Comments on: Spurs and Patriots

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:17:05 +0000

Wow…. I was just checking in on who the Spurs had picked up and saw the title of this article and had to read it. Though I do not disagree on quality of teams the Spurs have had over the past decade or so, I do have to give the author a little information.
Nobody, outside of 1604, compares the Spurs to the Patriots, or any other team for that matter. Pop is Pop, it is his team, built the way he wants it, and that is all. Obviously the author wanted to draw some comparison the what he feels is the elite of the NFL. but he would have had better luck linking an NFL team to the Lakers or Mavericks. If anything, the Spurs are more like the Texans, except the Spurs have championship rings. You never hear about players of either team getting into any trouble, or dating super models.
Spurs and Pats? No.. Spurs and Texans.. kind of… I would never take away from what Pop has accomplished by trying to compare him and his success to any other organization. He has done it his way, period.
-nuff said

By: Marcus Venables

Marcus Venables — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:18:50 +0000

What can i say im from ohio, my father was in the navy and got me started watching David Robinson, i followed him right to the spurs and have been hooked since. They are a class act, being from ohio the best for me was when i was a “witness” to the sweep of the cavs in 07 finals. There has been nothing sweeter tasting than that for me. I was personally disgusted with the whole celebration before and after games this year from the cavs. I am a huge browns fan and really thought when the spurs lost in the first round i wanted the cavs to win for the city of cleveland. But it was very nice to see them get put in their seat by the magic. I am very excited to see the spurs making moves this year cant wait til it all starts again. GO SPURS GO!!!!

By: Mario Rendon

Mario Rendon — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:43:10 +0000

What can I say. The San Antonio Spurs are the Team! Oh, and do not forget their FANS – The Los Angeles Lakers win a Championship, and there is fire in the streets. While the Spurs Fans just get ready for an All Night Downtown Car Cruise Celebration and later a Water – River Parade with a final all city get-together at the Alamo Dome! GO SPURS GO!

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:47:27 +0000

I’d compare the spurs to the Tom Landry era Cowboys– classy individuals, maybe not the greatest team of any particular era, but serious contender year-in-year-out and a handful of championships too. Even ex-navy stars (Robinson and Staubach).

By: Baldemar

Baldemar — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:17:34 +0000

I have been following the Spurs Organization from some time and i feel as though the chart shown above should be more detailed and posted on front page, at least for a day. We in San Antonio sometimes feel left out of the national spotlight that acknowledges true sportsmanship, though we are not “Hollywood” this blog is very appreciated. San Antonio may not be a big market for you business-sports buffs, but success is big in the Alamo City.

By: mattmo28

mattmo28 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:23:19 +0000

I do not think anyone will argue that the Spurs have more class than the Patriots as an organization. For having as many people on the team in the NFL, locker room issues are not something we hear about with the Patriots which has to be partly conrtibuted to character. There is no real way to equate the NFL to the NBA but I think there are similarities between the teams that are hard to ignore. As for coaches, Belichick is no doubt an angry, viscious human being but its not like Pop doesn’t have an edge to him.

By: duaneofly

duaneofly — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:09:57 +0000

I agree with Graydon and every one else’s opinions on how the Pats don’t have the same class the Spurs do. One thing I don’t agree with on Pats-bashing though is how they “run up the score.” So the opposing team can still try to score, make a comeback and win the game, but the Pats have to play second and third stringers and not try to score? I just never understood that. If a football team doesn’t want to lose by fifty points, maybe they should take a good look at their team/organization first etc etc

I’m not a Pats fan btw, Spurs / Dolphins / Astros all the way!
Its funny, I’m from Maine and people online have called me a bandwagoner for loving the Spurs, but than tell me I’m stupid for not cheering for the Pats when they were scorching every one.

By: Ruzer

Ruzer — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:07:31 +0000

People always mention about the Spurs and how the Spurs value character over anything, but I think this is a perception that is not true. The Spurs really tried hard for Latrell Spreewell when he came off his suspension he just didn’t want to come here. We have tried for Ron Artest, we almost had a trade deadline deal for JR Smith but were too late. We tried hard for Vince Carter, we tried hard for Karl Malone. None of those are considered high character players.

I believe Poppovich will give anybody a chance as long as he believes he will help the team.

By: Timothy Varner

Timothy Varner — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:51:04 +0000

Jacob,

In fairness to Matthew Molina, he did include Del Negro and Rivers. I edited them out because the table was a bit too large and I wanted to restrict it to the Pop era. Maybe that was a mistake on my end.

Also, to be fair to myself, I received Matthew’s email with curiosity. I don’t follow the NFL, and I really wouldn’t know. In fact, I think the NFL is insufferable. I certainly didn’t know there was such a heated debate on the topic, which is interesting to a neutral party like myself to read. Graydon does follow the NFL and is a Steelers fan. Needless to say, he completely disavows the comparison.

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:34:57 +0000

Whenever I hear or read of the Spurs as a classy organization, I always think of David Robinson. The current team is Tim’s team, but it’s still David Robinson, version 3.0.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:11:21 +0000

Also what about Del Negro and Doc Rivers as coaches who played for the Spurs? Anyone remember the 90s?

By: Jacob

Jacob — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:05:52 +0000

Pop didn’t trade Elliot, that was Bob Bass. And was anyone really heart broken over the Bowen trade? Rodman for Will Perdue, now there’s heartbreak on Pop’s watch.

By: LMac

LMac — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:48:56 +0000

While I agree with the above comments, in all fairness there are over 50 players on a football team’s roster rather than 10-15 on a basketball team. I think that the majority of the players the Pats get are decent character and locker room guys who can then control/manage some of the problems of having some of these less savory characters on the team.

And lets not forget that the Spurs used Stephen Jackson to win a championship, who was in unflattering headlines for a while there and was considered a thug by a lot of people.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:46:32 +0000

I agree with Graydon on this one. However, up until I started paying more attention to the Patriots, I did see things about them that reminded me of the Spurs. Then I noticed Belichick’s attitude towards opponents, the (as Simmons would say) F-You touchdowns, the complete disregard of hospitality, if I can use that word, to his opponents.

I wonder if we can actually say that Belichick and Popovich are that similar. Yes, the front offices are in their savvy moves and secrecy, but I don’t think I’ve heard of a head coach yet that enjoys the mandatory sideline reports during quarter breaks. Phil Jackson just spews emptiness, SVG seems irritated by the press, the list goes on and on. Plus it must be infuriating to be asked the same mundane questions over and over again. I’d get tired of that too.

By: Big50

Big50 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:30:48 +0000

Graydon, you stole my thunder. I will add that the Pat’s do not add class guys. See Randy Moss, Rodney Harrison and Cory Dillon among others. While all good players, classy is not a word used to describe these guys.

I couldn’t be prouder of the HUGE differences between these two organizations.