Suns Fans Fail to Set the Curve

With my Cavs coming into the desert only one time a year, my wife and I decided to pony up the money for some nice mid-court seats at US Airways Arena last night. From what we had heard, this is where the true sports fans of Arizona exist. Well, once again, Arizona sports fans failed to deliver.

I know I often find myself attacking Arizona fans or any fans other my teams' fans, but having been to numerous arenas around the country and having lived in six different media markets, it is just unbelievable to me the way Arizona supports it's home teams.

Being a 6:00 pm Sunday start time in Phoenix, we didn't see the normal late arriving Arizona crowd, so everything got off on a good note. But from there things simply went quiet, extremely quiet. There was no life at all in the fans or the arena.

It took until mid-way through the 3rd quarter for Phoenix fans to get off their feet and cheer. That happened to be the first time they took the lead. The fans had nothing up until that point. No cheering, chanting or even standing up the entire first half. You can still cheer if your team is losing by five points.

As a visiting fan, I even commented to my wife about how nice it is to not have to stand up after every single score or good run. That was something I wasn't used to. And other than us cheering for every nice play Cleveland would make, our section was dead silent.

What was even more disturbing was the mass exodus with four minutes left to go in the game, with the Suns only up by five. It was literally a run to the parking lot. Yes, the Suns were starting to take control, but with Lebron James on the floor at the end of a close game, why head for the gates. It would be one thing if it was for total confidence in the Suns, but this was purely for getting out of traffic, of which, there is none after downtown Phoenix games. Getting home is a breeze compared to other cities. It was only 8:30 pm.

Yes, I am bitter that the Cavs lost, but they kept it close. Much closer than the 40 points they could have lost by. Being from out of town you just can't help but be angered by fans around here. They will fight you until the death about how loyal and true they are and then turn around and not show up, leave early or completely forget to cheer their team on.

"Best fans in basketball" is what I heard the entire night. These folks must not get around to many road games.