In the 4th grade city championships in Amarillo Texas, circa 1989, we were getting our butts handed to us.  A kid by the name of Matt Webb, the best player on our team, looked us over during a stop in play and said something I would never forget.  It was cheesy, but to a 4th grader's ears it made a lot of sense. 

What he said was this: This is like a Walt Disney movie guys, everything will work out in the end.  That was it.  Simple, yet profound.

When I look at the Spurs this season, it has been one of the most inconsistent, emotionally draining seasons in memory.  In the past, it was a given that the Spurs could tangle with the heavies, and now, each game it seems unlikely that the Spurs will come through against premiere teams. 

Usually, you could count on two out of the big three having great games--with rotating contributions from the role players, but now that is not so.  Most games, we're getting one great game from the big three and either an overflow of stellar play by the rest or absolutely nothing.  No consistency. 

Tim Duncan has been mildly consistent yet not dominant.  My favorite player of all time, number 21, is at the age in his career that David Robinson was when he got his Tim Duncan.  Timmy D can still do a lot, but he can't do it all. 

But I didn't want to beat up on Spurs fans here; I just wanted to offer up a simple statement: This is like a Walt Disney Movie--it'll all work out in the end.  You never know when a team may peak, especially this Frankenstein version of the Spurs, and to be honest we've seen the Spurs peak in Feb. before, only to come up limping come late April. 

The playoffs are an entirely different season, really.  They are the only season: you play good enough to get in, and then you take your shots in the spring.

And that's my message here: This is a Walt Disney Movie; the Spurs are simply sucking for dramatic effect. 

And yes, my idealism doesn't blind me totally: there's always Old Yellar, but I think in the scheme of things, the Spurs are going to take their shot, and who knows what will happen next. 

We ended up winning that city championship after that line: that's why it always stuck with me I guess.  The next year, our school was bumped up another level and we were dismantled every game we played.