How Long You Been A Suns fan?

[JCSunsfan]

Good thread! Refreshed lots of memories.

I guess I'm the elder 'statesman' at 67... I started watching the NBA in 1953 or 54. Back then there were no LA Lakers... they were the Minneapolis Lakers. There were also the Fort Wayne Pistons, Philadelphia Warriors and Milwaukee Hawks among the 9 pro teams. (Only the Celtics and Knicks have remained in the same city continuously since then.) The weekly paper is my little town didn't carry anything about pro-basketball so it wasn't until we got television that I saw a game between the Boston Celtics and New York Knickerbockers - what puzzled me was how Gene Conley could be playing for the Celtics since he was a professional baseball player so had to be ineligible for college sports. It took several games before I realized they were pros.

Conley came from a nearby town that I'd also lived in for several years and everyone around there followed his career as a pitcher for the Red Sox. Anyway, because of him and this amazing passer named Bob Cousy I became a Celtics fan. A couple of years later the Celts drafted KC Jones and his tall, skinny buddy from USF, and suddenly Red Auerbach began lighting up cigars much more often and earlier. (Tom Heinsohn was also drafted that year, I think.)
It was called 'fast break' basketball in those days and nobody did it like those Celtic teams.

Moved to Phoenix in 1964 and became a Suns fan when they got underway in 1968. By then I was a penniless grad student at ASU with a wife and kids so I didn't get to many games but fortunately the away games were on TV. The Sunnies drafted Gary Gregor at #8 that year, as somebody recollected. The next year they got Neal Walk at #2, who was to set the tone for the franchise's centers for the next 35 years or so.

EK! I'm an oldster on this board (at 42) and you've got to be my dad's age. You better be careful or they are going to start calling you gramps.

 

[BC867]

I cried when we lost to Seattle in the Western Conf. Finals here at home. I still hate Jack Sickma to this day. Vividly remember my dad telling some Seattle fan to shut the "F" up or he'd do it for them.

Was that the time that Alvan Adams went down with an injury and, instead of moving backup Center 6'10" Bayard Forrest into the starting lineup, John MacLeod moved backup SMALL Forward Joel Kramer (all 6'7" - 215 of him) to Center to play against Sikma?

Kramer played his heart out but was, of course, no match for the 6'11" Sikma.

It was generally acknowledged that whichever team emerged from the West that year would beat the world champion Bullets. Sure enough, the Sonics did, for the NBA Championship.

And the Phonix SmallBalls went home. I cried, too, sly fly. 'Still am.

 

[devilalum]

Good thread! Refreshed lots of memories.

I guess I'm the elder 'statesman' at 67... I started watching the NBA in 1953 or 54. Back then there were no LA Lakers... they were the Minneapolis Lakers. There were also the Fort Wayne Pistons, Philadelphia Warriors and Milwaukee Hawks among the 9 pro teams. (Only the Celtics and Knicks have remained in the same city continuously since then.)

Did they have 2 ladders to retrieve the ball from the peach baskets or did they run back and forth with just one?

 

[Errntknght]

"Did they have 2 ladders to retrieve the ball from the peach baskets or did they run back and forth with just one?"

I just missed that era!

Do you know why basketball players are sometimes called 'cagers'?

In the early days the game was played inside a cage of steel mesh to separate the players and fans. The steel gave way to rope mesh because too many players were being injured by being slammed into the metal. The cages were eliminated in 1929 so I missed that era, too. That fracas in Detroit made me recall reading about the early cages...

 

[sly fly]

Was that the time that Alvan Adams went down with an injury and, instead of moving backup Center 6'10" Bayard Forrest into the starting lineup, John MacLeod moved backup SMALL Forward Joel Kramer (all 6'7" - 215 of him) to Center to play against Sikma?

Kramer played his heart out but was, of course, no match for the 6'11" Sikma.

It was generally acknowledged that whichever team emerged from the West that year would beat the world champion Bullets. Sure enough, the Sonics did, for the NBA Championship.

And the Phonix SmallBalls went home. I cried, too, sly fly. 'Still am.

Yeah, I believe that was the game.

I was so young, that I only have a few vague memories about the game.

I just remember the crowd being all over Sikma for throwing 'bows all the time.

And, someone unfurled about a 50' banner that stretched across a section. It said something like, "Seattle, 1st team all crybabies". (Or, something like that. Forgive my memory

 

[Errntknght]

Originally Posted by BC867
Was that the time that Alvan Adams went down with an injury and, instead of moving backup Center 6'10" Bayard Forrest into the starting lineup, John MacLeod moved backup SMALL Forward Joel Kramer (all 6'7" - 215 of him) to Center to play against Sikma?


My recollection, which is quite fallible, of the game is that MacLeod put 6-10 Jeff Cook on Jack Sigma and that Jeff did an unbelieveably good job defending him. He played him so close that Jack had trouble getting the ball up over his head for his patented jump shot. Toward the end of the game Jack was dealing better with it and we missed Alvans offensive presence so the Sonics did win in spite of Cook's defensive heroics. I never cared much for MacLeod but I always gave him credit for that brilliant move in desperate circumstances. (I didn't give him credit for playing Ricky Sobers when van Arsdale went out with a broken arm - that stuck out a mile before van broke his arm and John was just too dense to see that it was not only good, it was necessary!)

 

[BC867]

Originally Posted by BC867
Was that the time that Alvan Adams went down with an injury and, instead of moving backup Center 6'10" Bayard Forrest into the starting lineup, John MacLeod moved backup SMALL Forward Joel Kramer (all 6'7" - 215 of him) to Center to play against Sikma?

My recollection, which is quite fallible, of the game is that MacLeod put 6-10 Jeff Cook on Jack Sigma and that Jeff did an unbelieveably good job defending him. He played him so close that Jack had trouble getting the ball up over his head for his patented jump shot. Toward the end of the game Jack was dealing better with it and we missed Alvans offensive presence so the Sonics did win in spite of Cook's defensive heroics. I never cared much for MacLeod but I always gave him credit for that brilliant move in desperate circumstances. (I didn't give him credit for playing Ricky Sobers when van Arsdale went out with a broken arm - that stuck out a mile before van broke his arm and John was just too dense to see that it was not only good, it was necessary!)

Actually, the year that Joel Kramer went up against Jack Sikma was '78-79.

Jeff Cook joined the Suns the following season.

 

[Mulli]

Was I hallucinating or did Larry Nance block Dr. J's shot from behind in an All-Star game?

If it happened, that was an all-time great Suns moment.

 

[sunsfn]

"Did they have 2 ladders to retrieve the ball from the peach baskets or did they run back and forth with just one?"



I just missed that era!

Do you know why basketball players are sometimes called 'cagers'?

In the early days the game was played inside a cage of steel mesh to separate the players and fans. The steel gave way to rope mesh because too many players were being injured by being slammed into the metal. The cages were eliminated in 1929 so I missed that era, too. That fracas in Detroit made me recall reading about the early cages...

STEEL MESH!!! ROPE MESH!!
Where did you come up with that??? I believe that I would have to read that in some history book before I would believe that.......I am pretty old and I do not remember ever hearing that.........however, there is a couple things that I do not know about, so that could be the 3rd thing!!!!

I would really like to find that info someplace, would anyone know where you could look for that?

 

[F-Dog]

STEEL MESH!!! ROPE MESH!!
Where did you come up with that??? I believe that I would have to read that in some history book before I would believe that.......I am pretty old and I do not remember ever hearing that.........however, there is a couple things that I do not know about, so that could be the 3rd thing!!!!

I would really like to find that info someplace, would anyone know where you could look for that?

I can't help you with a source, but I've read about the cages too--I guess they kept the pace of the game up by eliminating out-of-bounds calls.

Supposedly, players would finish the game with rope burns all over their bodies.


I was a Suns fan by proximity since childhood (Tucson), but I started following the team the year before Barkley arrived. That was the year my family got cable TV.

 

[JCSunsfan]

STEEL MESH!!! ROPE MESH!!
Where did you come up with that??? I believe that I would have to read that in some history book before I would believe that.......I am pretty old and I do not remember ever hearing that.........however, there is a couple things that I do not know about, so that could be the 3rd thing!!!!

I would really like to find that info someplace, would anyone know where you could look for that?

http://www.capitalcentury.com/1900.html
http://www.blackfives.com/earlyfacts.php?next=1

 

[sunsfn]

JCSunsfan,


Thanks for the web sites, I enjoyed reading them, seems like it was a rough game back then.

 

[Gaddabout]

Jeff Cook joined the Suns the following season.

And that's the way the Cook-ie crumbles. Oof. Love Al McCoy, but he was no Walter Cronkite.

 

[FArting]

I became a Suns fan in 1993. The first game I went to was Game 6 of the 1993 NBA Finals.

 

[hawaiiansun]

Since we drafted Amare pretty much i was just a casual fan of the suns, until that 04-05 team i became hardcore..damn i loved that team.

 

[French Fries]

shaq trade...

 

[CardShark]

When Phx faced Boston in the Championship series. The triple O/T is still billed as one of the greatest ever played. I really remember the Phx fan wailing on the officials head before they had decided that there was still time on the clock. Since then the officials don't seem to give us any respect.

 

[NativeSun]

Around the time of the KJ trade. It was the first time I became seriously interested in a pro team, rather than just a front running happy go lucky kid. I was born in Phoenix but moved to California very soon thereafter. So it took me a while to get back to my roots.

 

[Gaddabout]

I get leery when a 3-year-old thread gets bumped, but this one was fun to revisit.

 

[mojorizen7]

I went to my first game when i was 12 in '81. I became a SUNS fan in '87.
Fan for 21 years.
Paxson's shot falling in '93 emptied my body of wind & life.
What a season it was.

 

[dodie53]

when Nash went to Phoenix for the 2nd time

 

[Milgod]

I can really remember getting into the Suns when I was about 8, so around 1990. It used to be hard to follow them before the net came along (I live in the UK) but now I can stream a fair few games even if I do have to get up at 2am to watch them.

 

[sunsbo]

Started watchinig the suns when I was 8, back in 1988. They made it to the Western conference finals that year. I still remember not being able to sleep on some of the nights they lost during those playoffs. Funny how some things never change. I love the suns but they do mess with my sleep/emotions at times.

 

[Cheesewater]

Since 1974.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

moved here in 87