Basketball
The Whining Needs To Just Stop
By Greg Moore
May 18, 2007

Things definitely are a little chippy in this series as these photos definitely show.

SAN ANTONIO -- "The Spurs got an advantage with this suspension."

"See, this team is being coddled once again by the NBA."

"David Stern doesn't want the BETTER team to win this series."

Whine, whine, whine.

Wah, wah, wah.

Excuse me just a moment; I'm looking for a good cheese to along with this case of 'whine' I've got.

Seriously, all of this belly aching over the Phoenix Suns being two men down in a hotly contested series has got to stop. Its just utterly ridiculous that the sports nation today wants to get snippy, edgy and down right babyish over the fact that two players broke an NBA rule that has been in existence for over a decade.

Sure no respectable NBA fan wants to see this series between the Suns and the San Antonio Spurs be decided by a suspension but suspensions don't dictate outcomes; players do. Yet, and this is from the Suns' side of the tracks, there has been more complaining about how unfair this ruling is than anything else in the years these two teams have come together at this time of the year.

Heck its started long before Robert Horry decided to be a hockey enforcer and hip check Steve Nash into the scorer's table.

Whine, whine, whine. Boo, hoo. Boo, hoo.

WHO'S PLAYING THE MIND GAMES?

This suspension is nothing more than another excuse for the Suns to try and psyche themselves up. Ever since Mike D'Antoni has been the head coach, some sort of mind game has had to be played in order for them to try and defeat the Spurs. This season isn't any different.

When the Suns lost the regular season series, there had to be some sort of mental pick me up of  "If we meet them in the playoffs, we gotta beat them". When the Spurs took the first game in the series, it was Amare Stoudamire coming out saying the team was dirty and that Bruce Bowen was the lead henchman in the group.

There's been more smoke over there from Phoenix that you would have thought a smokers' convention was in town. Either that or it has been more hot air on a topic that really was not on anybody's radar.

It seems that the Suns have taken up the skill of manufacturing their own negative public relations stories. It's either that or they are just plain scared to repeat a history lesson that's very painful.

And so this suspension plays right into the Suns' hands. If they lose the fifth game of this series they will gripe and moan to the press how the league has screwed them out of a chance at beating the Spurs.

If they win, they will try to act dignified and say, "We really wanted to play the Spurs at full strength and this win was a testament to how well we play together during adverse times."

Gag, cough, cough. Somebody get me some Castor Oil.

Fans of either team don't see the reality of the situation and they shouldn't. Fans are going to be myopic because that just part of their make up. But to hear players, coaches and even the owner cry about what's fair and not fair is just too much.

Oh and just so that no one thinks that I'm being some type of homer in this whole ordeal, Robert Horry needs to shut up as well.

"If it would have been anybody but Steve Nash it probably wouldn't have been two games," Horry told reporters after the Spurs shooting session. "But Steve Nash is a great player, MVP, focal point for the NBA now so they have to protect their players."

Wait it gets better.

"I was going to try and take a charge and then I thought, ssshhh, he's too fast," Horry said. "So I'm like, 'I'll just bump him a little bit,' and as you know, the great acting skill Steve has, when you hit the floor and flop, and he's like 'Oh, I'm dying over here.' ...

Oh will you please, just shut up!!! Everybody on both sides just shut the hell up over this will you?

And that really goes for some of the so-called true fans of both teams. Yeah I've read some of your comments on various message boards. It just astonishes me that supposedly educated Homo sapians are allowed to use a keyboard when stuff like this is posted somewhere: "Popobitch & Whorey."

"I wasn't trying to bite him" said Horry of Stackhouse" I just wanted to know what kind of aftershave he uses so I took a little nibble, I ve taken harder nibbles then that". Popo then replied" Stack totally deserved it wearing those tights under his shorts, now if you can excuse me I need to apply some of that P Diddy cream on my face"! – from an www.azcentral.com forum.

Here's one from the other side of the tracks that talks about Horry himself: "Horry showed his true colors last game and should be traded away, right away. He gives the Houston Rockets a good name and they are already on vacation."

"Karma has alrady caught Rob because he lives in Texas, but us Texans should expect more from one-an-other. So Robert, if you can read this...get along little doggy. Go play in Spain, so us real Americans can professionals play basketball."

Okay now that last one needed a spell checker but the premise is still the same; rude speech, behavior and poor etiquette all the same.

The sad thing is everyone is forgetting about how great this series was becoming even before the :18 incident. I wonder, had the Spurs won this game would Suns fans still be whining about this team being a cheap shot artist in drag?

Or if the Suns were up 3-1, would the Spurs' fans whining in the Alamo brew of choice saying that the referees screwed them once again. Lost in the shuffle is the fact that if you take the whining out of the equation, you have two pretty good franchises that are hungry to move on the next level.

As formidable as the Suns are with Stoudamire and Diaw in the fold, this team isn't a slouch without them. Will they miss almost 35 points and 20 rebounds between the two of these players? Sure they will. Will the Spurs miss Horry's size and presence for two games?

Undoubtedly because his shooting touch isn’t with the team right now. But with that said, these teams are going to play these next two or three games whether fans like what happened or not and nobody, and I mean NOBODY, has anything that can change that outcome.

So for everyone on both sides of the aisle can you do the rest of fans a favor? Will you please quit your doggone whining about what's not fair to you and go find a good Brie to go along with that whine you got? We'd appreciate it.