Think you're pumped up for Game 3? Before you answer, consider how one group of local fans gets ready for playoff games.
They'll give any diehard Spurs fan a run for their money when it comes to eating, sleeping, drinking and breathing everything Spurs. No NBA team has a fan organization like them, and in some cases, rival teams fear them and envy them.
They are our Baseline Bums.
The Bums are a group of some of the most passionate Spurs fans... ever.
“[We are] passionate, dedicated, loyal, diehard fans. We bleed Silver and Black. If you cut me, you will see silver and black come out of me,” said Bonnie, the Bums' director of vounteers. The group boasts 164 members this year.
The group's inception is still clouded in mystery, but it is known that they have been around since 1973 and have earned their reputation for unnerving opposing teams.
“It started as a bunch of fans that got together and sat by the baseline at the old Hemisphere Arena behind the other team," Bonnie said. "They would drink and yell and cause all sorts of trouble."
Bums grew with the team
In the Spurs' ABA days (much like now), they were considered an elite team: loathed in the regular season, feared in the post season. In one word: dangerous. Part of that success was attributable to the Bums as their antics got under the skin of opposing teams.
A 1976 Spurs trip to Denver illustrates the point:
The Nuggets and the Spurs had shared a short but rocky history. Many on-court fights between the teams' players that season and the season before had made for a bitter rivalry.
San Antonio went to Denver in March of that year and snapped a 26-game Nuggets home winning streak.
Denver's coach at the time (and eventual San Antonio coach) Larry Brown called the Spurs a “dirty team... The only thing I like about San Antonio is their guacamole salad.”
The Bums heard Brown’s remarks, so on Denver’s next visit to San Antonio, they were ready. Armed with fresh avocados, the Bums waited until the time was right and then launched the key ingredients of a great guacamole salad toward the Nuggets. Brown, his staff and players were pummeled with avocados.
It happened to be "cheap beer night" at the Hemisphere. Legend has it the Nuggets were drenched when they made it back to their locker room. What better way to wash down a guacamole salad than with cheap beer? This was all courtesy of the Bums.
Bums work in the community
These days, of course, the group is a far tamer bunch. League rules and regulations have forced the Bums to scale back the antics of yesteryear.
"We’ve had to clean up our act," Bonnie quipped, pointing out the other side of the group: What it does in the community.
“Our responsibilities are not only to get involved and support our Spurs, but to get involved with the community," she said. "We try to emulate Spurs values and set a good example. We put our best foot forward.”
Under the direction of their president, Cynthia Yruegas, the Bums have had a hand in many events that make the Bums the envy of many NBA teams.
The Bums had a successful benefit drive in December, collecting such items as blankets, diapers, baby food and formula for places like the Fischer House, Any Baby Can and the Alpha Home.
Additionally, the Bums also have a hand in the annual Tux 'n' Tennies Benefit Gala and Johnny Moore Golf Tournament. They also have been featured for the past two years in the Battle of Flowers Parade.
The Bums say they've logged about 4,500 community service hours this season alone and raised more than $100,000 for local charities and schools over the past decade.
It's not uncommon for current and former Spurs players to work with the Bums at community events. Just recently, Bruce Bowen worked with the Bums to speak to local disadvantaged youths and give them a tour of the AT&T Center.
According to the Bums' bylaws and standards, it is required that each member perform a minimum of 25 community service hours.
“Most, if not all, of us [Bums] hit 50 to 65 hours, though,” Bonnie said.
Nobody quite like them
With all of the community work they do, the group still keeps in mind its primary focus of supporting the team at games.
Their regular road trips to Houston for Spurs-Rockets games are just one way they accomplish that.
Other teams have tried to develop fan groups to rival the Bums, but so far, none have gotten to the same level, Bonnie said.
“Most other organizations for other teams try to get something started but they quickly fade away," she said. "The only team in the NBA that has come close to having something like us are the Houston [Rockets] Rowdys, but they are simply not involved in the community like we are.”
As far as tonight’s game three against the Phoenix Suns, you can expect the usual fanfare from the Bums.
“We are going to be making a lot of noise!” she said. “We are probably going to be wearing nose patches. We heard that Manu was touched by the support of the fans when his nose was broken, so we might be wearing some patches.”
Are you a Bum, too?
Many people think the Bleacher Bums group is next to impossible to join, but they say that just isn't so. The Bums encourage the public to get in touch with them and find out more about how to join their club and have a hand in many events that are planned for the coming year.
They say being a Bum has its perks, such as discounted tickets for the regular season and postseason. Coupled with their sponsor, Rio Rio Cantina, all Bums get gifts, shirts and jerseys and get to go to the group's winter social.
For more information on becoming a Baseline Bum, go to http://www.baselinebums.org or e-mail BLBSecretary@aol.com.
