ESPN basketball commentator Bill Simmons strangely insinuated Memphis Grizzlies fans are “tense” when things do not go well because of Martin Luther King’s tragic assassination, which occurred in Memphis.
On a podcast with Jalen Rose, Simmons said the shooting “kind of sets the tone” for how Memphis thinks about stuff, including its Grizzlies:
“I didn’t realize the effect [the King assassination] had on that city. […] I think from people we talk to and stuff we’ve read, the shooting kind of sets the tone for how the city thinks about stuff. We were at Game 3. Great crowd, they fall behind and the whole crowd got tense. It as like, ‘Oh no, something bad is going to happen.’ And it starts from that shooting and it’s just that mindset they have.”
Simmons and Rose were in Memphis with the ESPN basketball crew to see San Antonio sweep the Grizzlies out of the Western Conference playoffs.