It’s hard to be a basketball fan
When I was young, we didn’t get any timely NBA telecasts. And when we did get that infrequent game, it was always Magic versus Larry, or some young player named Michael whose hairline seemed to recede prematurely. Back then, I never thought the NBA had more than four teams! That’s the price you pay when you’re born on the other side of the world.
We finally did get our share of up-to-date NBA games, but it arrived more than a decade later—during the early 1990s. There was a lot of buzz around this enormous guy named Shaq, but he didn’t win a lot of games. Some scrawny fellow named Reggie shot the ball very well, but the player that caught my eye was #50 of the San Antonio Spurs.
I was enamored with how David Robinson played. He was 7 feet tall, a size associated with centers, but the guy ran like a quick forward. The Admiral was a workhorse on offense (averaging over 20 a game) and a terror on defense (one of the leaders in steals and blocked shots). He didn’t seem arrogant like the others, and played the game in silent dominance. I observed that Robinson’s game and attitude rubbed off on his team as well. This is when I knew that the Spurs are special, and they became my favorite team. I’ve been a fan ever since.
But you know what? It’s tough to be a fan when you see your team fail often. It was tough to watch when Hakeem took David to school in the playoffs in 1995, and you could almost see the fear in the Admiral’s eyes as Olajuwon outplayed him in a span of six games. It hurts to be a fan and see your franchise player get injured for majority of a season as the team struggles and manages to win only 20 out of 82 games. It’s tough to be a fan when your team gets eliminated for three straight years by the same team, which incidentally won three straight championships during those years.
It’s hard to be a fan and see your guys fight through the toughest opponents in the playoffs and survive, while other teams have it easier and get plenty of rest. It’s hard to be a fan and see your favorite team of 14 years be down 1-2 even if you know you know they can beat the other team. It’s tough to be a fan when you see your team win a title every odd-numbered year only. It hurts to be a fan when you feel that this is the last chance your guys have to win two straight championships.
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