Back in the early months of all the Monta moped madness -- way back in October, before Ellis' rumored trade demands, and before somebody went and started a blog called Monta's Moped -- team president Robert Rowell offered a generous gesture to loyal and long-suffering Warriors fans. He vowed that the $3 million being yanked back from Ellis would go in to discount for season ticket holders.
"I can tell you this," Rowell told reporters in October, "Our season ticket holders will benefit from the entire amount next season in their renewals."
So here it is time for those very renewals, and Warrior season ticket holders have opened their renewal orders to find -- absolutely no discount whatsoever.
Credit goes to Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News for holding the Warriors' feet to the fire on this one on his Talking Points blog. Tim Kawakami is like Woodward, Bernstein, and Columbo all rolled into one -- he nailed the Warriors on this one, he once dogged Al Davis until Davis went into an unhinged racist rant, and he was physically confronted by Raiders management in one of the most celebrated and hilarious YouTube moments of 2008.
Rowell's words above seem pretty clear about the discount, he felt such conviction he even started the statement with an "I can tell you this." But those renewal forms can tell you this -- there are no discounts coming. Season ticket holders, you'll be lucky to get so much as a Monta Ellis bobblehead.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who can tell you this -- that Kawakami-being-confronted video is even funnier the 80th time you watch it.
