San Antonio, the Spurs, and Me

Updated at 5:45 p.m. ET on June 26, 2023.

Each October for the past several years, when I prepare to fork over too much money to stream every single San Antonio Spurs game, it has been with an eye to the past.

I rationalize the expense: Gregg Popovich is the greatest basketball coach of all time; over the course of 27 years leading the Spurs, he has won five championships and more than 1,300 games, and given San Antonians a lifetime of memories. And although in the past few seasons the Spurs have won … less, to put it mildly, they’ve played with the same passion and reverence for the game of basketball that Pop demands. There’s no way I can stop supporting him and the team just because they are in a slump. When Keldon Johnson dives for a loose ball in a meaningless-but-close game in April of a 20-win season, I think of the way Manu Ginóbili used to throw his body around for the team and smile. to steal the show against the two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić in a surprise March win, I’m reminded of leaping out of my seat in the Alamodome, cheering for another gritty Malik Rose performance.