Pride

(Rated R for language, adult themes, and mild sexual content.)

Can someone explain to me how, a month ago, the team could complain about the fans in the building, then come back home after a long road trip and lay THAT egg on them? And then say "no big deal"?!?! Do these guys really think they're playing for themselves? Is Nash the ONLY one who gets it?

Steve Kerr needs to step down from his office, quit having meetings with management, walk onto that practice court, and reintroduce himself to his team.

"Hi. I'm Steve Kerr. I own five...that's FIVE championship rings. I've played next to the greatest player in the history of the game. He punched my lights out in practice, but he was still my brother in arms. I played next to the greatest power forward in the game, as well as one of the greatest role players and greatest centers. I was also on a team that won an NBA record 72 god damn games! Ya know why we won that many god damn games?

Because we expected to win every time we stepped onto the court. That included the regular season AND playoffs. We made no excuses for losing. We did not accept losses as part of the natural order. We took losses personally, as something WE did wrong, and we corrected them really fucking fast. Other teams may have played great against us, but we were better 87 times, and nobody...NOBODY questioned our heart, our fire, and our dominance.

*whips out his diamond-encrusted gold hardware*

See these? These are my CHAMPIONSHIP rings. I have FIVE. Everyone pull theirs out and show them to me.

*everyone looks around and down at the floor, except Steve Nash and Grant Hill, who both look square into Kerr's eyes*

I didn't think so.

Next time I hear someone say it's a long season, I'm gonna fine you $25000.

*Amare, Shawn, and Boris all clutch their wallets*

Next time I hear anyone say, "they're a great team," another twenty five grand. And the next time you let someone come into OUR house and walk all over you, you'll be suspended without pay one game for every ring I'm holding right now.

Have some fucking pride.

*Boris hides in his locker*

I don't care if it's Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Larry Bird walking onto that floor in their primes. If you don't play them with every ounce of your very being the entire time you're on that court, you're gonna be watching the next five games from the visitor's locker room.

I'm Steve Kerr, and I'm an NBA Champion."

Ya know? Just once, I'd like to hear that someone reminded these guys what it means to be a champion.

They've been through the fire. Instead of tempered steel, we've got charcoal. Instead of a bunch of pissed off players with a huge collective chip on their shoulders, we've got this...

"It's y'all overreacting,"

"We just got to take one game at a time. Y'all be going ballistic when we lose. Like we can't lose games or something. I don't understand it. You can't expect a team to win every game. This is the NBA. People do have good teams."

“Sometimes you all think we can’t lose. It’s just the regular season. It’s a long regular season. We have ups and we have downs.”

"What are we, 16-6? The third-best record in the league? Y'all are blowing it out of proportion. I'm reading that shit in the paper, going, 'Wow.' I’m like 'What is that?’ We ain’t Superman. That game's over with. We lost. Deal with it. Suck it up. We play the Utah Jazz tomorrow night, that's who we got to think about right now."

(Shawn Marion quoted on azcentral and eastvalleytribune)

...and this...

“They did a good job, they had some timely baskets and some timely stops. It’s how you play the game, it doesn’t matter what the records are, you go out there and you play and they were the better team tonight.”

-- Raja Bell

“I don’t think so, I just think we need to have a little more activity. We just have to focus in a little bit more, and I think that’s about it. It is definitely a situation I think we can correct. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow in practice and go from there.”

-- Amare Stoudemire

“We are just not fast to the ball, we are not getting in to people. No legs, somebody had the flu or whatever, but we will cure that. We will get back. And when they are scoring all these points it puts so much pressure on the offense. And then I thought we looked jittery. Although we had nice moments, but 17 point third quarter. Just a little bit out of sync.”

--Coach Mike D'Antoni

(From suns.com post game quotes)

Honestly, does that sound like a team working on building a championship season?

Third best record is good enough? Telling the media (vicariously the fans) to deal with it? Someone else was better? We'll see?

A quick question for our coach - remember the last time Michael Jordan played with the flu? I do. He walked away with another ring.

Of course, I realize that I'm being hypercritical, and that things probably will work out just fine in the long run. But we're supposed to be "enjoying the ride," aren't we? Well, as a fan, I have to say that I enjoy the ride a helluva lot more when my team is winning. I enjoy it even more when they play like they're the baddest bunch of no-good sons of bitches ever to walk across the plains into this sleepy western town.

I've never played professional basketball. I'm no champion, and I never will be.

I am, however, an observer of all things great and small. I have seen enough of The Discover Channel to understand the difference between predator, prey, and scavenger. To be more frank than beans - the Suns resemble the latter when they win, the second when they lose, and the former rarely if ever this season.

"Early in the season" is not a reason or excuse for not trying to win every game. If a player is ailing or aching, let his own stat line show it. The other guys need to pick up that slack and let the record hide it for him.

Communication, team work, and pride know no offseason, so how can none of those be present 22 games into the regular season?

Steve Kerr - you're a champion. You explain it to them.