Listen, it goes without saying that most bloggers, including basketball bloggers, are white.  Other minorities are represented, too.  FreeDarko had a series of posts about whether the playoff teams this year where "Jewish" or "Asian".  Black bloggers, though clearly a minority, are out there blogging about basketball, too.  TheStartingFive, Nate Jones, and plenty of other websites that I didn't even know were African-American are out there.  But the Latinos seem to be on the quiet tip.  I know basketball isn't really our sport, but as a Latino I'm gonna do my part.

Originally, when coming up with the name/identity for my new blog, I went through a few possibilities.  I came very close to pulling a Chauncey Billups/Bloggups, and naming this site Manu Ginoblogi.  In retrospect I probably should have gone that route, if for no other reason than because StopMikeLupica is never going to get any love from, say, ESPN.  Not that I care - eff ESPN. Still, we think Henry Abbott from True Hoop will probably never be allowed to link to us, simply because of our name.

Anyway, let's get to the point: this time of the year, when everyone not from San Antonio starts hating on the Spurs, I tend to become more and more supportive of them.  First, let's get the bad out of the way: I had a conversation with a random chick from LA at a friend's gathering on Sunday.  She mentioned she's a huge Laker fan, and then we got into talking about the Spurs game going on.  She said she liked the Spurs (wow, a Spurs "liker" outside of SA), because she liked Ginobili, but she hated Tony Parker.  That about sums up Tony Parker for us.  The next person who likes Tony who is not a Spurs fan that I meet will be the first.  He's the Roger Clemens of the Spurs - even their own fans probably don't like him.  He's not a terrible guard, but we know that if he was on another team he would probably put up better numbers but be a worse player. He's good, but not terrific... his jumper is okay, not great; his ability to get into the lane, to drive, his foot speed, his rebounding, his passing, his defense... all okay, but not good.  He's the AZ of point guards.  He averages 6 assists per game, despite having Tim Duncan down low to pass to, plus a decent spot up shooter in Michael Finley, and a cutter/slasher in Ginobili.  And Robert Horry in the corner.  Only 6 assists?!?

The rest of the Spurs are great, though.  Duncan is probably underrated believe it or not.  He no longer gets mentioned as a viable MVP candidate, even in a year in which the winner got knocked out in the first round by an inferior opponent.  Of course, Kobe doesn't get enough votes either, but all those reasons held against Kobe don't apply to Duncan - he's on a winning team (top-3 in the NBA); he's humble (supposedly, or in that way sportswriters demand); he's a good competitor, and he makes his teammates better.  Take him off this team, can they even make the playoffs?  With whom?  As it stands they aren't a high-scoring team (averaging 98.5 pts a game); without Duncan who is going to score?  Parker?  Ginobili?  Finley?  Jackie Butler?  Sorry, but he is your true NBA MVP (or at least a better candidate than Dirk), a fundamentally sound player (like media favorite Nash) who can effect both sides of the ball.

And Ginobili?  The heart and soul of the 2004 Olympic gold winning Argentina team (a team that had Nocioni putting up great stats, plus three other NBAers and Pepe Sanchez), averaging 19.3 during the Olympics.  A winner in every sense of the world.  The best Hispanic player in the league (unless you count Gilbert Arenas or Carmelo Anthony, Latinos with none of the cultural upbringing).  

The Spurs are representive of the city of San Antonio, the largest city in the US with a hispanic majority.  60% of the 7th largest city in the US (that's right, 7th, larger than SD, Dallas, SF, Seattle, Boston, Denver...) is Latino, mostly Mexican.  The city is large, but it only the 30th largest metropolitan area in the US; in other words, everyone lives in the city, and there are no suburbs.  I guess with there being barely any white people living there to being with, there is no need for them to move to the suburbs to escape the minorities... I'm kidding, ya'll.

Oh, and there is Big Shot Rob, a player so clutch it has become cliche and passe to root for him.  It's like rooting for Derek Jeter.  The guy's track record is a testiment to both the luck of being in the right place at the right time and the innate, unteachable ability to rise up and make the big shot when needed.  Not a single postseason goes by without a Big Shot Rob sighting.  He's the Old Faithful of the NBA, a geyser that pops off every May/June, then goes dormant for the next 12 months. 

The main complaint against the Spurs is that they are boring, they have no style.  But the thing is they have many styles; look at how they adapted and beat the Suns in Game 1 while running and picking up big point totals.  Tonight in Game 2 they played "their style", keeping the scoring low - it was 25-19 Spurs at the end of one quarter, a Spurs-like score.   They can flip it many different ways.

Oh, but besides Parker, we hate Bowen, too.  That dude is dirty, in the way scrubs have to be in order to make up for their lack of skill. 

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