In today’s Tacoma News Tribune, Dave Boling wrote about the Sonics trip to an Army Hospital in San Antonio to visit troops who have been wounded in Afghanistan or Iraq. The story started with a chance encounter with Bob Weiss’s wife and the father of a soldier. The rest of the story can be found in the link below.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/columnists/boling/story/4874777p-4471663c.html
After watching the game last night and reading the article in the paper today it has become obvious to me that Howard Schultz plan to build a team of great guys that win was the right way to go all along. I was harder than most on Schultz when he first came out with the Great Community Guy idea and thought that it would never work. However, he has proven me completely wrong.
This latest story goes to show just how special these guys are. While I know from personal experience that most teams send representatives to local hospitals or schools this is a completely different situation. It is the playoffs, you’re in the fight of your playoff lives and five members of the team take a couple hours out to spend time with soldiers who have paid a supreme sacrifice for our country. To go to a hospital while you are the visiting team in another city says something about the type of individuals we have on this team. It says even more that those same players will consider going back before a game seven.
This is not to say I don’t hope that this team comes back and wins both games six and seven and goes on to the next round. It does mean that I will be proud of the effort they’ve given this year on the court and off the court. In a time when our Sonics backs are against the wall there is nothing better than knowing that they’re good guys no matter the circumstances.