Nate Robinson’s mom defends son’s tweet
May 12, 2011, 10:48 AM | Updated: 4:25 pm
 Thunder guard Nate Robinson attended Rainier Beach High School and the University of Washington. (AP) |
710Sports.com staff
Seattle native and Thunder guard Nate Robinson created a local Twitter stir Wednesday with comments he made about Oklahoma City.
After the Thunder’s 99-72 win over the Celtics in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals Wednesday night, Robinson tweeted his appreciation for Oklahoma City fans:
OKC aka Thunder fans are the best on the planet #handsdown #WorDaApP #OKCfans should be a #TT
That didn’t sit well with some Seattle basketball fans still reeling over the loss of the SuperSonics, the team that became the Thunder three years ago when owner Clay Bennett moved the franchise to Oklahoma City.
Unhappy with the criticism Robinson was receiving on Twitter and from 710 ESPN Seattle listeners, his mother, Renee Busch, called into Brock & Salk to defend her son’s comments, saying the story is overblown and that Robinson had expressed similar thoughts about cities he previously played in.
“There’s nothing wrong with what he said, at all,” Busch said.
Robinson, who attended Rainier Beach High School and the University of Washington, addressed the criticism with several tweets, one of which told fans to “relax” and that Seattle is where his “heart n soul” are.
710 ESPN Seattle’s Matt Pitman, a lifelong Sonics fan and former PA announcer for Sonics home games, took offense to the original tweet.
“I was heated. I was pissed. I didn’t like it at all,” Pitman said. “I literally almost fell off my couch reading that. How dare you? Come on, man.”
Pitman had no problem with Robinson praising Oklahoma City fans, who have been stellar in their support of the Thunder. It was the superlative nature of the comment that Pitman took exception to.
“Reading that tweet last nght, as a fan, I felt a little bit thrown under the bus,” he said.
710 ESPN Seattle’s Kevin Calabro, the Sonics play-by-play announcer for 21 seasons, believes Robinson has nothing to apologize for and that Sonics fans need to move on.
“Seattle, get over yourself. You don’t have the NBA anymore,” Calabro said on Bob & Groz. “Quit whining, go out, be productive and seek an NBA team if that’s what you want. All this whining and moaning and handwringing about what happened three years ago isn’t going to make a world of difference.
“If you want to get something done then be the progressive city that you claim to be and quit whining about the past.”
