So who's the chicken now?

The dismantling of a team has begun..and yet again, the Phoenix Suns will live up to their esteemed name as a development team for players that then move on to other teams and prosper.

So, this guy Robert Sarver flaps his hands in an apparent imitation of chicken, mocking the San Antonio Spurs for not playing Duncan and Ginobili during a regular season game this past March (March 9, 2005 I think). Ah well, in the spirit of revealing secrets, I guess he just preceded the revelation of the man behind Deep Throat.

Where am I going with this rant? Here is where. I live in the Phoenix metropolitan area. And naturally it was assumed that I would be rooting for "your Phoenix Suns". And when I came out of the closet as a San Antonio Spurs fan..well...(insert shocked faces, disappointed faces, angry faces here).

And then the saner amongst them popped the question..Why?

I guess the recent wheelings and dealings of the Suns are the single largest proof that as a fan, this team is not worthy of my followings as a fan. I guess when the team owner goes from mocking others as chicken to being the chicken himself, it just makes for one terrible deal for the people that follow the team.

Of course, it was hilarious to see Sarver mock the Spurs as a Junior Varsity team before tipoff. But I guess he did not catch himself smiling when the JV team was within one point with under 2 mins left.

Yes, I understand sports is a business. And Sarver is being calculated in his decision making. But repeating the same mistake twice..well...you have your classic definition of chickening out. And here is why, amigos, the Suns did not inspire loyalty in me. They are not worth it.

It speaks volumes when one franchise (the Spurs) attracts players that are willing to sign for discounted prices to play and another (the Suns) bungle up the one real good thing they had going for them.

Make no mistake...I like the Suns...but I love the Spurs. And most of it lies in how that team reacts to its community, and how the community reacts to that team. See the Big 5 feature on the right side of this excellent article on ESPN.com