2005-07-27 07:07

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Rice said the outpouring of support for the popular Turiaf in Spokane has been “phenomenal. That’s probably been the most amazing thing to see. We knew everybody loved Ronny. Everybody’s just been so touched by it. The whole world stopped here in Spokane.

As just about everybody in Spokane knows, not to mention Gonzaga fans world-wide, Ronny Turiaf went in for open heart surgery yesterday. The great news is that it went better than expected and Ronny is expected to make a full recovery. The Seattle Times has a pretty good article covering the situation:

A six-hour, open-heart surgery on Gonzaga center Ronny Turiaf was pronounced a success yesterday, generating hope that the 22-year-old Los Angeles Lakers draftee might play basketball again.

It also sounds like Ronny will be coming back home to Spokane and Gonzaga for his initial rehab work. It’s nice to know that he’s going to be well taken care of, but I kind of hope they can sneak him back into town. I don’t know if the kind of overwhelming greeting I could see him getting at the airport would be the best thing for a heart that was repaired a week earlier.