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Still spending Opening Night with my blog brothers – even with no game

Spurs Nation’s attention should have been directed to the ATT Center last night for the Spurs’ season-opening game against Milwaukee last night.

The lockout took care of that, leaving a bunch of us angry and hungry for any kind of contact with the NBA.

My blog brothers over at 48 Minutes of Hell.com made sure that a few us still got together for a few minutes last night. I was honored to participate in a live video chat with Graydon Gordian, Andrew McNeill and Jesse Blanchard for a few minutes on their TV show.

We weren’t treated to Gregg Popovich’s season-opening soliloquoy, or the newest way that chicken was cooked in the Spurs’ media dining hall. But it was good to spend a few minutes with them and talk about lockout-related issues.

Here’s ato their debut. I’m sure the quality of their guests will only improve in the future.

With the lockout stretching on, there’s still some Spurs-related information out there.

Trevor Zickgraf of Project Spurs.com imagines how good a healthy Greg Oden in the future.
Baxter Holmes of the Los Angeles Times writes about the Spurs being.
Nick Gilbert, the son of Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert, wondering if his dad’s team after they were swept by the Spurs in 2007, the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Mary Schmitt Boyer reports.
Vancouver Province columnist Tony Gallagher wonders if some of the rhetoric from Spurs owner Peter Holt during the NBA lockout could.
Pounding the Rock.com’s Josh Guyer sifts through the headlines for .
In an extensive analysis of the support for David Stern among NBA owners, the New York Times’ Howard Beck and Ken Belson categorize Holt as a .
Alley Oop of Spurs Locker.com (good to see you back) doesn’t believe the once the lockout ends.
Janie Annie of Pounding the Rock.com writes about how the .
Jeff Garcia of Project Spurs.com with Phoenix center Marcin Gortat.
McNeill and Cleveland blogger John Krolik talk about in a 48 Minutes of Hell podcast. McNeill also wonders if Richard Jefferson is too valuable for the Spurs for the upcoming season to.
Leesha Faulkner and Walt Nett of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal report that Tony Parker has possession of a Shelby Cobra 427 S/C sports car that is. The newspaper reports that the car once belonged to Absolute Fuels owner and CEO Jeffrey David Gunselman, who is suspected of fraudulently creating and selling credits for renewable fuels that were never produced, according to court records.
Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post reports in a 1A story today that Benjamin Whetstone Schmidt, the son of Spurs team doctor David Schmidt, was the in his death on Oct. 6 in Afghanistan.
Blanchard shares a few images of opening night in a .
Nia Long, the mother of former Spur Ime Udoka’s child, tells Ebony Magazine of the joys of (Hat tip: Hello Beautiful.com)
Massive former Antonian standout and current Indiana State senior Myles Walker tells Terre Haute (Ind.) Tribune-Star reporter Todd Golden about his .

Spurs’ opening night now just another Wednesday

Around 7:30 tonight, Spurs radio man Bill Schoening will be hunkered down in his Austin home, finalizing last-minute preparations for an Internet-only broadcast of the Vista Ridge High School football team’s season finale this week.

About the same time, retired schoolteacher Jane Ann Craig, a die-hard Spurs season-ticket holder who also lives in Austin, figures to be settling in for a night of television after a busy day of planning a long-awaited kitchen remodel.

Spurs forward Matt Bonner has his own method for killing time on what, if not for the NBA’s ongoing labor dispute, should have been opening night at the ATT Center.

“I’ve got my Nerf hoop set up, I’m going to put on my jersey,” Bonner said. “I’m still going to play the game.”

In an alternate universe, one with an infinite collective bargaining agreement and no such word as “lockout,” a throng of 20,000 or so would have converged on the ATT Center tonight to see the Spurs open a new season against the Milwaukee Bucks.

With the entire November schedule of games already lost and the threat of more cancellations looming if a new deal isn’t soon reached, members of the Spurs community — a group as wide-ranging as Tim Duncan and the Silver Dancers, Manu Ginobili and the arena ushers, Gregg Popovich and The Coyote — have been forced to find a Plan B.

For many who count on Spurs games as either a money-maker or a diversion, the lockout has affected the normal biorhythms of day-to-day life. And it has transformed opening night — normally one of any season’s red-letter days — into just another Wednesday.

Spurs season-ticket holder Jane Ann Craig often has brought signs to Spurs games at the ATT Center. She rarely misses a game, despite having to travel from her home in Austin. (William Luther / wluther@express-news.net)

The superfan

Forty-one times a year, not counting the preseason and postseason, the 66-year-old Craig loads up her black Chevrolet Malibu, festooned front to back in Spurs paraphernalia, and embarks on a 150-mile round trip from her home in west Austin to the ATT Center.

For a 7:30 tipoff, she leaves at 3:30.

“You have to leave early,” she says, “or traffic is just awful.”

Once at the arena, Craig will slip into her seats on the baseline, a few rows up from the Spurs bench.

When she retired from teaching three years ago, Craig bought this prime piece of ATT Center real estate almost on a whim. In the time since, she has come to view her little corner of the building as its own ecosystem.

She has become friendly with the fans to her right and left, with the ushers working her section, with the players that pass her on the way to the pregame layup line.

These are the people who will be on Craig’s mind tonight, as she endures the first of an indefinite number of nights without Spurs basketball.

“I’ll miss it because of the friendships I’ve made there over the years,” said Craig, who has skipped exactly one preseason game since buying season tickets before the 2008-09 campaign. “It’s kind of like a big Spurs family.”

A brokenhearted fan, Craig struggles to find any silver lining to the lockout, but there is one.

“I guess it will save some wear and tear on my car,” she said.

The radio voice

For as long as Schoening cares to remember, there has always been a game to call. Even with the NBA lockout in full swing, this fall is no different.

Schoening, the voice of the Spurs since 2001, has been moonlighting as the voice of the Vista Ridge Rangers, a Class 4A school near Leander.

“I was a little rusty at first,” said Schoening, who last called a football game 10 years ago as play-by-play man for the University of Texas. “It took me a couple of weeks to find my groove.”

With his 20-year-old son Karl, a sophomore at Texas State, serving as color commentator, Schoening has chronicled every snap of Vista Ridge’s disappointing 2-7 season.

“I’m just trying to keep myself busy,” Schoening said.

On Friday night, Schoening will be back on the business end of a microphone, calling Vista Ridge’s season-ender against district rival Rouse. Tonight, at a time when he should be courtside at the ATT Center, Schoening will instead be holed up in his house, preparing for a prep broadcast.

“I’ll be working on my color-coded, two-deep depth charts,” Schoening said. “Maybe watching a little game film.”

A radio man whose began his career calling high school games in Lamesa in the early 1980s, Schoening says he’s enjoyed the return his roots.

That’s not to say he wouldn’t welcome a return to his day job. Like the Spurs players he covers, Schoening is paid by the game, and every one of them scuttled is a check not going into his pocket.

“I think we’re all champing at the bit to get back to work,” he said.

The player

As a vice president of the National Basketball Players Association, Bonner has had an at-times too-close view of the sausage-making that is a collective bargaining negotiation. In testament to how draining the process has become, Bonner says he was completely unaware the Spurs were supposed to open the season tonight.

“It never even occurred to me,” said Bonner, in town Tuesday for his annual charity tournament at Canyon Springs Golf Club.

As recently as last week, Bonner would have wagered that teams would at least be in the midst of a belated training camp by now. But even with tangible progress at the negotiating table, talks blew up again last week, and, for now, no new ones are scheduled.

“As it drags on, you go through the whole range of emotions,” Bonner said. “If anything, it gets more frustrating as each day passes.”

In a typical year, Bonner said, Tuesday would have been a day full of nervous energy, followed by a fitful night’s sleep and a full game-day schedule.

There would be a shootaround this morning. Maybe a film session, and a midday nap. Then warmups, a pregame meal and, at last, game time.

This year, Bonner’s new opening-night itinerary sums up the current state of the NBA.

“I really don’t have anything going on,” he said.

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Matt Bonner’s charity golf tournament

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (right) drives a ball on the No. 1 tee box as he hosts the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (foreground) tracks the direction of his tee shot from the No. 1 tee box as he hosts the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (center) tracks his tee shot from the No. 1 tee box as he hosts the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (center) and Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett (left) wish one another well on the golf course as Bonner hosts the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

UTSA football head coach Larry Coker (right) shares a laugh with Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett (left) and Kids Sports Network CEO Brandon Parrott (second from right) prior to the start of the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, appeared at the tournament and took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (second from right) poses for a photo with golfers at the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with the golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (center) chats with Kids Sports Network CEO Brandon Parrott (left) before taking a swing on the tee box as he hosts the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (second from right) and former Spur Coby Dietrick (left) take directions from a tournament photographer as Bonner hosts the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Spurs forward Matt Bonner (left) watches his tee shot off the No. 1 tee box during the 2011 Matt Bonner Charity Golf Tournament for Kids Sports Network at Canyon Springs Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Bonner, who is also the vice president of the NBA Players Association and on break from the contentious negotiations, took time to meet with golfers who donated to the 13th annual charity tournament which benefits youth athletics. (Kin Man Hui / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

Buck Harvey: Lockout discipline: Elliott as the model

Sean Elliott felt physically fine about a dozen years ago. The NBA’s opening night was cancelled, just as it is tonight, but Elliott kept working to stay ready.

“I was anticipating some type of season,” he said Monday.

He got some type of season, all right. The lockout crunched 50 games into three months. Then, in March of that shortened 1999 season, Elliott’s kidneys began to fail.

He not only survived, he did so while playing all the way to the Finals. And that’s why he thinks a compacted season is not only tolerable for today’s players, it will also be telling of them.

“We will see who is serious about it,” Elliott said. “And who has been out there messing around.”

Elliott reports his health remains good. Monday was the birthday of his brother and organ donor, Noel. And asked if he told his kidney “happy birthday,” Sean laughed.

“Every year,” he said.

He’d been living with his old, weakened kidneys long before that championship season. Gregg Popovich was able to swap a mid-first-round draft pick in 1994 to get Elliott back, in part, because Elliott was viewed as damaged.

But the weakening of his kidneys had seemingly leveled off. By 1998, when another lockout began to cut into the season, Elliott didn’t see them as an issue. He was more concerned with a labor fight more divisive than this one.

“We weren’t talking then like they are now,” he said. “That’s why I’m more optimistic this time.”

Then, Elliott was coming off consecutive seasons of knee surgeries. So he stayed in the gym, determined to come back strong.

The kidneys? A preseason physical said Elliott’s renal functions were stable.

But sometime in March, with no explanation, his kidneys began to quickly deteriorate. Elliott told just a few people, among them Popovich and teammate Steve Kerr, and kept playing.

The schedule wasn’t easy for those not facing an organ transplant. Robert Horry, then a Laker, remembers being so exhausted after playing three games in three nights that he fell against his hotel room wall. That season, he said recently, “cut my career by a year.”

There were times, too, when Elliott wasn’t the same. There was a mental side to his fatigue; he was too aware something inside wasn’t right.

In recent years, he’s watched tape of that season, and some stretches were startling. He saw himself laying on screens, unable to get into position.

“I told Pop not long ago,” Elliott said, “‘Thank God you trusted me then.’ Because I wouldn’t have gone with that guy I was seeing.”

Still, Elliott held up. He defended Kobe Bryant in the second round, threw in the Memorial Day Miracle in the next, then chased Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston in the Finals.

Did it feel like an ordeal at times?

“Oh, yeah,” he said.

As tired as he was in those months, he believes the body of a professional athlete “has an amazing ability to adapt.” He thinks the Spurs got into a rhythm then, just as they sometimes do in other seasons when they come to the rugged part of a schedule.

Furthermore, Elliott says the jammed schedule made him actually better in the postseason. “There aren’t any back-to-backs in the playoffs,” he said. “So you feel like you are exhaling.”

But that’s only for those who were breathing smoothly going into the season. Elliott says the longer this lockout goes, the more this will be about the discipline of the players.

He guesses this: Anywhere from 20 to 30 percent won’t be in shape and will struggle.

And what will their excuse be? That the post-lockout schedule was too demanding?

A dozen years ago, Elliott eliminated that as an excuse.

bharvey@express-news.net