The Spurs Will Retire You

Last Saturday night, the Spurs retired Avery Johnson's #6 jersey, as a way to thank him for his ten years of playing service to the team, and his role in the 1999 championship over the Knicks. (You can read about that series in Phil Jackson's upcoming book, "Things That Happened But Do Not Matter, Because I Said So.")

There is, of course, one glaring problem with putting the Little General up in the rafters, along with George "Iceman" Gervin (damn, now *that's* a nickname), Johnny Moore, David Robinson and Sean Elliot... and that's his current job, as the head coach of the hated rival Dallas Mavericks.

Seriously, Spurs Fan, what the hell? Johnson's Mavs may have no stomach for dealing with Nellieball in the playoffs and look for all the world like they left their heart in Oakland, but they match up better with you than any other team in the West... and you're putting their coach in your rafters? Either the organization thinks so highly of him that they want to make sure he'll jump over once Gregg Popovich is finally ready to move on, they don't see the Mavs as a serious threat, or they think that the job that a head coach does is so minor, so lacking in impact, that they can just disregard the gig.

And that's all I have to say about that. Any Spurs fans out there that want to let me know what the deal is, I'd appreciate it.