It was an odd story — an attempt at humor, we think — that appeared in the alternative Phoenix New Times: Steve Nash was leaving the Suns in the middle of November to move to Canada and begin his political career.
Not everyone was laughing. Steve Nash is serious enough business that the Suns issued an official statement on the article before the Wednesday’s game.
“A humorous article has been published by the Phoenix New Times joking that Steve Nash is retiring to enter Canadian politics. We want our fans to rest easy. THIS IS A HOAX!! Happily, Steve continues to be a member of our team.”
Brett Pollakoff of FanHouse did something crazy and asked Steve Nash about it.“I just heard about it tonight during the game,” Nash said. “I don’t know what to say about that,” he added, with a laugh.
“I mean, obviously I’ll be Prime Minister one day,” Nash joked. “But I wasn’t going to do it until after I finished playing basketball.”
I’ve read the New Times story and here’s the problem – it’s not really funny. It’s way, way too long because there is a lot of filler. What might have been funny is buried. The Onion does news satire well because it takes a crazy premise — like Nash leaving the Suns to run for political office in Canada — and will take it totally over the top. And they keep the writing tight.
So much like the Suns offense this season, the problem was simply one of execution.