Based on Kevin's Suns-Spurs post, I thought it good to reprint what I wrote on last November on the subject. Anything can happen, but now that Phoenix is down 0-2, I'm glad I made this fateful decision:

At ExLg, we often talk about sports (sure beats playing them) and the start of the NBA season is in the news. Local fans are wondering if this is the year for the Phoenix Suns to take it all. Two years back, we were good, but not good enough. Then last season we saw a referee making horrible playoff calls and then admitting to point shaving for the mob. There’s one playoff game that was most likely stolen from us.

Then after a cheap shot by the Spurs' Robert Horry (among others), key Suns players were suspended for standing up. NBA commissioner David Stern decided that the letter of the law (never get off the bench) was far more important that the spirit of the law (rewarding the Spurs' dirty play). A second game taken from us.

Several months later, Stern discovered that more than half of his officials violated the league’s gambling ban. At that point Stern nullified his own rule and let the bettors and debtors remain unpunished. The letter of the law no longer mattered.

After years of wondering why bad calls were made, why certain players got away with murder and why others were never given a break, my worst imaginings were confirmed. I can no longer trust the NBA’s calls on the court or in the front offices.

And if I have no faith in how the game is administered, I can’t get emotionally invested in a team. If my team loses, I wonder with good reason if the fix is in. And if my team wins? Maybe the refs know we got shafted last season and want to make it up to us. Maybe Stern’s annoyed with the other team. Nevertheless, even if we have a good year, I don’t trust the results.

As a child, basketball was my favorite professional sport. I became hooked on the “Sunderella” Suns in ’76 when they battled the Celtics in one of the greatest basketball contests in history. My dad would take me to games at the old “Madhouse on McDowell” (before it even had that nickname) where I would scream myself hoarse for Paul Westphal, Walter Davis, Alvan Adams and the rest. Basketball was the only major league sport in the Valley so the Suns generated far more passion than the Sun Devils, Roadrunners (IHL hockey), Phoenix Giants (S.F.’s farm team) or the Inferno (remember the MISL?).

So, I have a long-standing emotional connection with the Suns. I’ve seen them through thick, thin and their never-ending search for a mythical “big man” to take them over the top (I knew Truck Robinson wasn’t the one). But after 30 years of rooting on the Phoenix Suns, it is over for me, sadly.

This is not the fault of the remarkable players or Suns organization – I’ll miss watching those folks. But it’s the fault of David Stern who has transformed the game from a top tier sport to a sibling of the WWF.

Even if we did win the Finals this year, I would have to ask myself if we were the better team or did Stern and/or his officials just decide it was our turn?

There’s no way to know that answer. So why should I care?