Grizzlies Fans Defend Their Team

On Saturday July 5, I wrote the following story Could The Grizzlies Be Seattle?s New Team??The story was based on a report by ESPN NBA beat reporter Ric Bucher. In his report Bucher revealed a clause?in the deal that the NBA made with the city of Seattle, that had gone unreported.?The city of Seattle will be owed an additional $30 million if they do not have a new NBA franchise in five years. Bucher believes that the NBA Board of Governors do not want to put another expansion team in the Association. So that would mean a current team would have to move it?s local. Bucher believes that the Memphis Grizzlies could be the team to fill the vacuum. The Grizzlies have already located once in their brief existence, coming from their original home in Vancouver. It is widely believed that team owner Michael Heisley wants to sell the team, and the fan base has not ever really been totally supportive. Saturday was the day after the July 4, holiday it was an extremely slow news day on the NBA front. If the same story had appeared in April or May, I probably would not have even printed it! However Bucher, being an impeccable source, and the lack of stories on that particular day, led me to?write the article. To me it was a nothing story, and I truly doubted that it would even cause a ripple, in the sea of NBA news.

I was totally unprepared for what would take place on Monday July, 7!

A Memphis Grizzlies website, picked up on the story, and set up a direct link to the article on??Slam Dunk Central.? Suddenly that “nothing story” became the epicenter of a fire storm! It has turned into one of our most widely read stories in the past couple of days. The other thing it did was bring out Memphis fans to defend their team. I have not seen such passion from a fan base since the NFL allowed the Cleveland Browns to move to Baltimore in 1995. Grizzlies fans defended their team like a mother bear defending her cub! There are some comments that are posted under the original story, unfortunately many did not make the cut because of language! My e-mail box has also been deluged by Memphis fans, what you?see is barely the tip of the iceberg. If the sampling of responses that I have received is a true indication of a Memphis Grizzlies fan, than they are far more supportive of their team than Bucher gave them credit for!

Grizzlies fan, you have earned my respect! There is nothing on the planet that I admire more than passionate people! And if Commissioner Stern does decide that the Grizzlies are indeed the team to fill the vacuum in Seattle, judging by what I have seen he will have a Battle Royale on his hands!