David Vs. Goliath, or Why San Antonio is good for the little guys and downtown actors

In previous posts, I made a 'homer' type plea for what's good about my hometown San Antonio Spurs. Watching them lose valiantly tonight against the Lakers in Los Angeles (or some suburb thereof; it's not really Los Angeles, let's face it) reminded me in a more immediate vein as to why they so dearly mean so much to me, probably more than any of my other, non-South Texan friends here in New York who follow sports can fathom. Eric and Chris and even Laura can understand.

Ladies and gentlemen, we ARE the underdogs. We come from a part of the country politicians forget, politically correct pundits don't want to touch with a ten foot (highly multi-cultural-all-inclusive) pole, and movies only care about in terms of legends about the dusty old West.(The Alamo, anyone?) But we keep on making it. All of us. Music wise, writing wise, acting wise, family wise. (shout out to little Sophie!!!) My dad has told me time and again that my time would come, and that when it did, I shouldn't expect anyone to care. Watching the Spurs dominate professional basketball the last ten years is to have watched the national media basically ignore a force of nature. I wondered if, and now can only come to the conclusion that, they did, in fact, ignore my hometown Spurs because they are located in, if not the, then certainly one of, the smallest markets in all of the U.S. You think it's coincidence that nobody outside of Sacramento was upset six years ago because of all the non-calls against the Lakers in the Kings series back then? I bet my good friend H-bomb could tell you something about that.

And more to the point, that's the problem. With sports fans specifically, but also with alot of people in general. They only root for winners. They only like the sure thing. Believe me, I know how hard this life is; hell, all I do is help 5,000 people a day and then come home to an empty apartment and wind up making mix tapes for myself, and wonder why no one cares what I think. So, why, when everything out there, all the bills, and war, and uncertainty coming at us a million miles an hour from every direction (do I stay in the arts or not?, do I get in a long term relationship or not?, do I spend my economic stimulus package on new jeans and shoes, or invest it in me long term or not?, do I give this all up and move back to Austin and open a smoothie stand or not?) it's easy to only care, and in turn, root, for the winners. We need reassurance. We need comfort. We crave that winner take all, no matter how wrong it is mentality that this country is founded upon. In short, most of us NEED, nay, crave the Lakers. And the Yankees. And James Cameron films. And Obama....oops, too soon?

I say let's root for the underdogs. Let's root for the Jimmy Chitwoods. Let's pull for the Cougar's and reformed needle heads and kids who come from drug addled parents of this great land. That, in part, is what we are also founded on. Finding our way, no matter what anyone told us. Fighting our way to the top. Especially to those of us in the arts. We don't need to root for winners in the big sense, no, we need to root for the people that came from nowhere, who keep fighting the odds, no matter how bad the odds look. (Apologies to everyone who went to Yale or UCSD or ART or ACT. I apologize. I clearly couldn't get in to any of those programs and deservedly so. Right?) Manu Ginobli, Tony Parker, Brent Barry,Bruce Bowen, Timmy, and especially Coach Pop, this one's for you. You fought for everything you got, and in losing, a.) did it with dignity and pride, the opposite of that little Serbian bitch who shot a 3 at the buzzer; and b.) do it in spite of all the pundits, who,let's face it, drive this country, and told you that you had no business being there in the first place. (cue up commercial of Charles Barkley gorging himself to death on his 'top five.') To quote Steve Perry, 'Don't stop....believing...'

Now that's a lesson we could all stand to learn.
Keep on doing what you believe in, the way you believe in doing it.

And as always,
GO
SPURS
GO.
Sorry all you theatre heads. This one's for the kids from the 210 and 512.