Familiarity Of Greatness Breeds Contempt

Reaction to the San Antonio Spurs’ recent win over the Golden State Warriors underscores media bias.

On Jan. 25, the San Antonio Spurs played the Golden State Warriors in Oracle Arena in their much-anticipated first meeting of the season. The result was unsettling: a 30-point blowout of the Spurs, who played without team captain and defensive anchor Tim Duncan (he sat out the game back in San Antonio due to lingering knee soreness).

Media rejoiced in the Warriors win, as they have all season. Every sports show, podcast, and news article reveled in Golden State’s continued dominance this season, which extended to the Warriors’ point guard and league and social media darling Steph Curry.

The tables were turned on March 19, when Golden State visited the Spurs for a rematch. There was no blowout, but San Antonio’s win was no less decisive as they defeated the Warriors, 87-79, to remain perfect at home and tie the 1985-86 Boston Celtics for second-longest regular season home streak in league history at 38 games.

The Spurs also handed Golden State their 33rd straight regular-season loss in San Antonio.

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Media response? Muted.

There were the obligatory recaps of the game, though most non-Texas and/or national outlets made a point of noting that Golden State was without reigning Sixth Man of the Year Andre Iguodala (ankle) and centers Andrew Bogut (toe) or Festus Ezili (knee), and that the Warriors were on the second night of a back-to-back (they beat Dallas the previous night) and played their sixth game in nine nights.

Similar accommodations were not made for  the Spurs back in January when they played on the road and without Duncan.

The old adage is true: Familiarity breeds contempt. Especially when you have established a culture of greatness for so long, as the Spurs have done.

Playing fundamentally sound, non-flashy basketball doesn’t drive jersey sales. Bank shots aren’t as sexy as making a three-pointer from atop a Waffle House sign across the street (this hasn’t happened but given Curry’s range, it’s not outside the realm of possibility).

A team that consists of the usual physically gifted, future Hall of Fame suspects is not as much of a feel-good story as an undersized, under-recruited player who looks more like the guy who bags your groceries at the local store.

Winning five championships over the past 20 years, with 19 consecutive playoffs appearances and 17 consecutive 50-win seasons, can drive some to prefer that someone else get a turn, for a change. And this is the crux of the media’s current love affair with the Golden State Warriors: change.

The current media climate is pro-Warriors not just for their unprecedented season, but for their style of play. While they borrow from the Spurs’ playbook (head coach Steve Kerr was both a player and assistant coach under Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich), the general adjective used to described their playing style is “fun”.

“Fun” has never been used by even die-hard fans to describe the Spurs, their hilarious HEB commercials notwithstanding.

Indeed, the Spurs are more for the older fan than the youthful, devil-may-care Warriors. As the league (like everyone else) markets toward the Millennials age cohort, it helps to have not just a youthful team, but one that plays at an elite level.

It’s a change from the stalwart Spurs, who don’t even celebrate a significant win like other teams.

The advent and rise of social media demands bigger; better; bolder; faster; and always more, more, more. The Spurs are not willing to accommodate this demand unless it’s on their own terms, which can rankle those accustomed to celebrities jumping through hoops to increase their follower count and enhance their brands.

Some media have noted the disparity in how Golden State and the Spurs are portrayed this season, with the fallback excuse being that the Spurs don’t mind due to their cultural abhorrence for the spotlight.

In contrast, the Warriors are of the generation that came out of the womb posting and tweeting, and as a result are much more comfortable with the lack of boundaries that is a hallmark of social media–and which are devoured by fan bases in today’s NBA.

The Spurs have earned their respect and admiration many times over, but they are like the old, comfortable, go-to pair of Levi’s classic jeans that fit your butt just right. The Warriors are the spanking new pair of skinny jeans that are all the rage in the fashion magazines. It doesn’t matter that they’ll cut off your circulation–as long as you look good.

Sometimes it seems as if there is no room for the Spurs in a world (and league) that is increasingly focused on The Next Best Thing, and new-money owners intent on acquiring the most sparkly object/player/arena possible as a status symbol (*cough* Vivek Ranadive, Joe Lacob, Mikhail Prokhorov *cough*).

But for every fan and owner that prefers flashy players with active Snapchat accounts, there are others who appreciate the Spurs and what they represent to not just the NBA, but all p rofessional sports.

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Let the Warriors have their time in the spotlight. The Spurs are like classic coutour and volunteer work: they will never go out of style.