(beware, Rockets and/or Jazz. These Warriors fans are hardcore)

Before I poke holes in a fine analogy offered by Sam Rubenstein of Slam, I’ll ‘fess up that I, too, was struck by the noise level blasting thru the TNT commentary coming from Oracle Arena last night. Was it the most intense crowd I’ve seen for an NBA game? On TV, maybe. But I’ve got a bigger/louder TV than the I did in the 1980’s.

How is anyone supposed to win a game in Oakland? Their fans are the best. Last week I put the thought out there that they remind me of the ˜02 Angels fans. All of us with our East coast bias just assumed the Yankees would fly out there, throw the talent out on the field and take care of business. The Angels had stolen a game at Yankee Stadium, and then out in Anaheim there were thundersticks and rally monkeys and a rabid fanbase that I never knew existed. They smacked down the Yankees twice, played a forgettable series against the Twins that I have no memory of, and then in the World Series, Barry and the Giants had the lead late in game 6 until the rally monkey and the fans took over and the Angels were champions. The Oakland fans are a lot like that. I thought people from California were supposed to be laid back duders.

Congrats to the Oakland faithful, to Nellie, to the Warriors. You have entertained us all.

Last night was awesome television, no doubt. But it should be stressed that a) the Thunderstixx sucked in 2002 (and still do), and b) there are some (Northern) Californians that are anything but laid back duders, even when their team is going nowhere fast.