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Unlike in comic books and the subsequent movies based off them, in sports, the heroes and villains don’t live on in perpetuity. Eventually they retire and move on. Sometimes, rivalries remain, but the new people who pick up the mantle are never quite the same as the originals.
On Monday, the last on-court piece of the great 2000s Suns-Spurs rivalry hung it up when the “Bat Man,” Manu Ginobili, called it quits.
I’d love to sit here and say glowing things about Manu, what he stood for and what the Spurs represented, but I just can’t. As part of the Suns fraternity, or phraternity if you prefer, forgiving and forgetting isn’t exactly our strong suit. I’m looking at you, John Paxson.
While some may lament that Manu’s retirement marks the end of one of the last great “homegrown” dynasties in the NBA, we in Phoenix can’t help but feel a sense of relief. The disturbance in the force that was the Spurs is no more.
But what do we do with the feelings that still remain? Those dark memories that have intertwined in our brains like some black and silver spider web that we can’t shake free of? You write a eulogy of sorts. A final purge of what should have been the greatest era in Suns basketball that instead turned into one of the few things outside of the Alamo and Riverwalk the city of San Antonio has to celebrate.
While I’d love to have penned a brilliantly crafted call to arms, a reminder to Suns fans why we are passionate about the purple and orange and hold a passionate distaste for all things Spurs, I couldn’t. That’s because I have an almost 2-year-old at home and couldn’t get “Goodnight Moon” out of my head. So here’s a eulogy to the Seven Seconds or Less Suns’ archrivals, set to the “tune” of that beloved children’s book.
In the great silver and black room
There were plenty of calls blown
And a bow tie-wearing buffoon
And championship banners of
Titles that were won thanks to a bunch of goons
And there was Pop, in his chair
And Duncan’s befuddled ref stare
And Ginobili
And Tony
and the Refs, full of baloney
And Timmy D
And his improbable 3
And Big Shot Bob
And his hipcheck who helped the Spurs rob
And plenty of nightmares that make Suns fans sob
Goodnight Room
Goodnight Bafoon
Goodnight Banners thanks to Goons
Goodnight Pop, in his chair
Goodnight Duncan’s befuddled ref stare
Goodnight Ginobli and Tony and damn refs full of baloney
Goodnight Timmy D and that infuriatingly improbable 3
Goodnight Bob and that evil hip check that did rob
Goodnight Memories that make Suns fans sob
Goodnight Manu
Goodnight Horry
Goodnight Timmy
Goodnight Tony
Goodnight fans who are phony
Goodnight Pop and his smirk and white hair
Goodnight Spurs, everywhere