NOW they start to show up…

December 26, 2010
Atlanta Hawks @ New Orleans Hornets
Official Attendance: 15,626 (891 2nd chancers over the magic number)

Wow, they’re starting to show up and not by just a little bit. Over the six home games I’ve been covering, the attendance has been on a gradual incline with Sunday’s game against the Hawks being their highest attendance since it was announced the team would be sold to the NBA. The last two games have been well over the amount of people they need in the building to solidify their lease. Ironic they’d get jazzed up for this team after hearing they might be losing them. Again, maddening that the fans have a chance to save their team and we as Sonic fans never did. And yet there are still rumblings that the Sonic fans didn’t support the team and that’s why they left. At least David Aldridge of TNT gives us a little love in this story.

What ELSE is on my mind
The 9ers have had a rough year, yet they were in the race until dropping todays game in St. Louis. As bad as it has been, today they really went out with an embarassing conversation between this week’s starting quarterback Troy Smith and head coach for now Mike Singletary. Even if they were winning this would not look bad, but at least they could spin it as a pair of passionate men disaggreeing what should have taken place on the previous play. (An interception thrown by Smith caught ironically enough by Singletary’s future son-in-law OJ Atogwe) And what was Ted Ginn Jr. trying to do with the towel? I know he and Smith were great friends at Ohio State so if anyone on the team knows how to handle him, Ginn would. But I know when I’m in a state of pure rage, the last thing I want from anyone is to have a possibly sweaty and snotty towel thrown in my face.

-Everyone who was worried about the Miami Heat 14 games into the season can calm down until the next event for them to overreact about occurs. Examples: One of the Phillies aces loses a game, Duke loses two in a row, Tom Brady throws an interception, etc.

-This picking games thing is not as easy as you might think. I’m 8-6 with two games yet to go and fear not, I will eat the appropriate amount of crow once Tuesday’s Vikings Eagles is in the books. At least I’m better than the NFC West. On a sidenote, if not for the Poison Pill contract, I would feel bad for the Vikings by now. Three games in a row delayed or moved from their scheduled locations. Just not fair.

Get PICK wit it!

Week 16
Carolina @ Pittsburgh (Thursday Night)
Likely no Troy Polamalu in this game. The black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow could win this game with Justin Bieber at safety. This team clinched a playoff berth on a loss last week for crying out loud. Some teams have all the luck.

Stealers (I’m a Hawk fan, I’m spelling it right) win 24-7

Dallas @ Arizona
Merry Christmas? To who? Central fans get to see their Wildcat pro Mr. Jon Kitna lead “Americas Team” up and down the field against a defense that is 23rd against the pass and 30th against the run in the NFL. It will be interesting to see if Arizona fans will fill the UFO lookalike known as University of Phoenix Stadium.

Cowboys win closer than they should 17-7

Washington @ Jacksonville
Colts fans have to be ticked that Jack gets to host the third most dramatic team of the 2010 season. Jags fans are ticked that if the Colts win out, they win the division and the playoff spot. Such is life. Who will start and finish the game for the ‘Skins? Your guess is as good as mine. Rex Grossman looked better that he did in six years in Chicago and Coach Mike Shanahan still wants to get a look at John Beck before the season is over.

Jags put pressure on the Colts with a 28-10 win

Detroit @ Miami
Two teams who are setting up vacation plans in two weeks, but there could be some interesting things to watch. Will Stafford play? Will Henne be able to win his job back with a strong performance in the last two weeks of the season? Can Detroit get a road winning streak started? Will I ask other rhetorical question? Nope…

Detroit willllllllllll… NOT get it done as Miami wins 17-14

San Francisco @ St. Louis
Sad that this is still a big game as both of these teams will finish below .500, yet both of them, and our beloved Seahawks, still are in the playoff hunt. As if that wasn’t bad enough, one of these three pathetic football teams will be hosting their playoff game. Ugh. If St. Louis holds serve at home then we can at least eliminate a 49er team that began the year 0-5 and set up a winner take all in week 17 when the Rams travel to Qwest.

The 9ers will fall just short of backing up Jed York as the Rams win 14-10

Tennessee @ Kansas City
A tough draw for a Kansas City team that’s trying to wrap up the AFC West. The Titans just ended a six game losing streak with a win over Houston last week, but they are no easy team to beat. Chris Johnson has been down a bit this year averaging just over 84 yards a game, but he could go off at any moment. The Chiefs are 13th in the league at stopping the run, giving up 107 yards per game so that will be an interesting matchup to watch. Matt Cassel is also back and that seems to be the key to the Chief’s success. Look for him and Dwayne Bowe to have a good time playing catch against the 26th ranked pass defense in the NFL.

Chiefs hold off Chargers for at least one more week 28-14

New York Jets @ Chicago
One of the better games of the week as both teams still have playoffs and seeding to play for. If DA BEARS can win out they get a first round bye over the Eagles based on head-to-head win percentage. The Jets just need to win in order to cling to their 6th seed in the playoffs and regain some of the swagger they had at the beginning of the season. Against a lot of other defenses, I’d say the Jets could get their ground game going, not the Bears though soooooo…

The boys from Chicago I-L get it done in a close one 21-17

New England @ Buffalo
The Pats have been ON FIRE since the Browns woke them up in Week 9. Buffalo has been ON FIRE since beating the Browns in Week 14. Not quite the same. Were it an IQ test, Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick the Harvard grad would have a pretty good shot at beating Tom Brady.

Since that’s not the case, Pats 35-14

Baltimore @ Cleveland
In another season of discontent for the Browns, another bright spot has to be the emergence of Brady Quinn (remember him? Most Bronco fans don’t know who he is) trade throw in Peyton Hillis. The vaunted black bird D allowed Hillis to tote the rock for 144 yards in Week 3, which was more than the entire Baltimore backfield combined in that game. The ravens got the last laugh with the victory and now are playing for playoff seeding. The Browns are playing with a passionate 12th Man in this game as Cleveland fans hate this purple clad team more than any other team in the league.

I’m finally picking an upset, Browns 21-20 on a late Hillis TD run

Houston @ Denver
Gary Kubiak versus his old team. There is some thought that after this season is over, both of these teams will be his former team after another disappointing season for the starry eyed cows. Tim Tebow will likely make his second career start, and he’ll have a chance to flash his retooled arm against the 32nd ranked pass defense that somehow managed to play a Hail Mary correctly…. And STILL have it beat them! As long as Andre Johnson and Matt Schaub are able to breath in the Mile High air, Houston will be able to score too.

A team from Texas has to win a shootout 35-31

San Diego @ Cincinnati
St. Diego is playing for their playoff lives. Cin Sity (Get it?) is playing for their career lives. Those who show up to this game will likely see the last home game for Marvin Lewis and possibly Carson Palmer in the Black and Orange. With Vincent Jackson playing possibly his second to last game as a Charger, The Queen City Kittys don’t stand a chance.

28-7 Dirty Waffles (Sandy Eggo… ha ha hooo WOW!)

Indianapolis @ Oakland
The Colts won’t be resting anybody by choice this year, most of the receiving corps has gotten plenty of rest leading into the last part of the season. The Black Hole isn’t the relaxing trip it once was for teams as the Raiders actually toyed with a playoff run for a couple weeks in the middle of the season. As I mentioned above, the Colt’s can win the division by winning out, so we’ll get to see how Peyton Manning reacts to a couple big games that are taking place in December rather than January.

Colts hang on, barely 24-21 (The Raiders HATE Adam Vinatieri)

New York Giants @ Green Bay
Big Blue doesn’t want to see the color green ever again, let alone a week after DeSean Jackson flew past 11 special teamers and into NY/PHILA sports lore. And the name of the Packers leading rusher? Brandon JACKSON! As long as Aaron Rogers is under center (no offense to Matt Flynn, who may have earned a starting gig somewhere next year with how well he played in Foxborough last week) the Pack are riding a little higher than the G-Men.

28-24 Pack on a rushing TD from JACKSON

Seattle @ Tampa Bay
And we come to the last “competitor” in the NFC West. With the other two duking it out in STL, the Hawks have a chance to grab a “commanding” lead against a beaten up Bucs team that just didn’t have 16 games in them this year. The only thing in the Birds favor here is the game is not a 10 AM West Coast time kick off. Just about everything else is not in their favor. I only hope Matt Hasselbeck has a comeback game so that we send him out properly as fans when the blue and green return home to play for all the NFC West marbles in Week 17.

35-24 Bucs because Matt will have a good day, and the D will have a normal day for them

Minnesota @ Philadelphia
Joe Webb will get his first start. No, that OTHER guy will milk his shoulder, foot, concussion, etc injuries all week and then strap on his helmet (only to unstrap it between plays) for another start. Webb will be playing by the 3rd series, I guarantee that much. The Eagles meanwhile are trying to catch the Bears for the all important, and all Vick preserving, first round bye. Highlights from the “New Meadowlands Miracle” before the game will get the fans and the team amped. What do the deflated (pun intended) Vikes have to be amped for anymore?

The Iggles fly to the 31-3 victory

New Orleans @ Atlanta (MNF)
Now HERE’S a Monday Night Game! The Saints are all but a lock for the post season, but still have an outside shot at the division title as well which would secure a home playoff game. (Their “road” game will be to travel out west to play the NFC West “winner”) ATL grabbed the Week 3 matchup in an exciting overtime matchup. Yes, they needed a shanked field goal to wrap up the win, but most people reading this had no idea that’s how they got the W, so it’s no matter. Matty Ice has been money at home in his career, but…

The Saints exact revenge 30-28, just to make Week 17 interesting

The WAGs help the Hornets

December 22, 2010
New Jersey Nets @ New Orleans Hornets
Official Attendance: 15,423 (688 extra who hoped that Sasha Vujacic, Kris Humphries, and JayZ would bring their significant others)

Well they did it, the fans showed up, and against a not very good team on a Wednesday night no less. Now it might have helped that New Orleans native Avery Johnson and Nets coach made sure to bring his entire group of friends and family to the game, but as popular as the former Sonic guard is, he probably can’t be credited for all those extra people in the stands. Governor Bobby Jindal and Mayor Mitch Landrieu have been working to drum up support for the team and both attended the game against the Nets.

They have the Christmas holiday off, but are right back to work in the Crescent City on Sunday with 19-12 Atlanta coming to town. With a good team coming around, they have another chance to fill the arena.

What ELSE is on my mind
-Kind of thought that the Boise State versus Utah game would be a little more entertaining. It may have been a rough game to watch, but it does show that maybe BSU should have been in a little better game. Imagine them in a playoff… sigh. At least of all the guys The Broncos have leaving, they should have their Heisman finalist QB back.

–Don Banks of CNNSI has made it known exactly what he thinks of the NFC West. And the sad part is any fans or players from the NFC West can argue. The part that gets me is that there are at least five teams that won’t be going to the playoffs ahead of the first Left Coast team to appear.

-Maybe Michigan State isn’t as good as they were first billed. Preseason ranked at number two, they have now lost four games, most recently to the Texas Longhorns. The Hook Em’s victory ends a 52 game home winning streak against nonconference opponents. Coach Tom Izzo usually does his best work in March though, so as long as they get in the tournament, they’ll be fine.

-Would it be the Vikings, Redskins, or Jets? This week, it would be the Jets to do something rediculous and embarassing. And kind of hilarious.

Snuck One By Me, and the city of New Orleans…

December 15, 2010
Sacramento Kings @ New Orleans Hornets
Official Attendance: 13,325 (1,410 empty seats away from the magic number)

December 17, 2010
Utah Jazz @ New Orleans Hornets
Official Attendance: 14,414 (321 individuals shy)

And for all who forgot the magic number: 14,735

New Orleans fans who didn’t show up on Wednesday missed a great game in the “Teams That Likely Will Be Playing Elsewhere In Ten Years” Bowl. The Kings, led by former Sonic player and coach Paul Westphal, held a 23 point 2nd half lead at one point, only to have the Bees come storming back for the victory. Of note for fans of bringing back the Sonics, an interesting note from that game is that while the attendance fell short, $30,000 dollars was spent on tickets by local businesses trying to build more support for the Hornets. They can’t feel too bad about this one as the now 5-19 Kings aren’t exactly a huge draw. But it seems even with their mayor urging people to buy tickets, fans aren’t coming out.

Friday’s game had a dual between two of the best young guards in the league with Deron Williams coming to town. Williams was picked third and Paul fourth in the 2005 NBA Draft (the same year the Sonics went French with Johan Petro and Mickael Gelabale) so their battles are always fun to watch for NBA fans not in Milwaukee (#1 Pick that year) and Atlanta (#2). Still, with that battle on the court, they fell short of the mark and fell short of the number they hit against Kevin Durant and the Voldemorts.
Up next at home is the Brooklyn New Yorkers, er, the New Jersey Nets. If the players spouses show up for that game, there’s a chance they’d sell out. With Sasha Vujacic arriving in Jersey with his bride to be Maria Sharapova and Kris Humphries now dating Kim Kardashian, not to mention part owner Jay-Z married to none other than Beyonce, the Nets have all sorts of beautiful women around them these days. That game tips December 22 so we can avoid the NBA for a few days if necessary.

What ELSE is on my mind
-Sounds like Rashard Lewis is heading to the Nation’s Capital He’s one of the guys Sonics fans can keep tabs on as a former Green and Golder, so it will be interesting to see how the second highest paid guy in the league does playing next to John Wall.

-Just when you thought Arthur Moats spared us more waffling, Brett Favre is milking his shoulder so much that week to week he keeps us guessing as to whether or not he plays. Damn ESPN for giving him the platform to do that to us!

-Thank you Bill Simmons. Who’da thought that Sonics fans would care about a ravens VS Saints pick? That man STILL gives us love!

-I try to be as optimistic as I can be, but anyone who thinks the Seahawks have a reasonable shot against the Falcons is diluted. The Falcons do have weaknesses, and are traveling a great distance, but 11-2 is 11-2. Our only hope is if they are looking ahead to the Monday Nighter against the Saints (which is a possibility)

-The Redskins are in greater dissaray than I thought. How do they keep getting players to come there? I’d be shocked if McNabb and Haynesworth are back next year. Interesting note, if you Google “Albert Haynesworth” the third option in the auto complete dropdown menu is “Albert Hayneswort Seahawks. I don’t see it meaning anything now, but who knows down the road…

Vomit tastes bad

December 10, 2010

Lord Voldemort and the Deatheaters @ New Orleans

Official Attendance: 14,428 (307 buttholders short of the needed average)

I have to keep this one short, otherwise my stomache acid will rot my tounge.  If the Hornets ARE coming here, they better win this game eight, nine times out of ten, especially on their home court.  Most of the time, Seattle fans will only care about the attendance stat.  Today, they cared a little more about the score, and CP3 and co couldn’t get it done.  I did peg this game as a possible above average attendance day due to the two bright young stars coming into the building, and it fell short of that.  Up next at home the Hornets have Tyreke Evans and the rest of Sacramento Kings, another team rumored to be relocating to Seattle.  Let me just remind readers that the commissioner wants to have teams overseas in the next ten years.  Take care of business at home first. 

And because this game was tougher to swallow for all Sonic fans, let me remind you of something our former star said as recently as September: http://seattle.sbnation.com/2010/9/29/1720257/nba-training-camp-2010-kevin-durant-seattle-sonics-oklahoma-city-thunder

We’ll move on when we can boo your jerseys, not you as a person, when you come to town to play against the Sonics.  Remember, he was only here a year and he still mentions missing Seattle.  Just makes you want to throw a boiling cup of coffee at schultz, scorch the earth around stern, send a possessed man after bennett, and make a pansy deal to send nickels away.

What ELSE is on my mind

-Congrats to George Karl!  One of the two best coaches in Sonics history collected win number 1,000 today in the Great White North.  384 of those wins came as leader of the Green and Gold.  One other thing to point out, in his seven and a half years at the helm of the Sonics, his winning percentage never dipped below .500.  You read that right.  From the time he took over 40 games into the 1991-92 season until Wally Walker fired him after a 61 win ’97-’98 season his win percentage was .643 or higher and we never missed the playoffs.  If the above shoved a knife into your heart, I think I just gave it a twist.

-If Cam Newton doesn’t win the Heisman tomorrow, there is something wrong.  Sadly, it can be argued that if he still has that Heisman in 10 years, there is something wrong.  At least, Reggie Bush will feel that way.

-I know the NBA has been gone a couple years, but I don’t ever remember them playing nude.  There must have been a uniform change because I’ve heard a lot about teams STREAKING over the last couple of days (ha ha HOO WOW!)  Seriously though, Dallas has won 11 in a row (and they are second to the Spurs in their division still!), Boston has won 9, New York 7, Decisions 7, and Chicago and Portland each have 4.

-I wish the Cliff Lee would have the Yanks and Rangers shake their junk and end this pissing contest.  With all the trades he’s been a part of since midway through 2009 (3 – Indians to Phillies, Phils to Mariners, M’s to Rangers) I don’t blame him for making teams sweat a bit, but I want the other dominos to fall in this Hot Stove season.

-Miguel Olivo?  Really?  In 2 previous years with the Mariners he hit .176 in 104 games.  I know we weren’t looking forward to an exciting off season like last year, but it has been reported that he wants to play every day.  Did the M’s give up on Adam Moore completely?  I wanted Gregg Zaun.  Yes he’s 40, but with not starting to play regularly until the mid 2000’s he would have been a great platoon and mentor for Moore while we saw what we have or don’t have. 

-Hawks 20, 49ers 17

Only because Alex Smith is starting and Frank Gore got his hip broken by Will Ferrell.  (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, see The Other Guys.  Vintage Will, very quotable, Eva Mendes, what more do you need?)

New Orleans fans will be Pist-on

December 8, 2010

Detroit @ New Orleans

Official Attendance: 10,823

Game 1 for New Orleans under the thumb of david stern’s ownership, and the numbers were not in favor of helping the team.  This after pleas from the Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal for fans to fill the Hive.  The Hornets on the court beat Detroit, which may be part of the reason for the lack of fans.  The Pistons are 7-16 on the season, and they weren’t much of a draw even during their glory days of the early to mid 2000’s because they (gasp!) played defense in a league where offense reigns supreme. 

Up next (God, this still hurts) the okl… the oklah… eh, screw it, if you can’t figure out who they’re playing Friday here’s their schedule http://espn.go.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/no/new-orleans-hornets

If you can look at that logo without every hair on your body standing on end like a puffer fish, more power to you. 

What ELSE is On My Mind…

-I don’t believe Urban Meyer is officially gone until Thursday midday.  We’ll see what sort of presentation his Gator players come up with THIS year to convince him to stay.

-Good for Carl Crawford for getting his money, but I feel for the rest of the AL East and all ESPN viewers who are not Yankee or Red Sox fans.  Tampa is being raided, the Orioles are still pretty young, and the Jays are also more of a daycare than a major league baseball team.  Who will even challenge the terrible two this year with Tampa neutralized?  And will there be any coverage of any baseball teams not in the upper North East?  I know, I know, that’s the norm, but at least for a couple years the Rays MADE them look a little farther South.  Now with one of the big free agent fish already going to Boston when he was thought to be destined for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, of Orange County, of Southern California, of the West Coast, of ETC, and Clifton Phipher Lee expected to be a Yankee any day now, ESPN will have even less reason to show any other team.  They probably already forgot that Timmay and Co won the Series.

-The other day, Mike Gastineau said he thought the Dawgs could run the table in the Pac-10 this year.  I love you Gas, you gave me my first shot, but check out Pullman.  Is Gonzaga having an off year?  Or are the Cougs a team to reckon with?  Maybe neither is true, but you can’t overlook a team that beat the Zags 81-59.  We may have had crappy D1 football (Still got a bowl!) in this state this year, but the hardwood is gonna be fun to watch.

-Congrats to CWU men’s b-ball team jumpin up 12 spots in the National Association of Basketball Coaches D2 poll to number 12.  Off to their best start in 17 years at 7-0, they’ve already beaten two ranked opponents.  Power to the Wildcats!

Is the Hive Buzzing?

Is this real?  Is there a chance we are talking about the NBA and Seattle in the same sentence again?  As disgusting as it feels to get excited about the shortcomings of another NBA city, like Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber, I’m “Sayin’ there’s a CHANCE!”  The Chance of course is the pain New Orleans Hornet fans are feeling right now,  which is what makes me feel disgusting.  The searing pain inflicted on my fanhood in 2008 when my favorite team left has yet to heal, and to hit another fanbase with what I felt and still feel, makes me sick.  There’s a lot of setiment that New Orleans fans don’t deserve a team and don’t have that much of a connection to their team because the Hornets have only been there for about ten years.  Somewhere in New Orleans there is a fan freaking out about possibly losing their team and feeling the same emotions we were feeling when schultz sold us out to clayclay in 2006.  I can’t say my heart hasn’t started beating a little faster with the thought of CP3, David West, and Q-Pon possibly rocking the Green and Gold in the future, but please do not forget about the people who are getting screwed in this deal.  Here are my preferences for us getting a new team:

1. Return Durant, Green, and Collison where they belong and give okc an expansion team.  (Chance of happening – Is there anything smaller than 0%?)

2. Line up schultz, nickels, bennett, and stern up and punch em all in the nuts wearing Wolverine claws.  (Chance of happening – 41%.  Why 41%?  Am I plotting to become a mutant just to fulfill this?  Or like Nelly, is this Only Just a Dream?  Naw, it’s just the amount of years we had a team)

…

452. Take someone elses team (Chance of happening – a lot higher today than a week ago)

Having said all that, lets see what would have to happen for the Hornets to come up here.  According to Kevin Spain from the Times-Picayune, ‘The Hornets lease agreement with the state expires in 2014, but the franchise can opt out of the deal next year should it fail to average 14,735 fans per game at the New Orleans Arena through January 31, 2011.  If the attendance benchmark isn’t reached, the Hornets would have to pay the state a penalty of $10 Million if they wish to relocate and must notify the state of their intention by March 31.”  The article goes on to say that the team is currently 13, 860 through 10 games this season.  (The link is to the article)

  (http://www.nola.com/hornets/index.ssf/2010/12/nba_commissioner_david_stern_c_2.html)

So how have the bees been doing attendancewise?  Well the article came out on the 7th of December, so we’ll start the official count with tomorrow’s game hosting Detroit as for going after the attendance mark.  Just for some idea how they’ve been doing, they’ve had two home games this month already and their numbers are 10,866 against the Bobcats (irony?)  and 14, 020 against the Knicks.  So even with a hot Knicks team in town they couldn’t hit the magic number of 14,735.  A quick check of the schedule shows the Orlando Magic, San Antonio Spurs, and the defending champion Lakers coming to town over the next couple months, not to mention young stars like Kevin Durant (ouch) coming twice that all could be draws.  That is only five of the 14 games they need to hit the attendance mark.  It will be interesting to watch this thing unfold over the next couple of months, and I will keep you updated as to how many fans they get, especially now that true fans in the Crescent City know they have to show up to save their team.  It is a gift those fans have been given.  A gift Sonics fans never got.

The Return

So I’m obviously a Sonics fan first through 100 (I’m wearing a Sonics Santa hat as I type this.  How’d you know there’s no woman next to me??) but I have parental roots in Cleveland.  Thus today’s Cavs game has a little extra interest.  As anyone who knows me is well aware of, the NBA is a sore subject in my life.  However, I still check the scores to see how the jilted ones in Cleveland do on the hardwood day in and day out.  Mo, Antawn, Anderson, and the rest of the wine and gold are 7-10 coming into the game, holding up as well or better than most pundits predicted.  The heat come into the game still trying to figure out the best way to play together.  With two all-stars taking their talents to South Beach to join a third all-star, immediate jelling shouldn’t have been expected, no matter what the hairsplitting analysts will have you believe.  Champs this year?  No, but likely a few in the future. 

But back to the game at hand.  Cleveland fans are pissed.  Some are pissed he left.  More are pissed at the way he did it.  All of them are tired of feeling like every time they turn on something regarding their sports their TV socks them in the stomach and pees in their shoe.  They’ve had a team stolen, blown a World Series Game 7, and been immortalized in the background of both Elway and Jordan super highlights without their own iconic moment to fall back on.  Years of sports pain may be taken out on number 6 Thursday night, and he definitely deserves a portion of it.

Cleveland needs to make sure that as a fan base, they check themselves, before they wreck themselves.  By check themselves, I mean hurl nothing physical at lebron modell, er, lebron james.  Yes he deserves your ire, he certainly has mine and is only a level up from the yellow bastards that stole basketball from me and my city.  But for the sake of people’s national view of Cleveland as a sports town, any delay of the game or physical harm of the man or his teammates will only bring the city more pain and make Cleveland into the bad guy.  Don’t make #6 into a sympathetic figure because of this.  Also, realize that there fifteen guys that are still putting on the jersey that says “Cleveland” or “Cavaliers” on it.  Make sure that they get their due as your team still.  Realize if you treat #6 too terribly, they are going to be less likely to stay around and other players will be less likely to want to become Cavs in the future. 

Alex Rodriguez spurned Seattle, and we continue to shower him with boos that can be heard two towns over, but the worst we’ve ever done is thrown fake money in the stands.  Please Cleveland, for your own sake, keep your ire down.  He isn’t worth wrecking your city’s name for.