To the "old" spurs fans...

[duncan2k5]

How do the "old" spur fans look at us "new breeds"? when i say old, i mean was a spur fan before the tim duncan era. i know many of the spurs fans now, including myself, have become fans because a player from their counrty is a member of the spurs. so i wasn wondering if there is...i dunno...a feeling like "this was my team before u had one, so respect me" going on. nothing wrong with it. if i was an old spur fan i would have felt more entitled to cheering my team than a new fan.

BTW, new fans are not the same as bandwagon IMO.

you all can be honest. i dont think any of us new fans will feel offended

[midgetonadonkey]

Honestly, worst thread ever.

[twincam]

Well, since you asked....

I recall when I started to follow the Spurs during the Alvin Robertson era, I simply got hooked on the Spurs. I even followed them when they were a pathetic 20-62 and so on. I didn't care if they stunk, I just liked watching them play. Nowadays, you get many so-called fans, simply because they're winning games....but they are NOT the true fans. I've been in it through thick and thin, and still here. It's EASY to identify the true spurs fans and the wannabe fans. That is my take on it....

[crellis]

I must say, i was a bulls fan growing up in the 90's and being a kid from Australia, but when he retires i didnt know who to follow. It was also the lockout season in 1999, and it didnt like there would be any games that season. But when the lockout ended the Spurs had picked up an Aussie by the name of Andrew Gaze, and i was hooked.

Go Spurs!!!

[Nero]

where you a fan of Luc Longley? What about steve irwin?

[Samr]

I may be younger than most, but if you are making Tim Duncan the defining line, then I guess I get to wear the "old dude" cap for this thread. First Spurs game was in '94. 12 proud years of service.

I love it that the Spurs are attracting guys from all over. It certainly makes the threads and opinions interesting. The only thing I really dislike about it are the few guys who come in when Manu comes off the bench and they blame it on Parker. Or guys who think Manu is the devil reincarnate if Parker doesn't have a good game but Ginobili gets some points. The obscene bias thing really, really gets on my nerves, but I guess I understand it a little bit.

Of course, I'd rather hear about Manu cutting into Parker's points, than not hear from the guys in France at all.

[crellis]

Luc did well with what he had, but was very fortunate to end up on a team with MJ and Pip. But i think even he would admit that he is not the best player Australia has produced.

In relation to Steve, he has done an excellent job in raising Australia's profile, particularly in the States, but the way he acts, i think that people tend to generalise that as the way all Australians act. But he was a Great Australian!

[Laker-USC]

I Remember getting free tickets at HEB because people would not show up at the games. Some Fans. :ttiwwp:

[dimsah]

Became a fan because of DRob in 90.

Fans since Duncan got here are a bit more spoiled than the vets(vets are spoiled now now to through, myself included). Most of you guys didn't have to go through the years where are guard combo was complete and utter dreck. DRob didn't have the luxury of passing out of a double team like TD does because no one could hit a shot.

Enjoy the success though. It's a good time to be a Spurs fan.

[TDMVPDPOY]

drob in 92/93 till the day hakeem abuse him, then the day he retired

then came along tim duncan, stuck ever since

then ginoboli, like his game

thats about it....

[wildbill2u]

I was a basketball player in college in NY and used to go to the Knicks games 57-61 and wanted to see the new pro basketball team when they came to town. I didn't want to go by myself so I bribed my best friend to go with me to their first game.

We got drunk, had a great time and bought season tickets at half-time. We got real good seats behind the Spurs bench about 10 rows up in the old Hemisphere Arena for $5.00 per game as I recall. We kept them for twenty some-odd years.

The Spurs Corral wasn't a membership club then and was always crowded after the games. After the crowd thinned out, we had a semi-regular group,including Ralph Reed the bartender and father of Robert Reed the St. Mary's and Rockets player, that played ball against the cops while the janitors were cleaning up.

I love all the new blood Spurs fans. I just wish some of you had the opportunity to see and know the team all those years. Remember that those jerseys hanging in the rafters are there for a reason and some other players probably deserve to be remembered too. There were some great players and some great characters that many of you don't know much about and that's truly a shame. I'm not saying they were all better than todays champions, but we did have some unbelieveable players over the years. Anyone who saw GG or Si or Kenon or some others in their prime enjoyed extraordinary basketball skills. And our adversaries were great as well with Doctor J and George McGinnis being among the best.

One of the neatest things about the old days was how easy it was to become friends with the players. I used to play poker and tennis with a couple of them all the time, knew their wives and families and had more than casual acquaintance with many others. I suspect those days are over for most fans. Too bad you missed it.

[dav4463]

I've been a Spurs fan since I was a little kid and James Silas, George Gervin, and The Whopper were my heroes!

Players would come out of the locker room after games and hang out for a while with the kids. Some of the coolest guys I remember were Edgar Jones, Fred Roberts, Gene Banks, and Johnny Moore...always had time for the fans.
Gervin was OK too if he wasn't being mobbed too much. John Lucas was a real nice guy too I remember. Tom Chambers, Fred Brown, and Jack Sikma visited a long time after a game with the Sonics too....that was a great night of memories (one of many). Bill Laimbeer said "Hi" to the kids once and shook hands while drinking a Budweiser! He probably wouldn't want his reputation soiled, but he was friendly to the kids at least that one evening!

There's always room for new fans as far as I'm concerned. The more the better!

[alamo50]

I always loved to listen to the old school stories and now I love telling them myself!

The more Spurs fans the better as it is truly a fact that Spurs fans are the best fans.

[Dave McNulla]

How do the "old" spur fans look at us "new breeds"? when i say old, i mean was a spur fan before the tim duncan era. i know many of the spurs fans now, including myself, have become fans because a player from their counrty is a member of the spurs. so i wasn wondering if there is...i dunno...a feeling like "this was my team before u had one, so respect me" going on. nothing wrong with it. if i was an old spur fan i would have felt more entitled to cheering my team than a new fan.

BTW, new fans are not the same as bandwagon IMO.

you all can be honest. i dont think any of us new fans will feel offended
i was a fan pre-david robinson, pre-alvin robertson, and pre-johhny moore. i've got no problem if you like the spurs because of tim duncan. one of the best fans i know is a tim duncan era fan (yes, cb, that's you). a couple others are from the elliot era, but remain some of the most active on boards and setting up GTG's, and going to games. it's cool. i think more fans that like the spurs because of duncan will continue to like the spurs when duncan retires or goes to the front office or something, because the org is a lot like him.

[wildbill2u]

Lord, I remember one time we got to a crucial playoff game late--and stoned.:smokin We jump out of the car, a 74 Lincoln Town Car. Then my date got out and shut her door as I was going around to help her out. Result: All doors locked with the keys in the ignition and the car still running with the headlights on and the four of us laughing like crazy.

What to do?

I said, "fuck it" :dizzy we ain't missing this game" and we went on to the game. When the game was over, I had to get a locksmith and someone to help get me some gas since the gas guzzling Lincoln was out. It was worth it---we won!

Any of you "youngun's" have crazy Spur experiences like that these days? :downspin:

[Hook Dem]

I go back to the good 'ol days in the Hemisphere Arena when Gervin, Silas, Paulz, and yes, even George Karl thrilled us. The Bullets were our nemesis and the 76'ers always did us in. We had a good rivalry with the Pacers also. There was a lot of flavor in that old arena. Wish I had back all the money I spent on beer there. lol The beer just tasted better with peanut shells floating around. Those were the days of solidifying this franchise. I remember when we, the nuggets, nets, and pacers joined the NBA. Stan Albeck, Bob Bass, Doug Moe, and Morris McHone were doing the coaching. Doug Moe used to get fined a lot and I remember once when he paid his fine with pennies just to protest. lol Ah yes........the 70's.

[my2sons]

became a fan when my older brother took me to a game their first season in SA at the hemisphair arena, became a season ticket holder the year they drafted david, could not afford them anymore the year after the 2nd championship...mortgage, two kids, cyo, cub scouts, hip hop dance for the little one, working on masters degree...life is full

[samikeyp]

My first game was at 4 yrs. old when I went to a Spurs-Pacers ABA playoff game and have been hooked ever since. The true test of any fan is what they do when your team has a bad run. Its easy to be a fan of a team when they are winning, its tougher when they are not. The Bruise Brothers era was great as was the Ice Age of the early 80's. It was tough after Ice was traded and before Big Dave got here. Going to the Hemisfair was always an event which was good because the team wasn't always that good. Ahh..the days of the Three-Headed Monster in the Middle....Frank Brickowski, Petur Gudmunsson and Mike Smrek! :lol

There are a lot of younger fans who have grown up in the Robinson-Duncan Era and are Spurs fans and that is great.....the question is, when the Spurs go into a down cycle...and it will happen, will those fans be there then? I hope so.

[spurtime]

Spurs fan since the ABA. My family had season tickets since 75-76.

[duncan2k5]

a lotta good old school stories...for me, i know ill be a fan sfter duncan leaves, because as the younger players come, you become fans of them to...and the cycle goes on...

[duncan2k5]

Honestly, worst thread ever.
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33383 :nope

[Leetonidas]

I became a fan in 1999. When I first moved here when I was 5 in 1995, I wasn't into sports because I was young but by the time 4th grade started, I started watching the Spurs play on TV because I liked basketball and the Spurs were the team I could watch the most. It just so happend that they'd win the championship in the 1999 season and I've been hooked ever since.

[polandprzem]

Well I became a spurs fan when a polish guy was added to the roster. It was quite long time ago, but I'm sticking with the spurs since.
His name is James White ofcourse.

[duncan2k5]

poland...who is that in your sig?

[Leetonidas]

Well I became a spurs fan when a polish guy was added to the roster. It was quite long time ago, but I'm sticking with the spurs since.
His name is James White ofcourse.
Do they have black people in Poland?

[polandprzem]

poland...who is that in your sig?

I am on my sig





















For real I don't know - I just found her in the internet.
It was a whole site of her gifs. I can look it up for you.

[shelshor]

I missed the ABA days; got divorced the year the Spurs joined the NBA and have been going to games ever since
As long as y'all are there in the not so good years too, the only thing it means is that we older guys have more stories

[makedamnsure]

This is my 9th season following the Spurs but since I'm 15 years old, I think that's saying a lot.

I was editor of the 2nd grade newspaper team and then something happened and I got put in charge of the sports section as well so that's when I really started paying attention to them (and I remember all those series against the Twolves, Lakers, the Blazers and finally the Knicks).

I moved to the Dallas area 4 years ago and I've been representing hard for the team since.

[Solid D]

I've been a Spurs fan since they were leased from the Dallas ownership. Like some of the others in here, I went to games at Hemisfair Arena before they raised the roof on it. They raised the roof so that they could have an arena that would qualify, seating-wise, for the NBA. Iceman got 30 points easier than anyone I've ever seen. Several nights, Ice got a quiet 40. Then there was the time Ice went down with an injury and sat out a few games, so Ron Brewer (his son Ronnie Brewer is a rookie for the Jazz) started in Ice's place and he was given the scoring role. Ron did his best Iceman imitation and lit it up for 40+ points, 2 consecutive games. That offensive showcase ended up being just that, and Ron was traded to Cleveland not long after that along with Reggie Johnson for Mike Mitchell. That was a shrewd deal.

The Hemisfair Arena truly was one of the noisiest arenas. My ears used to ring like I had been at a rock concert.

Franchise-wise, I even go back to the late 1960s. I went to 2 or 3 Dallas Chaparrals home games when I was a kid (before I ended up in San Antonio). I used to listen to Chaparrals PBP man Terry Stembridge on the radio. Terry moved with the team to San Antonio and was the "voice of the Spurs" in the early years.

New fans and old fans are all a part of the Spurs' community...no matter where in the world they reside.

[ShoogarBear]

Damn, some of you guys are old.

[T Park]

first game was in December of 1988.

starting 5, i can BARELY remember.

Johnny Dawkins
Alvin Robertson
Caddy Anderson

The other two I cannot remember.

But the earliest memories of childhood was on friday nights getting to watch the news, and Dan Cook recapping or talking about the Spurs.

Listening to Jay Howard talk about Reggie Williams, Frank Brickowski, David Windgate, Rocket Rod Strickland, Mike Mitchell getting added as well as Johnny Moore. I remember everything Terry Cummings got a rebound they hung a "TC" up in the upper deck that was sponsored by Taco Cabana. I think one night he had 20 rebounds and they ran out of TCs :lol

the promotions :lol Basket Tornado, and alot of others.

Remember when the only time the lights went off for introductions was for the playoffs and opening night because the lights didn't come on quick enough.

[THE SIXTH MAN]

New fans and old fans are all a part of the Spurs' community...no matter where in the world they reside.
Truer words have never bean said. :tu

[Louie Vega]

I moved to San Antonio in '87 so I followed guys like J.R. Reid, Cummings, Dale Ellis. Anyone remember Nigel Knight? Anyone remember Strickland getting into fights at his favorite club on Austin Highway? Or the club that Cadillac Anderson and D-Rob owned by the medical center? The good old days when we had the Spurs all to ourselves and noone outside of 210 gave a crap!

[polandprzem]

Damn, some of you guys are old.

Speaks the young fella :p:

[samikeyp]

:lmao

[cornbread]

I became a Spurs fan back in 89 when I was 8 years old. My dad bought me this little David Robinson basketball and sat me down to watch games with him. By the next season my walls were adorned Spurs posters and I only rocked Spurs schools supplies like pencils, folders, spirals etc.

It was great growing up in SA because every year we'd have Johnny Moore or Terry Cummings or some other Spur visit us at school for an assembly. Those assemblies were only rivaled by visits from San Antonio's greatest ventriloquist, Nacho Estrada and his dummie Macolvio!

Ah memories.

[tlongII]

I thought this thread was about ShoogarBear?

[Solid D]

:lol tlong gets off a blast.

[SenorSpur]

Hats off to fellow ol' schoolers Wildbill2u , Solid D, and Dav4463 for their good stories. Like many other "ol school" fans here, I also go back to the very early ABA days that signaled the Spurs arrival from Dallas. This pro basketball thing was totally new to everyone - especially to a young 11 year old boy and his impressionable friends.

Some of my fondest memories of that time are meeting up with my friends at the arena immediately after school. It was fun watching our local heroes (Gervin, Silas, Rich Jone, Bird Averritt, Swen Nater, et all) drive up in their customized Cadillacs, Corvettes and Lincoln Continentals (hey, we're talking about the 1970's).

We were just as excited to meet and greet other ABA notables like Artis Gilmore, Freddie Lewis, George McGinnis, M.L. Carr, Luther "Ticky" Burden, David Thompson, Julius Erving and my absolute favorite - Marvin "Bad News" Barnes (more on him later).

These guys were truly larger than life to us in every sense of the word. Their on-court exploits notwithstanding, they were all extremely nice guys and they seem to find amusement in a bunch of knucklehead kids that clamored for the honor of walking with along with them from the Hilton Palacio Hotel, to carrying their bags and, of course, begging for tickets.

Marvin was by far the coolest. most unusual cat we encountered. We got to know him quite well over the years and looked forward to his visits. He was an extremely talented ball player who could literally score in bunches without so much as a warmup. During one instance he arrived late to the arena (middle of 1st quarter) with a burger and fries in a bag, then went out and scored 30+ points and grabbed 15 boards easy.

Back in those days, the games were so sparsely populated that you could virtually sit anywhere in the arena - even front row!. Since we sat so close, we would often yell good-natured obscenties at Barnes just to try and throw him off. In return, he would point at us while he did his thing or simply give us wink of assurance as he shot his free throws.

After the games, my friends and I would clown around with Barnes at his hotel and he would tell us stories about the league and his various travels. When asked why he was late getting to the arena - he simply grinned. We all knew why he was late. He was a really, cool guy - and quite the ladies man too.

As someone mentioned earlier, it was a more innocent time and there wasn't much media coverage back then. By far, the Hemisfair Arena was the loudest arena in the league and the original Baseline Bums were legendary.

It's great to see and hear the stories from the mixing and mingling of everyone here. Whether they be old or new, foreign or domestic, it's that type of diversity that makes the Spurs community a really unique community.

[duncan2k5]

lol. i was just thinking, imagine 20 years from now, we will be the old guys talking about the good ol days when the spurs used to play in the AT&T center, when Duncan was the man, and shaking our heads at the young bucks who wont know who ginobili, bruce and tony are

[SenorSpur]

Dare I steal a line from Cuban, SFFL (Spurs Fan for Life)?

[ShoogarBear]

Most of my stories suck compared to these.

I did play a pickup game at LBJ where I guarded a Spur. Well, actually a future Spur. Keith Edmonson, who was the Big Daddy at MacArthur at the time.

And one time we bought tickets off the street to a Nuggets game at the HemisFair and ended up one row behind the Denver bench. So we spent all game yelling at Doug Moe, who occasionally would turn around and yell back. So that was fun. Also sat next to Gary DeLaune, who looked very green and sickly.

[Solid D]

Also sat next to Gary DeLaune, who looked very green and sickly.

Was that from the reflection off his jacket?

[spursaretheone]

I started watching the Spurs in 90 when David came into the league. I was watching with my bro and saw David dunk on some golden state warrior like he said something about his momma. After that I was hooked and cheered for the spurs no matter what. I remember Willie Anderson dunking on Horace Grant when the bulls came to town and even though we lost I was still happy to see that. I went to one game in the hemisfair arena which was loud as F**ck and a lot of games in the Dome but the seats sucked ass. I love the SBC.... oh sorry AT&T center now and the team is not so bad either.... haha. I love the Spurs and the fact that people realize what a great team we are from top to bottom its great.


By the way I am so glad they got rid of BOB BASS. That dude made the worst deals ever. Dennis Rodman for will perdue. 'nough said.

[Sasha]

I was a basketball player in college in NY and used to go to the Knicks games 57-61 and wanted to see the new pro basketball team when they came to town. I didn't want to go by myself so I bribed my best friend to go with me to their first game.

We got drunk, had a great time and bought season tickets at half-time. We got real good seats behind the Spurs bench about 10 rows up in the old Hemisphere Arena for $5.00 per game as I recall. We kept them for twenty some-odd years.

The Spurs Corral wasn't a membership club then and was always crowded after the games. After the crowd thinned out, we had a semi-regular group,including Ralph Reed the bartender and father of Robert Reed the St. Mary's and Rockets player, that played ball against the cops while the janitors were cleaning up.

I love all the new blood Spurs fans. I just wish some of you had the opportunity to see and know the team all those years. Remember that those jerseys hanging in the rafters are there for a reason and some other players probably deserve to be remembered too. There were some great players and some great characters that many of you don't know much about and that's truly a shame. I'm not saying they were all better than todays champions, but we did have some unbelieveable players over the years. Anyone who saw GG or Si or Kenon or some others in their prime enjoyed extraordinary basketball skills. And our adversaries were great as well with Doctor J and George McGinnis being among the best.

One of the neatest things about the old days was how easy it was to become friends with the players. I used to play poker and tennis with a couple of them all the time, knew their wives and families and had more than casual acquaintance with many others. I suspect those days are over for most fans. Too bad you missed it.


This was a wonderful post! Thank you so much.

[ShoogarBear]

Oh, yeah, I forgot I met Bob Bass once while we were both waiting for connections in (I think) Houston. That was the year Fennis Dembo was a senior at Wyoming and we talked about him for a while (at first he thought maybe I knew Fennis and I guess was trying to see if I had some scoop on him :lol).

Bass didn't always make the most brilliant of moves but the fact is he kept the Spurs afloat and in the top tier of teams when they had even cheaper ownership than they do now. And he also did a good job with the Hornets with another bad owner.

[spursaretheone]

I was just so dissapointed with the moves he made because it seemed we always were on the bottom of the deal.

[maddnezz]

I moved to San Antonio in '87 so I followed guys like J.R. Reid, Cummings, Dale Ellis. Anyone remember Nigel Knight? Anyone remember Strickland getting into fights at his favorite club on Austin Highway? Or the club that Cadillac Anderson and D-Rob owned by the medical center? The good old days when we had the Spurs all to ourselves and noone outside of 210 gave a crap!
Club Illusions on Austin hwy! Man, hung out with many Spurs there! Willie was married to my best friend Miles' sister Cindy! Willie bought that club from Caddie because Caddie got into the coke thing. Big Dave separated himself from that kind of life after that. He was club hopping back in the day too before Valerie. And Mad would come out to the park off commerce street and whop evrybody on the court without even stretching! That was during his "bad" times. I taught gymnastics off of austin highway at Olympia gymnastics and a lot of the Spurs players kids would come to class there
Paul Pressys', Jack Haley, David Greenwood, Hell even Tori lee Jones!!!(Guess
who her daddy is?) Tiffany's Billard on San Pedro, the club out by the airport,
can't remember the name of it right now, and the one club out by the Country lanes, man those were the days. I did some mascot work with the Coyote(Tim Dirk) , I even dressed up as the Suns gorillia doing a mascot dunk off with the Coyote!! He cut my head open during the stunt but I didn't give a damn, anything for the spurs!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :fro God I hate living here in Atlanta :depressed

[Louie Vega]

Club Illusions on Austin hwy! Man, hung out with many Spurs there! Willie was married to my best friend Miles' sister Cindy! Willie bought that club from Caddie because Caddie got into the coke thing. Big Dave separated himself from that kind of life after that.............................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................



Good Times!!!!! When you coming back to S.A.?

[SequSpur]

How in the hell does a wooden clog wearing Holland boy become a Spurs fan?

[polandprzem]

lol. i was just thinking, imagine 20 years from now, we will be the old guys talking about the good ol days when the spurs used to play in the AT&T center, when Duncan was the man, and shaking our heads at the young bucks who wont know who ginobili, bruce and tony are

The problem with me will be that I would not have any stories about the spurs and their games.

[my2sons]

I remember when the coyote sucked...they had an electronic armadillo one year come out on the court and it got an ovation, then the coyote would come out to silence. It wasn't until the coyote came out in a pair of skates that I noticed the crowd start to warm up to him.

[wildbill2u]

Club Illusions on Austin hwy! Man, hung out with many Spurs there! Willie was married to my best friend Miles' sister Cindy! Willie bought that club from Caddie because Caddie got into the coke thing. Big Dave separated himself from that kind of life after that. He was club hopping back in the day too before Valerie. :) :) :fro God I hate living here in Atlanta :depressed
Man we probably ran into each other in the clubs back in the day.

Here's a story about DROB in a club. Do you remember there was a comedy club way the hell out on IH10 west off De Zavala Rd? Well, DROB was in there one night. I think it may have been when he came to town to check out the Spurs before he signed or maybe just after. Anyway, he was new and so some of the Spur fans went up to his table and were saying how glad we were he was a Spur. We had the table right next to his. I think some of the Spurs were there but I can't remember who.

The headliner that night wasn't a comic. It was a hypnotist. The guy was really good. Anyway, he got my girlfriend up there and put her under. He asked Dave to stand up and take a bow. Then he told her to take a look at him and that he was naked.

Her eyes got big as saucers and she started stammering and blushing. He asked her what was wrong and she wouldn't say--but finally stood there with her hands apart about a foot and said "He's so big." The house broke up and Dave couldn't stop laughing. :downspin:

After she got off the stage, Dave bought us a round and we talked. My girlfriend didn't remember a thing and got pissed later that night when I told her what happened. Wouldn't believe me. I still laugh when I think about it. :lol