Before they became unfair,школа порнографии before Steph Curry happened, before that 2015 championship happened, before the days of "full squad" and "the coco," the Golden State Warriors sucked.
Like, they truly, truly, trulysucked. Now one longtime fan is making sure all that suckage doesn't get lost amid the hoopla over the hoops world's current darlings.
SEE ALSO: The golden voice: How an NBA announcer sweetened an overdue dream seasonUp until just a few years ago, the Warriors were known for dismal records, blown draft choices and all-around incompetence -- not for creating basketball magic. They reached the playoffs just once between 1994 and 2013. They had an ugly color scheme and a weird blue mascot called Thunder.
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Now, however, the team wows fans new and old with each alley-oop dunk to Kevin Durant, with each Steph Curry three-pointer and with each Klay Thompson scoring explosion. But not every new Warriors fan realizes just how pathetic the team's bad old days were.
Enter a Twitter account called 'This Day in Suck' (or @Thisdayinsuck), which was born before this season began. The type of delightfully random creation that can only exist on Twitter, it periodically posts flashback stories, facts and tidbits that put the team's current success in perspective.
The under-talented players upon whom fans were forced to pin hopes? The foibles that extended far beyond the court? The pitiful stat lines and losing streaks? They're all there.
The account was started by a self-described "mid-40s dude" and Warriors season ticket holder for more than 10 years. The man, who we shall call Our Tweeter, recently did an interview with Mashableon the condition that he remain anonymous because he updates the account while at work.
"I remember most of the news pieces I tweet and thinking things likes 'It's a good thing that Zarko and Beans are buddies. That kind of team chemistry will lead to something,'" he told Mashable, in reference to Žarko Čabarkapa and Andris Biedriņš, two former Warriors. "It was like any hint of positive momentum was something to hang on to. So researching and tweeting about the 'suck era' is a great reminder of how far the franchise has come."
Our Tweeter started following the team in the mid-'90s, then bought his first season tickets after moving to the Bay Area from the East Coast in 2000. He drew inspiration for the Twitter account's name from the Golden State fan blog Warriors World, which used the slogan "We Got Suck" when the team was in the pits.
Our Tweeter recalls the Golden State dark ages well.
The team's starting lineup then wasn't the star-studded group it is now.
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Fans had to find glimmers of hope wherever they could.
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Even the smallest victories were hard to come by.
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Our Tweeter excavates gems like those above via a "good bit of Googling."
"I just try to find funny stories or quotes or things I remember as being memorable," he says. "I tweet them when I find them so it's not really at times that are optimal."
Like many Golden State supporters, Our Tweeter has experienced both the highs and lows of his favorite team's NBA ascent.
"I think it's cool to see more Warriors gear around the Bay," he says. "You used to never see anyone wear it around here and wearing Warriors gear would be a conversation starter with other fans. I remember when I first moved here I saw a guy with a nice leather Warriors jacket. I thought, 'He must work for the team.' I don't think a lot of people nationally knew the Warriors existed until three years ago. The downside is that the tickets are expensive. My season tickets have basically tripled since I got them."
Indeed, ticket prices aside, it's a good time to be a Warriors fan. But what's glory worth if not preceded by some suffering?
That's why 'This Day in Suck' is here to make sure the bad old days are never forgotten.
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