Archive for November 15th, 2007

Burnsy’s Blog: Fans are still consumers, Mr. D’Antoni

It’s good to be king.

Mike D’Antoni and the Suns sit atop the heap of teams vying for your attention and dollar. They are the king of Valley sports at the moment.

Which is what allows the head coach to publicly question the fans enthusiasm.

“If they’re going to boo us, hell, what’s the difference, I can boo them.

“(Tuesday), they didn’t come ready. You have to come every game, you have to bring it … and they didn’t bring it. There was no atmosphere. Everybody — us, them — was just kind of down and blah and there’s not reason to be.”

You think Bob Melvin, or Dennis Erickson or even Ken Whisenhunt could say what D’Antoni said and get away with it?

Remember, when all is said and done, fans are still consumers. They are buyers and teams are sellers.

It’s why I honestly can’t remember a coach, any coach, any league, ripping fans (not counting times when they act like boobs-throwing stuff on the field and things like that).

They’re your customers.

Besides, let’s be honest about this. Is it reasonable to think fans are going to be as jacked up about a mid-November game against the Stephon-Marbury-Zack-Randolph-less-Knicks.

I know, I know. Enjoy the ride, right?

What the Suns have accomplished these last few years is extraordinary. They’ve made the NBA fun again. It’s an exceptionally entertaining product. But with this team, again, let’s be honest, there is only one thing that will scratch the itch. And that one thing can’t happen until June.

I imagine it’s what it was like being a Red Sox fan before 2004.

In retrospect there is one thing I said last night that I’d like to take back. I said that the team could win 70 games this year, but if it didn’t come with a championship attached to it, it would be hard to be excited about it.

It would be an empty feeling to be sure, but, a 70-win season would be an accomplishment to celebrate to be sure.