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The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

America’s Team: Los Suns

Opinion   May 6, 2010 at 2:27 pm Josh Feit

I’ve been looking for a local angle so I could write about my favorite thing that’s happened in 2010—Los Suns. But I can’t find one other than the fact that Washington State Democratic Party Chair Dwight Pelz—a huge NBA fan—was making

jokes at a Belltown sports bar on Monday night while watching Game One of the Western Conference Semifinals between the Phoenix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs (I was rooting for Phoenix, he was rooting for the Spurs) about how the refs should start checking everybody’s papers.

The joke was a dig at the recent legislation passed in Arizona that gives law enforcement the power to racially profile in a reactionary effort to arrest illegal immigrants.

Indeed, even though I’m a giant Steve Nash fan (his pick and rolls with Stoudemire are predictable, but so were Stockton and Malone’s!), I was skittish about rooting for Phoenix because of the 1933-esque law.

That was until the very next night, Tuesday night, when Phoenix owner Robert Sarver decided—with the approval of his players—to outfit the Suns in “Los Suns” jersies for Wednesday’s game on Cinco de Mayo.

The protest came with great quotes from players like Nash:

“We have a lot of love for our Latino fans, we have Latino players on both teams, and unfortunately that’s the group that’s targeted by this bill, and that’s a shame.”

The NBA strongly backed the move—they even shifted to a camera shot of an Al Sharpton-doing-Selma-to-Montgomery-march (Sharpton was wearing a Nash Los Suns jersey)—during last night’s game, which Phoenix won 110-102.

I like San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich’s thoughts best. After lamenting the Arizona law, he said: “The reaction is important too, and this reaction—I agree with Mr. Sarver.”

It’s hard not to sound bombastic when cheering on Phoenix’s 1960s-style political stand (when’s the last time we had a Muhammad Ali or Tommie Smith on the scene), but basketball is America’s urban sport. And the NBA—with its 30 franchises and diverse base of fans strung across America like the necklace of rock clubs, apartment buildings, El stops, bike lanes, recording studios, app startups, and P-Patches that make up America’s Blue voting bloc—couldn’t help but object to Arizona law.

The NBA was the perfect platform—not Hollywood or John Stewart or Bruce Springsteen records— for America’s reaction.




  • bernard_barker

    well-written column. thanks.

  • on board

    I miss the Supes!

  • http://www.publicola.net/author/sam-machkovech/ Sam M.

    Yes, cheers to the Suns organization for spearheading a well-broadcasted bit of dissent. (I think they mostly did it so nobody would try to send Nash back to Canada.) But let's not give the entire NBA a free pass for smiling and nodding along.

    We're the city who should know best — who watched NBA Commissioner David Stern giddily rip a team out of one city and into another for money's sake. He demanded Seattle's taxpayer $ so that a new facility in town could be built to serve more suites and high-dollar options. And when he didn't get his way, he bullied another city to reach that desired, top-dollar demographic.

    I don't give Stern any credit for reaching out to minority fans. With so many international players in the NBA's roster, telling the Suns to go ahead was, really, the path of least resistance on their part. Wake me up when they pump their own money into a particular cause.

  • N8

    While I am against the law, your statement, “gives law enforcment the power to racially profile” not only has a spelling error, but is factually incorrect. The law does not state that racial profiling is okay; the problem is that it will easily lead to it. Also, saying 'racial profiling' is slightly incorrect because Latino, Hispanic, Mexican and illegal immigrant/alien are not races, but I excuse its use because it is the easiest way to help others understand the dangers of this law.

    And while I am on it, I dislike the fact that many of my liberal friends in California that profusely ranted about out-of-state influence on proposition 8 have no problem with out-of-state influence on trying to over change this law. Lets be consistent in our positions.

  • http://deadcatsbounce.blogspot.com Gomez

    I know there's a dearth of Latinos in the NBA and perhaps nobody actually told them this, but there is a Spanish word for Suns: “Sols”

  • visas for all

    Gomez: in regular speech, yes, But “Suns” in this case is a proper noun, and therefore the usage is correct.

    But that aside, this is huge. It's risky for any mainstream business to step out on any controversial issue, much less one as racially charged as this. My hat's off to Los Suns.

    And kudos to Nash, who is Canadian, for speaking out. Wonder if the Gov wants his papers checked too?

  • http://www.seattleazboycott.org Peabody Coaltraine

    http://www.seattleazboycott.org

    Sign the petition and urge the City of Seattle to boycott Arizona!

  • http://deadcatsbounce.blogspot.com Gomez

    I'd buy that if people in general were intelligent and knowledgeable enough to think it through that far, but Occam's razor probably points towards the actual answer: It didn't occur to them that there may be an appropriate Spanish word for Suns. We are talking about a group of men who seriously thought a couple years ago that an old, slow and plodding Shaq would be a great fit for a high-tempo offense.

  • N8

    Maybe they just wanted to make a statement without changing the name of the team. I wonder if the NBA has rules about a team's name being on the jersey, in which case, Los Sols might be against the rules. Either way, I have already received at least 10 emails from Latino friends passing the story around and all have been happy with it, so I guess Los Suns did its purpose in my circle of associates.

  • N8

    Also, maybe the Spanglish was on purpose to show unity.

  • nope

    @ Gomez. I agree with visas for all. The brand name is what needs to carry over. Also when the rest of the league has done the Spanish jersey thing throughout the years they have also kept the proper noun:

    1) Lakers = Los Lakers = not Los Laguneros
    2) Spurs = Los Spurs = not Las Espuelas
    3) Jazz = El Jazz
    4) Knicks = Los Knicks
    5) Heat = El Heat not El Calor

  • MarkusGarvey

    What really struck me was the fact the Suns used to be Team GOP back in the '90s, when idiot coach Paul Westphal gave Limbaugh front row attention, and Charles Barkley was preaching his “personal responsibility garbage. Limbaugh called them “America's Team”, and had Westphal on his radio and TV shows

  • MarkusGarvey

    Here is an article from that period http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ocwtAAAAIB…

  • mathewrenndawgrenner

    I do not know hot someone could be called America's team when they think that breaking the law is a good thing. I gave up on the NBA after the Supersonics left and I am glad I did. I will stick with UW football.

  • Benny

    I think it's totally cool the statement the Suns are making, but I'm not quite sure I follow why you would be uneasy cheering for the Suns even if they didn't make a statement by wearing the Los Suns jerseys.

    It is like me saying I am uneasy about supporting the Lakers because Miss California doesn't support gay marriage. Does it follow that, because the Lakers are from California, they don't support gay marriage too?

    You are either a major weenie, or engaging in gross and unfair stereotyping of Arizonans.

  • Josh Feit

    I hear you, but I think you're taking my hesitancy about being all in for the Suns a little to seriously. Rooting for sports teams is a finicky, subjective, emotional game. I don't like the Trail Blazers, for example, because someone I don't like, likes them.

    As I said, I'm a big Nash fan, but I've never been wild for the Suns. The big deal law got me down on Phoenix.

    But BAM! Sarver's move was awesome. And, wow, they just swept the Spurs.