Twelve years and one month ago today, the Spurs fell to the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. I stood up in my tiny Brooklyn, NY apartment and told my wife — eight months pregnant at the time, “We are moving to San Antonio, and next year the Spurs will return to the NBA Finals and beat the Miami Heat. I will be able to tell our child that a team defined by dignity and culture can never been shut down for good by a team cobbled together artificially and through bravado.”

Okay, okay, so we already knew we were moving to San Antonio, I didn’t just uproot us in the middle of the night. But still. When the Spurs did return to the Finals. and then they did beat the Heat. And on Father’s Day! C’mon, that’s divine intervention way about my pay grade.

It restored my childhood passion for the Spurs. And my reclaimed passion sparked my daughter’s interest. Now Spurs fandom is something we share.

One of our first outings was watching Game 3 of the 2014 NBA Finals at the AT&T Center on the Jumbotron when she was still just under a year old. The arena was rocking and loud. I thought the noise might bother her, but she seemed to sense there was something important was going on. My excitement assured her the chaos was a good thing.

Shortly thereafter, she became my mural buddy.

I’d hear of a mural we hadn’t seen and we’d make a trip to investigate, take some photos, and post.

HERE is an early one.

We saw the Becky Hammon mural a few years ago.

One day on her ride home from school, she saw this mural and made my wife stop and get the address so we could go back to take photos. She was taking ownership. The baton had been passed.

In addition to the murals, we have attend as many games as we can. During the 50th anniversary, she chose the games that yielded bobbleheads. Her bedroom is a mini-Spurs shrine.

We went to the Alamodome game in 2023. I told her we’d be part of a world record. I think that resonated with her.

We love the Court side Experience. Watching the players warm up, seeing the dynamic of their routine, and the interaction with trainers and coaches makes us feel like we are that much closer to the game.

And two years ago when the lottery ball dropped and the Spurs got the number one pick in the 2023 draft, you’d have thought she won the lottery. I honestly thought she might be more excited that I was. Definitely louder! We were there at the AT&T Center when they called Victor Wembanyama’s name and the celebration began.

She’s my running buddy, and proof that if you raise them right, they will become proper Spurs fans.

It became clear a few years back, when she was just starting to understand the game. I wrote this piece after we attended the last game of the 2018-2019 season. Still one of my favorites after all these years.

Today is her day, and she gets a shout out. Because for all my crazy Spurs fandom, she keeps me grounded and feeling normal. Nothing beats that.

Happy birthday, my dearest Elizabeth. You always make daddy proud.

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