Sean Marks is married to an American, and has two American children. But until he completed a 10-year process last week and passed his U.S. naturalization test, “We couldn’t stand in the same line at the airport.”

 He can now, after acing his exam.

 The questions that ranged from easy “How many stars are on the American Flag?” to those that required some memory power like “Name the 13 original colonies” and “How many members make up the House of Representatives?”

 Now Miss Teen South Carolina might have trouble with the first one — since she likely believes most Americans don’t have maps or flags.

  (And by the way, there are 435 mebers in the House. I could give you all 13 colonies of course but, um, I don’t have time … yeah, that’s it.)

 ”I’ve never voted before, so you can be sure I’ll take part,” said Marks, who was given a week to study for the exam. “It was a little nerve wracking because you don’t want to screw it up, but I was fairly confident.”

 Marks had to prove to the State Department that he was still married, still working in the United States –the Suns took care of that, signing him to a one-year deal in July — and that he hadn’t spent any time in jail.

  “I’ve been a good boy,” he said.

 Remember when the Suns were known as “The Purple Gang,” played in “The Purple Palace” and went a long way toward bringing a forgotten color back into the stream of sports consciousness?  Don’t look now – and it’s much more subtle than when the Diamondbacks did the same thing – but the Suns are being de-purpled before our very eyes. The team is sticking with the same uniforms this season — white at home, purple on the road and orange as the alternate, “wild card” jersey – but word is that things could change not far down the road. And it’s becoming obvious that the new regime is much more enamored with the other end of the team’s color pallet. This year’s slogan: “Welcome to Planet Orange” will be plastered all over the Valley this week as the team slathers orange paint all over town. The team’s media guide is all-but purple-less from cover to cover. And everywhere you look, from personnel apparel to the Suns Dancers to the new $100,000 game floor, it’s obvious that purple is being phased out whenever new purchases are made within the walls of the organization. 
Orange and black? That’s not the Suns, it’s Halloween. It’s

Oregon
State, It’s the Cincinnati Bengals and the Philadelphia Flyers. Whatever happened to being unique? Maybe if I liked orange as a color more, I wouldn’t be so red with frustration – but I think it’s more the end of an era that has me, um, blue. Much like the Diamondbacks and their Sedona Red, the color that was synonymous with Valley pro sports is also in the sunset of its career with the original franchise. I guess with Jerry Colangelo – a purple guy to the end – no longer in control, it was bound to happen – but it doesn’t make it any easier to accept. Orange you gonna miss purple? If it ever happens, I know I will.

 For Suns fans who couldn’t make Tuesday night’s open practice, NBA TV (Cox channel 168) is giving you another chance to see your favorite team up-close in a practice setting.

  NBA TV filmed Phoenix’s practice Wednesday at US Airways Center and will re-air the highlights — along with commentary by Eddie Johnson and inteviews with Mike D’Antoni, Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire – four times over the next 24 hours.

 The first chance to watch comes at 6 p.m. tonight, but the coverage will repeat at 11 p.m., 6 a.m. Thursday morning and 2 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

 In addition, a reminder that the Suns-Nuggets preseason game will be shown live by TNT (Marv Albert, Mike “Czar of the Telestrator” Fratello and Reggie Miller) Thursday at 7 p.m. The game replaces the regularly scheduled Utah-Los Angeles Lakers which was cancelled in San Diego due to the devastating wildfires.

 Phoenix resumes preseason play Thursday, hosting the Denver Nuggets at US Airways Center on TNT and concludes its exhibition schedule Friday, Oct. 26 against the Seattle SuperSonics in Vancouver, British Columbia.  Both games begin at 7 p.m. locally and can be heard on Suns flagship Sports 620 KTAR AM.

 Several Suns reserves privately grumbled last season that they deserved playing time on a 60-win team that was fighting for a championship. But as the 2007-08 season beckons, last year’s bench is even further away from the goal:

 *Forward Jumaine Jones was cut by the New Jersey Nets

 *Center Pat Burke was cut by the Golden State Warriors

 *Free agent guard Jalen Rose is sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring.

 It remains to be seen how much Sean Marks and Eric Piatkowski wind up playing for the Suns this year. But when the season starts next season, at least they’ll have jobs.

 The Suns will be without guard Leandro Barbosa for at least the final two preseason games after the Brazilian guard suffered bruised ribs in Sunday’s preseason win over Charlotte in
Los Angeles.

 Barbosa took an elbow to the ribs in the final minute of the game. He will miss Thursday’s home preseason game against Denver at US Airways Center and will not fly with the team to Vancouver for Friday’s preseason finale against
Seattle. The Suns said the injury isn’t believed to be serious and Barbosa should be OK when the regular season begins on Nov. 1 in
Seattle.

 Forward Grant Hill, who left Sunday’s game after taking a blow to his back and suffering spasms, is responding well to treatment. The team was still deciding whether Hill should take part in the scrimmage that caps tonight’s open practice (6 p.m.) for fans at the USAC.

 Fans will definitely get their first look at Amare Stoudemire tonight. The center has been given the green light to take part in a full practice for the first time since undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on Oct. 2. Stoudemire will play in at least one, and likely both, of the remaining preseason games.

 The Charlotte Bobcats are learning what the Washington Wizards already know – life with Michael Jordan, executive, isn’t quite the same as with Jordan, leader on the floor.

 After playing without Emeka Okafor almost all of last season, the already-talent-challenged Bobcats have lost both Sean May (microfracture) and now Adam Morrison (torn ACL ligament) for this season before ever getting out of training camp.

 Some will tell you the Bobcats aren’t much worse off without Morrison – who has been extremely disappointing on both ends of the floor in
Charlotte – but it’s still a blow.

 Want more? the Bobcats can’t replace either player right now, because they already have the maximum of 15 guaranteed contracts which means they’d have to cut (and pay) May or Morrison to make room for another player.

 Amare Stoudemire is scheduled to return to practice Tuesday — exactly three weeks after undergoing athroscopic surgery on his right knee. And Suns fans  can some see his progress for themselves bercause the practice is open to the public beginning at 7 p.m. at US Airways Center.

 Doors open at 6 p.m. and admission is free — although fans are encouraged to donate an energy efficient light bulg to benefit Habitat for Humanity.

 If the Lakers trade Kobe Bryant, and if the Lakers are paying  attention to Kobe’s wish list, Suns GM Steve Kerr’s telephone has either already been ringing or is about to. 

 Bryant wants out now more than ever. Lakers owner Jerry Buss has confirmed that he is at least amicable to accommodating him if the right deal can be struck. Kobe has a no-trade clause and his wish list apparently begins and ends with Chicago, Dallas and … wait for it … Phoenix.

 So let’s make a deal. What would the Suns have to give up to get Kobe — forgetting for a moment that they might not want Bryant in the first place? 

 You start, of course, with the disgruntled Shawn Marion. The salaries are within shouting distance of jibing (Bryant $19.5 million to Marion’s $16.44 million), but it’s going to take a lot more than The Matrix to entice the Lakers. Word is Mitch Kupchak (and whichever Buss he’s reporting too) wouldn’t trade Lamar Odom for Marion last month, so the next question is what else would the Lakers want?

  It is well-known that Leandro Barbosa is coveted by Los Angeles — for his talent, his cap-friendly salary and the way he’s carved up the Lakers in the playoffs over the last two years. Perhaps a package that includes Marion, Barbosa and Atlanta’s first-round pick next year — which the Suns have been hoarding since the Joe Johnson trade — would serve as the main pieces from Phoenix’s point of view. 

 But in all likelihood, it still won’t work. The Lakers would shoot for the moon and ask for Amare Stoudemire instead of
Marion. And that’s the deal breaker as you jump to the other side of the fence.

 Like Kevin Garnett, Kobe also has a hefty trade kicker (15 percent, roughly $13 million) that you must swallow. There is far from a consensus in thw Phoenix braintrust that Bryant is someone they want to bring in to start with, and then comes the wish list of the Lakers. If Stoudemire went in the trade, the Suns would be trading their only legitimate big man – the All-NBA center for a shooting guard/small forward (OK, the best one), would likely not get a usable big man in return and would be over the luxury tax. Then what? 

 Dreaming is fun. So is the thought of a team with Kobe and Steve Nash joining forces. But when it comes to the idea of Bryant in a Suns uniform, the reality is all-but impossible. 

 But the Suns will still be interested bystanders in this whole circus. If the Lakers are able to swing a deal with the Bulls – by far the most likely scenario, given the package Chicago can offer and the fact they are in the other conference — it would likely include Ben Gordon, Tyrus Thomas and a huge sign-and-trade with P.J. Brown, who is still “mulling retirement,” but is more likely biding his time to see if he can milk one last $10 million payday out of the league before hanging up his sneakers.  If that doesn’t happen, the Suns would still be in line to add him to their roster later in the season.