Calkins: Will Grizzlies be a casualty of gun referendum fight?
Fans arrive at FedExForum for Game 4 of an opening-round NBA basketball playoff series between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, April 26, 2014, in Memphis. Will the future of the NBA team be a casualty of the gun referendum fight? (Mark Humphrey/AP Photo file)
Geoff Calkins
Geoff Calkins has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades. He is host of "The Geoff Calkins Show" from 9-11 a.m. M-F on 92.9 FM. Calkins has been named the best sports columnist in the country five times by the Associated Press sports editors, but still figures his best columns are about the people who make Memphis what it is.
“I have no doubt the Grizzlies will get what they need.”
— Memphis City Council Chairman JB Smiley Jr.
You know the problem with the statement?
It almost feels like a dare.
Maybe Smiley is right.
Maybe Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton and the state legislature will not punish the city for the gun control referendum by withholding funding that is needed to keep the Grizzlies around for the long haul.
Maybe they aren’t that petty and vindictive.
But they might be!
And Smiley publicly declaring that the Grizzlies won’t pay the price doesn’t seem likely to help the cause.
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