Turning over a new leaf

For the most part I like area based teams. I am a huge Rangers fan; sometimes I have been accused of taking that fandom to the outer edges of what is appropriate for an adult to invest emotionally into a sports team. That accusation doesn't bother me one bit, mostly because it is probably true. My hockey allegiance will always lay with the Dallas Stars, and I was raised a Cowboy fan. (There was a period of my life where I cheered for the Jets, but after becoming disenfranchised with their front office decisions I came back home, like the prodigal son, and I promise to never leave God's team again).

However there is a local team that has been omitted.  Yooooooouuuuur DALlas MAVERICKS!!!!! (Hopefully, when you read this you were able to channel the PA announcer booming that through the AA center).  In the past I have been accused of being a Mav hater. I believe one person even used the term anit-MFFL. This is not true. I do not hate the Mavs. Just the same as I don't hate the fly trying to land on my plate at the picnic.  I view them only as a simple annoyance.  An irrelevance that people for some reason want to talk about all the time. My NBA team of choice is the Los Angeles Lakers, our "rivals" are the Celtics, because we play them to win championships. We don't worry about the Mavericks who are good but not great.  My two biggest gripes about the Mavericks are 1) Dirk is over rated, but people love hyping him up to be more than he is (My next post will delve deeply into this) 2) They take time on my favorite local talk radio station 1310 the ticket that could be used on one of the teams that I do like or on something else that would entertain me. Granted #2 is extremely self centered and selfish to expect differently, but these are MY gripes so I get to neglect the popular majority in this instance.

All that, to get to this. I have decided to cheer for the Mavs to win the finals. I know that you might read this and think," how convenient to decide that when they are up 3-2 against the Heat", and that is valid. However, I want to point out they have been up 2-0 and managed to lose 4 straight, so losing 2 straight is not that outlandish. Also I do't want you thinking that I am jumping onto the Mav bandwagon. I am not. They still annoy me. I am cheering for them for three reasons and three reasons only. Reason A: I have lots of friends who are huge Mav fans, and in the past I have enjoyed playing the role of the contrarian, but as the title suggests, I am turning over a new leaf. I am supporting my friends in their fandom, and I want them to enjoy a championship celebration. Reason B) Corey Brewer is one of my all time favorite former Gator greats, and I want him to get an NBA ring to match his two NCAA ones. Reason C) after the Rangers huge run to the World Series everyone jumped on their bandwagon.  Thus it became much harder to get a cheap ticket and made every slap dick think they were a Ranger expert.  Hopefully if the Mavs win they'll distract from the Rangers bandwagon just enough so I can find my comfort zone again with my favorite team in sports.  (I had to be selfish with at least one reason)