second vibe: Reality Bites the Dallas Mavericks

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Reality Bites the Dallas Mavericks

After another disappointing loss to the Miami Heat in the NBA finals, the Dallas Mavericks have metamorphosed into the Dallas Crybabies; the official announcement is awaiting David Stern's approval.

The perennial whiners of the NBA are boiling with anger and ferocity, knocking off anything and everything that's within their kicking length, doling out curses for anyone willing to listen. Not a useful form of chivalry but in the kingdom of Mark Cuban you don't abide by rationale or common sense.

The Miami Herald reports:

The night ended after midnight with the angry Mavs kicking and knocking things over on the way to the locker room, and raging, rabid Dallas owner Mark Cuban, security keeping him back, screaming an endless string of obscenities at officials. Mavs guard Darrell Armstrong picked up the loud, angry cursing in the locker room after the obligatory cooling-off period, and he didn't even play.

All hail Mark Cuban — he shows the way — the rest of the flock follows. Not quite sheepishly though.

They are angry because Dwyane Wade was 21-25 from the freebies matching the output of the entire Mavericks clan. The blame, if any, must lie with the referees because Wade was taking it to the hole all night long while Dirk and company were hiding under the blanket.

Not Gatoraded enough — Mark?

The theatrics are all too familiar. For the Mavericks, winning is somehow considered to be a birth right protected by the Cuban Constitution — anything else is a sinister conspiracy to degrade the organization.

To this I say, grow up. Get real.

They were grounded from cloud nine once their trip to South Beach was over for this season. The fall was hard and painful. Reality bites.

Scoop Jackson of ESPN heard some angry notes:

"We were already mad after Game 4," Dirk said after Game 5. "They suspended one of our players … "

As if Jerry Stackhouse was suspended for distributing cookies.

Josh Howard, who's sealed his place in history next to Chris Webber for his infamous time out call responded to ESPN's Chris Sheridan's question on the dumb act of the day:

"What am I saying to you right now, dog? Please, don't come off on me right now because I'm going to come off on you, and I'm not in a great mood right now. Get out of my face, man. Get out of my face."

Only if anger wins the game are the Mavericks on the right track. Too bad it doesn't. It never has and never will.

Now they seem to have crossed the line of civility too. That's not surprising, though - when the collective thought process is in infancy, the individuals usually follow suit.

As an owner, Mark Cuban is always the biggest fan of the Dallas Mavericks. He's every bit a die-hard fan, only with a lot more money. He's a straight talker, sometimes with sense, sometimes without, but you have to appreciate his approach — there's no hiding, all out in the open.

Cursing is not an unchartered territory for him. He cursed Bruce Bowen for which he later apologized. He did it again which he candidly describes in his own blog:

then someone asked “Is this your worst loss ever” ... ..So I told the reporter to “Ask me a real fucking question”

Mark, what were you thinking?

Reporters have a job to do. They ask questions that you may or may not like. If you don't, then politely refuse. It is not so complicated.

He has his justifications though:

Apparently some folks have taken exception to me cursing in my response. Well in this case, the reporter was using my time, we were in a locker room and I was trying to provide a response that had no value to me, but could only help him. If he doesnt think enough of either of our time to invest the brainpower and minutes it takes to come up with something different than has been asked a thousand times.
Fuck em.

Attitude aside, the Mavericks have a bigger problem at hand. Burned by the Heat in Miami, they are now a bunch of dwindling confidence and slumping shoulders.

Now they have to gut it out.

Here's my suggestion: Have fire? Bring it on — that's how the game is played. Last time I checked, Kleenex was not a recommended option in the NBA..

Or else keep turning the whining wheel.

Labels: Basketball, Sports