Post by mark on Sept 6, 2015 10:13:27 GMT -7
Over the years I have seen a number of Phoenix Suns out and about in Phoenix. My first sighting of a Phoenix Sun is my only one I'm not certain about. At age eleven or so, in 1971 or so, I saw a green sports car drive past me when I was riding my bike. It had the roof down, and I'm pretty sure Charlie Scott (the former great scorer who was dealt to Boston for Paul Westphal) was driving it.
The rest of my sightings I'm certain about. In the 70's I saw head coach John McLeod jogging down Central Avenue. In the same decade I saw Gar Heard, who hit the long shot in the 1976-77 NBA Finals that forced triple overtime in the Boston Garden in the game commonly referred to as the best basketball game ever, at Weiss Guys Car Wash on 7th Street and Rose Lane. The next sighting I believe happened in the 80's, though I'm not really sure what year it was. I saw Dick Van Arsdale, the Original Sun, whom I have as one of my all-time greatest Suns players and if any of the local talking heads don't have him as one of their all-time greatest Suns because they really are going from their short memories and not doing any research on the subject they are negligent in their jobs, driving around at night in downtown Phoenix. Suns GM Jerry Colangelo, who was the original GM of the Suns and later bought the team after the drug scandal of the 80's, had appointed Van Arsdale as a Suns executive. So, while he wasn't a Sun at the time I saw him, Van Arsdale was a Suns exec. Then in the mid-90's I saw AC Green at Toys R Us on Camelback Rd and 10th St. AC is the only Sun I actually spoke to of all the ones I spotted over the years. I asked for and received his autograph. I mentioned to him I watched all Suns games on TV, which at the time I was doing, and AC said you don't have to do that. A bit of a strange thing to say to me, and I perceived perhaps he thought I wasn't actually watching all the Suns games but rather was just saying that to him.
I have two more Suns sightings to go. I saw Amare Stoudemire coming out of Best Buy on Camelback and I walked past him as I was going in the store. Finally, somewhere around 2005 or so I was walking through the Safeway Grocery store on 7th St and Glendale, and as I paused to look down one of the aisles, there was Raja Bell looking in my direction. We made eye contact, and that was it.
There you have it. Those are stories of my encounters spotting Phoenix Suns around Phoenix over the years.
The rest of my sightings I'm certain about. In the 70's I saw head coach John McLeod jogging down Central Avenue. In the same decade I saw Gar Heard, who hit the long shot in the 1976-77 NBA Finals that forced triple overtime in the Boston Garden in the game commonly referred to as the best basketball game ever, at Weiss Guys Car Wash on 7th Street and Rose Lane. The next sighting I believe happened in the 80's, though I'm not really sure what year it was. I saw Dick Van Arsdale, the Original Sun, whom I have as one of my all-time greatest Suns players and if any of the local talking heads don't have him as one of their all-time greatest Suns because they really are going from their short memories and not doing any research on the subject they are negligent in their jobs, driving around at night in downtown Phoenix. Suns GM Jerry Colangelo, who was the original GM of the Suns and later bought the team after the drug scandal of the 80's, had appointed Van Arsdale as a Suns executive. So, while he wasn't a Sun at the time I saw him, Van Arsdale was a Suns exec. Then in the mid-90's I saw AC Green at Toys R Us on Camelback Rd and 10th St. AC is the only Sun I actually spoke to of all the ones I spotted over the years. I asked for and received his autograph. I mentioned to him I watched all Suns games on TV, which at the time I was doing, and AC said you don't have to do that. A bit of a strange thing to say to me, and I perceived perhaps he thought I wasn't actually watching all the Suns games but rather was just saying that to him.
I have two more Suns sightings to go. I saw Amare Stoudemire coming out of Best Buy on Camelback and I walked past him as I was going in the store. Finally, somewhere around 2005 or so I was walking through the Safeway Grocery store on 7th St and Glendale, and as I paused to look down one of the aisles, there was Raja Bell looking in my direction. We made eye contact, and that was it.
There you have it. Those are stories of my encounters spotting Phoenix Suns around Phoenix over the years.