Sin Fanaticos: Third in a Three Part Series

Surely you guys have seen this video. If not, google Micah Ginn. Or put "Are You Ready" into the little box on Youtube, and watch this guy's videos he's put together. I'm fairly certain he was the guy behind the season recap high-light reel that was played before the Egg Bowl. He obviously wins at life.

Anyhow, we mention the video now not as a flame to the RSC guys. Those guys knew they would quintuple (?) our normal Monday traffic with their post about us, and we obviously appreciate that. And we sort of get why some people are turned off by David Huertas. But the mindset bugs us a little, and we're gonna try one last time to flesh that out.

The first time we met David Huertas was at a pre-season photo shoot in November 2006. We had gone in early to get some lighting figured out for a shoot with Todd Abernethy, Bam Doyne and Clay Sanders. When we got in the Tad Pad, the only other soul in the building was Huertas. Doing just what he's doing in that video. Free throws. Three pointers. 18-footers. From the time we got there, until the time we had taken a memory card full of pictures and left. He was doing the same thing every time we went in the Tad Pad (literally) that season, excluding games, obviously. From everything we've heard, he still stays late after practice to work on his shots.

The point is, that video's dialogue probably isn't all that far off from Huertas' work ethic.

But we don't want to get hyperbolic, as our friends tell us we have a tendency to do. We don't want to harp on his work ethic, or the long odds of a kid coming from Puerto Rico to the United States to make it by playing basketball. No, we're not going to cast him in that underdog role. We ask that you refrain from doing the same.

Likewise, refrain from seeing him as the bad teammate. The kid who disrespects his coach. And, rightly or wrongly, yells at his teammates. Disregard the overly dramatic, sometimes borderline queer dives he takes when trying to draw a charge. Forget that he is likely just a Saint of Circumstance, with inflated stats because everyone around him is either terrible or hurt.

At the end of the day, after all, talk is talk and facts are facts.

All we want you to do is to ask yourself, as an Ole Miss fan, why you wouldn't be all for the guy who leads the team in points and assists.

We realize that the Spirit message board mindset is a rose-colored-glasses fantasy land that is easily made fun of. "All our kids are choir boys, all their kids are thugs." We're not asking you to adopt that 'blindly love all things Ole Miss' attitude.

But we do ask you to question why its all of a sudden popular to hate on the best player on your favorite team. Sometimes people fall into these cycles of having to adopt a contrarian point of view to like, prove their fanhood or something similar to that. To prove to people that they're paying close attention, because dammit, they are a serious fan.

Well, not to get too Lietchesque or anything, but sometimes it should just be enough that a player is excellent at his sport and also he plays for your team. Ergo, you are his fan. Its simpler that way. Its more natural. Its not dumb or Spirit boardish. Its just being a fan who enjoys seeing his or her team do well.

We agree with Juco All-American over at the Cup that by this time next year, no one will remember all the David hate, because at that point :knock on wood: we should be heading for the home stretch of one of, if not the best seasons in Ole Miss basketball history. We hope that everyone is on the same page by that point, and in the mean time, we accept this mea culpa* we received via email from everyone's favorite bloggers.

*we kid because we love