The early part of my life I did not live in a city with a professional sport (apart from a minor league team). I was only familiar with the college Arkansas Razorbacks whenever the football and basketball team played in a bowl game or NCAA tournament. I didn’t really know what I was rooting for other than the name. I could also draw the Razorback logo quite well. But I just wasn’t a fan.
When I moved to Dallas at 11 years old, I moved to a city with the Big Three professional sports: baseball, football, basketball. But I didn’t become a fan of either instantly. It slowly happened.
My first love was baseball and the Texas Rangers. The reason why I even developed interest was because in 7th grade P.E., a friend was telling me how great it was that the Rangers got Nolan Ryan. I asked, “Who’s Nolan Ryan?” What followed was my friend’s shock that I had no idea who Nolan Ryan was, who at that time (and still is) the greatest strikeout pitcher the game had ever seen. I had to know who this Nolan Ryan was, so I started watching games. Soon I fell in love. I can still name you the starting fielders that year: Catcher: Sundberg, 1st: Palmeiro, 2nd: Franco, SS: Kunkel, 3rd: Buechelle, RF: Sierra, CF: Espy, LF: Incaviglia. The GM was Tom Grieve, and the manager was the great Bobby Valentine.
I digress.
Then one day I was at a friend’s house for his birthday party on New Year’s day. On TV was the Cotton Bowl. I had a particular interest in this game because the Razorbacks were playing. The Razorbacks lost. But all I remember thinking was that the opposing team’s quarterback was pretty good. The opposing team: UCLA. The quarterback: Troy Aikman.
That year, Jerry Jones, an oilman from my former town of Little Rock, bought the Dallas Cowboys. He made news not after he bought the team, but after he fired Tom Landry. But that didn’t concern me much. What concerned me was that someone from Little Rock owned the team. Then during the draft, their first pick was none other than Troy Aikman, the guy who beat the Razorbacks earlier that year. I then became very interested and watched every game that season. That season they went 1-15. But I stuck with it, learned the game, learned the team, and went through the myriad of spares that played. Does anyone even remember Paul Palmer?
But then came the Mavericks. That took years for me to be a fan. I remember coaches like Adubato and Buckner, who would be lucky to win 20 games in a season. Buckner only won 13. But I just had no interest in the NBA, apart from the Finals, and even less interest in the Mavericks. Even when the Mavs had the famous “Three J’s,” I still had no interest to watch. Until Jim Cleamons. He was Phil Jackson’s assistant hired on to be the head coach of the Mavs. The Mavs were also under new ownership with Perot Junior. This made news. This gave me some interest. I started watching the Mavericks. Soon the Three J’s were being dealt. After dealing the best of the three, Jason Kidd, Don Nelson came on as GM. He then made the big trade with the Nets that brought Shawn Bradley, Robert Pack and other spares to the Mavs. Does anyone even remember Pack? That season was miserable. But I stuck with it. I became a fan. The next year, Cleamons was eventually fired and Nelson made himself coach. The following seasons were painful, as we had these young potential stars in Nash, Nowitzki and Finley, this useless center that Nelson adored, Bradley, and “the best running big man in the NBA”, Chris Anstey. It was frustrating to watch, but as a fan, I stuck with it.
Having gone through the painful seasons as a fan makes those years of success that much sweeter. The Cowboys’ 3 of 4, the Rangers' first division title in 1999 and winning the AL Pennant last year, and the Mavs becoming a consistent 50-win playoff team and its 2006 conference title year. But another effect of having gone through those painful years is the pessimism of success. With the exception of the Cowboys of the early 90s, which was clearly (in my opinion) the best built NFL team ever, I was pretty much pessimistic every time any Dallas team made the playoffs. I knew the Yankees would beat the Rangers. I knew the Rangers didn’t have a chance in the World Series. I knew that the Cowboys wouldn’t do damage in the playoffs as the Jimmy-built team was gradually leaving or retiring. It’s not that I predicted these things, or that I desired these things, but that in my heart, I got so used to losing that I was preparing myself for the inevitable: Dallas will lose.
2006 was the year I was teased. The Mavs made it to the finals for the first time in its history. I wasn’t too familiar with the Heat, but I wasn’t too optimistic simply because of Shaq and Wade. If you look at that lineup Dallas had, outside of Dirk, they had no one. It was a miracle they even made it that far. But when they were up 2-0, based on the way in which they won those two, I became convinced: Dallas can win this. Then came the collapse. Some analysts say it was the worst collapse in NBA Finals history. As everyone knows, the Mavs ended up losing that painful series against the Heat.
I’m not going to let myself be teased by the Mavs again. It’s a Dallas team, after all.
Now I don’t want a cookie for being a Mavs fan through those 20-win seasons (although I’ll take a cookie just because it’s a cookie). But for other fans that are like myself, having experienced those painful moments for much longer, even after success like the great Mavs team that went the distance with the Lakers in the 1988 conference finals and lost (which I didn’t experience), those who stuck with them through those dreadful years, for us, this 2011 NBA Finals may have mixed emotions.
Because I’ve been out of the country, I can’t really keep up with the Mavericks apart from reading about them. But I know enough to say that this is indeed the best team the Mavericks have ever assembled in my time. Dirk is also playing in a way he’s never played before. Still, however, knowing the Heat will be the opponent, and having tasted defeat and failure many times as a Mavs fan, I do not think they can win this.
That isn’t a prediction. There is no analysis being done. That is simply me being pessimistic. Or maybe it’s me being defensive. I don’t want to set myself up for heartbreak again, so I won’t let myself believe there’s a chance.
Dirk is making it very hard for me not to believe. But I will not set myself up for heartbreak again.
I say all this ramble just to make one point: for any Dallas fan being called a “hater” just because they don’t think the Mavs can win, it’s not because they’re a hater. Rather, it’s because they are probably even more a fan than the majority of recent fans. As a fan, they’ve carried a lot of baggage with them. They want the Mavs to win. I want the Mavs to win. But our experiences tell us that our hope isn’t always the result.
To all those Mavs fans who have stuck with it through the 80s and 90s, I salute you. This Finals isn’t just about redemption for 2006, but redemption for the entire history of the franchise. I hope the Nowitzki-led Mavericks will make all those years of suffering finally pay off.
But don’t count on it….
