"2-0-6, my city"

In this slice of land in western United States, nobody can explain why only here the cherry-tree blooms in February. It may be the climate or the color of the sky that becomes ruby, or the rain that shows itself constantly, donating one of the best nicknames ever gave to a city: The Rain City. To see those trees bloom in the streets of Seattle taking to the Easy Street Records is something extraordinary, especially if there’s the all the Sub Pop Culture music of the Nineties as soundtrack. We’re in the American Liverpool, which gave birth to Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Nirvana, Mother Love Bone, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and many other’s grunge.

So, in this context, while we dirt our fingers with some records with Sonics Guy (you can’t call him with his real name Kris Brannon, I will explain why another time) we have four names, four players, one city, one basketball, one area code and one soundtrack.

Two years later Kurt Cobain’s death, at the Rainier Beach High School plays a thin boy with the 23 shirt that, without trash talking once, plays some dribbles with the basketball that smell like apple pie. We’re talking about Jamal Crawford, also known as ‘JCrossover’. Well, here we have a five-second stage pause, because of Gary Payton, already a Seattle SuperSonics’ player at the time, recounts to have seen him receiving a line out, moonwalking with MJ’s style, dribbling the ball between his legs at every step towards the basket. Once passed the half-court, he feel the incoming defender, turning around, dribble other two defenders, and ‘no look’ passing the ball to a free teammate that scores.

He wins playing with supremacy the WIAA State Championship, but his biggest nightmare is Doug Wrenn, without any doubt the best prospect produced by Coffee Capital of the World and, in fact, State MVP for two years in a row. While Jamal becomes Doug Christie’s protege for many reasons, Wrenn stays out of the scene, for his character and some bad episodes, but the two faces one another a couple of times at The Hood Classic. A tournament that gathers the best high school players. The madness about this so craved tournament is that there’s nothing to be won but the right to praise for a year. But ‘Sonic Guy’ tells me that there’s way more than you actually see around basketball in town. 

“It’s a band of brothers”, he tells me, “Two-Oh-Six, my city”. Here, 2-0-6, it’s the area code of the city and it’s a sing of identification for every basketball lover of player, no matter if pro or not. In fact, they tattoo this recognition symbol on their bodies, like Nate ‘The Gadget’ Robinson tattooed behind his neck the skeleton of the city, while Terrence Williams has the Space Needle on his left arm. Jamal Crawford also has a giant picture of the city in his house, and even Jason Terry, who tried to teach style to Nate, giving him some of his Armani suits when he first arrived in the NBA, has the 2-0-6 number tattooed on his chest.

Wrenn himself felt the membership to this brotherhood and in fact, when he arrived at U-CONN, his brother-game conception started to be lacking and he finished the year averaging 2,3 points, 1 rebound, and 0,3 assists. There’s something wrong, one of the best players Seattle has ever seen can’t find the right space for his talent. Bipolar on the field like no other player, he stops one year for the move to the University of Washington, where he finds two ‘2-0-6 brothers’ in Brandon Roy and Nate Robinson. He becomes one of the State’s best because he goes four times above 30 points (franchise record) and finished the season at the third place in the PAC-10 scoring classification. He scores many buzzer beaters for the win, like a beautiful one on December 8th against New Mexico State and he becomes Top of the World Classic’s MVP.

He decides to become eligible for the NBA Draft, but there’s something that the university is hiding because outside of the field, Doug’ reputation isn’t that clear. He wasn’t drafted and since that day starts some bad episode that involves him, he’s accused of molesting his former girlfriend and another when he’s accused of assaulting with a gun in the parking lot. 

Nobody talks about him, not even the Washington Huskies, even if they’re always the same that he brought back on the basketball map, after some years without the NCAA tournament. The city of Seattle has seen the fade of one of its biggest talents. But according to the Holy Bible, in Isaiah book, 11:6-9: “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together and a little child will lead them.” 

And a little child will lead them…

His name is Isaiah Thomas, he received Nate Robinson’s blessing when he gave him his number 2 shirt and he became two times PAC-10 MVP, before declaring himself eligible for the NBA Draft. Right now, we all know where he’s playing and what he’s going through, but the Black Messiah, with the tattoo of the city’s brotherhood, will show us the loving way for this beautiful game, invented by doctor James Naismith.