Mavs Fan For Life?

I have been a mavs fan my entire life. When I was in the 5th grade, I was an honorary ball boy for the Mavs (a great birthday present from my parents). I had my picture taken with Brad Davis, handed Mark Aguirre a towel to wipe spilled beer off of himself, and I pushed a broom around the key to wipe up sweat throughout the game. It was tons of fun to be so close.

I was a Mavs fan through the Quinn Buckner fiasco, the 13-69 season. I even had a Mavs clock on my wall during these dreadful years.

When Mark Cuban bought the team, I was ecstatic. He has done a lot to make Maverick basketball so good. Last year, beating the Spurs and making it to the finals was so great. It was terrible when they lost 4 in a row, but even with that debacle, I thought we always had this year.

We win 67 games this season.

And then, we get Golden State - a 42 win team. This has been the most painful Maverick basketball to ever watch. They have shown no heart, have played horribly, and have allowed some of the most annoying players to beat them.

If Dirk wins MVP tomorrow, this will only be more embarrassing. Jim Reeves said it best this morning in his column when he imagined phones ringing off the hook at the NBA office of people asking for their MVP votes back. I think back to Jordan, Olajuwon, Duncan, Kobe, Shaq, Wade - all those guys stepped up their game in the playoffs. Dirk, with the Spurs series an exception, has not. He has failed.

People give Arod a hard time for meaningless stats. He puts up huge numbers every year, but when it comes to a clutch hit, Arod disappears. Dirk is the new Arod. In last night's game, Dirk hit two threes at the end of the game, after the Mavs had lost. That is much like an Arod solo HR when the Yankees are down 10-0 in the 9th. "Meaningless offense" as my brother would say.

While my Maverick fandom has survived coaching from Buckner, Clemons, Adubato, and Gar Herr, with players like Bradley, English, Blab, Laettner, etc. stinking it up, I am not sure that my love for the Mavs will survive a loss to the Golden State Warriors in Round 1.

I know there are many more important things in the world to be upset about and that it is just a game, but I was looking forward to spending every other night for the next two months watching NBA basketball, talking about rules for watching sporting events, going to bed way too late, wearing my Mavs shirt 20 times in two months. But, when the Mavericks are gone, so is my viewership. And I am not sure it will be back next season. But at least this year, the Mavs cannot complain about the refs. There is no doubt who has played harder and better during this series. Maybe the Mavs will put it together and win three straight. But thus far, they haven't played 3 good quarters this series, so how will they play 12?