San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is no stranger to the media with his near weekly, hate-filled rants about President Trump. However, the attacks have been going on so long and are so virulent that many fans are simply waking away from the team.
One fan, for instance, noted that once coach Popovich started his constant attacks on President Trump, she filled a garbage bag full of her Spurs memorabilia and fan wear and tossed it in the garbage. The fan, Cassandra Casanova, then just stopped going to games and won’t follow the team otherwise.
“I am completely turned off. After all those years supporting the team, and now I just have no interest,” Casanova told the Washington Post this week. “Popovich really messed up.”
Casanova was not the only fan to have dumped the Spurs. Bob Mulherin, a Spurs fan for 25 years, also told the paper that he was done with the team due to Popovich’s political vitriol.
“I often curse Pop for doing what he did,” Mulherin said. “He insulted more than half of the Spurs’ fan base, and no sign whatsoever of an apology.
“It is sad that Pop basically told my wife and my son and me for that matter that we were fools for supporting Donald Trump. What happens when someone calls you a fool? You avoid them,” Mulherin added.
The Post went on to note that a local sports reporter has heard from many fans who have turned their back on the Spurs. On his ESPN radio show, Jason Minnix says that he hears from infuriated Spurs fans quite often.
The paper also quoted several other fans who are fed up with Popovich’s political explosions with one saying that she just wished that the team could get a coach who “doesn’t feel the need t talk politics.”
Meanwhile, according to the San Antonio Business Journal, the team’s local TV ratings have cratered and national ratings are down 43 percent.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.