isn't quite there yet - that they're still working out the on court chemistry with Grant Hill, getting him comfortable with his role. Amare has been in and out of the line up due to knee problems and a failed Wunderlich test, and now our designated 6th man is showing us why he should be in the starting line up instead of Raja Bell. The team is not anywhere near where it should be and will be in April, but the Suns are still winning. They've had conditioning issues in their two losses, both of which have come on the back end of a twin killing coming off a flight.

The team is 6-2! Where was the team after eight games the last TWO seasons? The Suns started 3-5 last year and 4-4 in the year without Amare. The last time the Suns started 6-2 was 2004, otherwise known as year one of the Nash era. And fans aren't excited. Not the ones who are fortunate enough to attend games, anyway. Remember, D'Antoni called out the crowds, not the general fan base. This was my first reaction:

Season ticket holders act all bad like their the greatest Suns fans in the world just because they can fork down the thousands of dollars to get them, then they make the arena look like an opium den when the Suns are absolutely manhandling a busted down Knicks team. The LEAST those people should have done was boo Isiah Thomas incessantly for being a perennial black eye (no racial pun intended) on the entire freakin' league. Those people in the lower bowl should be forced to give up their tickets to real fans...those of us who would stand the entire game screaming for every rebound, every deflection, and every 24 second shot clock violation the Suns force. Too bad for our players that the REAL fans can't afford tickets to see their team play every other night.

The Suns arena crowd is more San Antonio than Oakland, or even Los Angeles. There have always been celebrities at Laker games, but why are they showing up at Suns games? Why are they drawing the yuppie Northeast Valley snobs instead of the people who absolutely love the team and would be standing up a full 48 minutes of regulation game time, letting our players know how much we appreciate them? When did Phoenix Suns basketball become The Bolshoi?

Perhaps the most inspiring scene of fan appreciation comes at the end of Major League, when the rag tag Indians rally from a run down in the bottom of the ninth for the division title. The die hard fans, the four guys sitting in the left field bleachers with the Tee Pee and the tom toms, the people who had supported the team, even as it bottomed out midseason were all there standing and cheering their team. They rode the roller coaster with their team, and this moment belonged as much to those fans as it did the players and manager. The fans had Municipal stadium rocking so hard that the quake began to spread.

The Japanese grounds crew, who to this point had only said in their native tongue throughout the entire movie, "They're still shitty," pounded their shovels on the ground. Punks and yuppies arm in arm, banging bottles and beer mugs on the bars in front of them sent the shock wave through bars and homes throughout the entire city of Cleveland. The fans united in one thunderous explosion of team worship, and it all started with the few who were there from the beginning.

That can't happen here because the yuppies cut in front of the real fans, and those Teleband wagoners need a televisible reason to have any kind of reaction. It's like they're sitting on set waiting for some "methical" director to yell, "ACTION!"

The Suns are winning early, and the players are doing things worthy of praise. Stop waiting around for a championship that may never come. You had Amare playing like a defensive demon with four blocks and 12 rebounds, not to mention the fact that he literally exploded for 26 points. You had Steve "MVP" Nash collecting 12 assists as his team mates made more than half their shots. You had Leandro Barbosa and Shawn Marion matching each other's point production, as well as collecting five steals between them. You had Brian Skinner grabbing 7 rebounds in 18 minutes, not to mention his two blocks and three steals. Piatkowski made his first three of the season, and Boris Diaw is playing some nice post defense. And you had Marcus Banks . . . well, I can't defend you every time Banks.

The point is, there was a ton of entertainment value in that game, despite any perceived lackadaisical play. So the Suns committed 19 turnovers. Big deal. They outrebounded the Knicks, and that should be plenty to cheer.

I don't believe that Suns fans are "anxious," as Dan Bickley suggests, "I believe a large majority of Suns fans need a serious dose of the two P's: patience and perspective."

I believe that a majority of Suns fans HAVE those two P's. They should have one more P for having to be lumped in with the ignorant fans at the game who feel that paying money is praise enough. They're like bad tippers. They go to the most expensive restaurant in town, receive the best service they will ever get in their lives, are treated as French Nobility, then question the 15% gratuity added to the bill. They have no appreciation for the experience, and the only time they make noise is when they have a complaint.

And Mike D'Antoni called them out. Good. There are plenty of other fans who will buy single game tickets when holders throw away their season tickets. The Suns need fans that understand that it's not about the money, it's about the once-in-a-lifetime experience of seeing the best team in the league play. The arena is a place for basketball fans - for Suns fans - not camera fans or "seen at the scene" fans.

A fan is a part of the team, not "a paying customer."