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The Oakland Coliseum Arena is hard by Interstate Freeway 880, and with
such an open vantage point, you could tell right away how that "Free
Latrell" protest is developing.
|  | | Maybe not enough people in Oakland care to remember Sprewell's days as a Warrior. |
So far, with only five shopping days before the NBA All-Star Game, the
total remains steady at ... zero.
The All-Star Game is in Oakland this year, a reward for the Warriors'
many years as the league's Quakers. Putting the needs of other teams ahead
of their own for most of the last quarter-century, the Warriors have earned
the right to cash in a chip or two every couple of decades, and this is
theirs until, say, 2029.
Thus, when the coaches decided that the Eastern Conference team would
be better equipped without Latrell With The Shaky Hands than with it, many
people (probably rightly) smelled conspiracy.
"The coaches did it to show their solidarity with P.J. Carlesimo."
"The coaches did it so that Sprewell wouldn't be the show in the town
that could have been his."
"The coaches would have done it, but the NBA fixed the polling."
"The coaches thought Jeff Van Gundy would have more fun playing Allan
Houston instead."
None of these may be true. All of them may be true. Some but not
others may be true. But the important thing is this:
Nobody seems to give a good sneeze either way.
Oh, there was a bit of suggestive grumbling when the reserves were
named last week, largely by folks who want to see an All-Star booed.
Sprewell's return to Oakland in December was an abuse-o-rama, both for him
and the fans, and with a rare national audience, the O-Town crowd was even
more likely to air out its nostalgia upon his cornrowed scalp.
Now that the game is nigh, however -- the NBA Jam Session has already
begun in the Coliseum parking lot -- the outrage is nowhere to be seen,
heard or filmed. Ahmad Rashad will not be brained by rioting Spree
supporters hurling bottles, or for that matter rioting Spree opponents
hurling tallboys.
After all, a riot requires rioters, and we have yet to see even a
retired Warrior season ticket holder standing in front of the place shaking
his fist and howling, "Why I Oughta ..."
This leads us to believe that, finally and irrevocably, the Sprewell
Matter is behind us, and we can all happily move on to the next telltale
sign of societal decay -- Roller Jam.
We can take it as faith that the good people of O-Town are not so
satisfied with the six guards the East will play (Allen Iverson, Eddie
Jones and reserves Houston, Ray Allen, Jerry Stackhouse and Reggie Miller)
that they wouldn't protest Sprewell's exclusion if they felt so moved. By
that same token, those who still wish Sprewell the most exotic kind of ill
have shown no sign that the topic causes them even the slightest flicker of
anger.
People ... flat ... don't ... care. Even if Don Casey or George
Karl or Doc Rivers had their brains replaced by small bags of gravel and
announced that they voted against Sprewell on principle, nobody would care.
Even if David Stern hung banners outside the Arena with a 50-foot image of
Sprewell and a circle-and-slash imposed upon it, you would hear only
crickets, and the sound of 18-wheelers barreling down the road to deliver
more inflatable Elvis recliners to Costco.
People don't even seem too bothered by the reserve status of Gary
Payton, an O-Town native who was outvoted by Kobe Bryant, who missed a good
chunk of the early season with injury. Payton is Oakland in ways that Mayor
Jerry Brown can never be, and yet his omission on the balloting suggests
that Warrior fans couldn't be bothered even to punch a hole next to his
name.
This may suggest to you that the All-Star Game doesn't stir much
passion. What it suggests to us is that the Oakland fan may not have
forgiven Sprewell, but it has forgotten him well enough. The Warriors'
tedious season has kept the voting down, as you might guess, and it has
certainly kept the outrage down as well.
Now we'll continue to monitor the Arena as the week drones on. The
Spree-o-philes may be saving their show for the weekend, and the
Spree-o-phobes may be saving their show for the Spree-o-philes.
So far, though, the city remains defiantly unmoved by this possible
abuse of power. If that's what it was. If anyone would admit it. If anyone
would listen to the admission when it came.
Maybe O-Town is just saving its passion for the return of NBA
Basketball. Whenever that is.
Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Examiner is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. | |
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All-Star game rosters
All-Star Game history
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