Steve Nash and The Suns: Please Stick to Sports

Led by two-time MVP point guard Steve Nash, the up-tempo Phoenix Suns are perhaps the only team in the NBA worth watching, especially in the increasing meaningless regular season. The Suns were literally seconds away from winning the championship in 2007 if it wasn't for that crazy, unfair suspension of Amare Stoudemire under the league's arcane disciplinary rules. You may recall that the Spurs' Robert Horry ("Cheap Shot Bob," formerly "Big Shot Bob") knocked Nash down at the end of the Game 4 of the semi-finals; because Stoudamire wandered a few feet from the bench area following the collision, he was suspended. Absent the suspension, the Suns would have defeated the Spurs and cruised through the championship round. In the world of sports, this was a grave injustice.

Nash's playmaking, ball-handling skills, and shooting epitomize team play in the otherwise me-first NBA. However, Nash and the Suns unfortunately just made it very hard to root for them against the Lakers by publicly opposing Arizona's new immigration law. Even Phil Jackson, who is a big liberal, said that sports and politics don't mix. And as Dennis Miller aptly points on FNC (starting at around the five-minute mark), the Suns and other of the law's opponents have conveniently forgotten about the innocent Arizona rancher (among others) who was murdered by a criminal alien:


Update: Phil Mushnick's New York Post column makes an excellent point about the hypocrisy of the Suns:

What if the owners of the Suns discovered that hordes of people were sneaking into Suns' games without paying? What if the owners had a good idea as to who the gate-crashers are, but the ushers and security personnel were not allowed to ask these folks to produce their ticket stubs, thus non-paying attendees couldn't be ejected.

Furthermore, what if Suns' ownership was expected to provide those who sneaked in with complimentary eats and drink? And what if, on those days when a gate-crasher became ill or injured, the Suns had to provide free medical care and shelter?

...If charity in Arizona begins at home, why not at home games?