Stirring the Constellations

   The constellations have been shuffled, mixed into ghosts of the undefined and the what-may-never-be. Yet, they still grasp at the ability to haunt the days looming in the wake of tomorrow. Connect the dots to perfect the silhouettes with those stars we chase in our farthest reaches of hope, of dream, and still we’re merely drawing shadows in the dark.

   But, we’re not alone.

   We can draw portraits in the dirt. Scratch diagrams in the walls of basketball dialogue. Etch our constructs in digital forums. But, in the end, we can only pretend to know just how the cannonballs will stack; can only feign to know how the first will fall, and how it will guide those that follow.

   The constellations remain shuffled, and in this moment definition has yet to claim, it’s easy to pick and choose what to make of the scattered dots spilled over the sky. 

   On the eve of the next race, the biggest we’ve seen – just as those held before, and those to come; a path eternally ascending – there is no shame in counter-weighing optimism with realism, but it isn’t the realist who never allows for a small room behind an unlocked door to store his hope. As it so often is, the pessimist hides his affair with doubt under the guise of knowledge he does not hold, of preaching the reality that has not come.

   I write now, not as a preacher, but as one who hopes to remind that until hope has shed the need to chase that next breath, there is nothing gained in refusing its acquaintance. 

   Until you accept the inevitability that some sketches may collapse into a pool of random stars before the image comes to life, you invite the petrified, paralyzed stance entrenched in disappointment.  You stand to miss most of the joy found in the connections that could echo down the corridors of NBA history; the joy kept in the moments before the sky wears the tattoo of a successful design and the fireworks take flight.

  You’ll stand welcomed in the celebratory songs found then, but you’ll have missed as we found the lines connecting the dots that brought the new constellations to life. 

What WE Seem to Want as Fans

Being a fan of the current Mavs (a team many see as in the decline, with their window of chance securely closed) has brought me into a realm that once was foreign.

Cheering when Michael Irvin lay seriously injured on the field. Throwing snowballs and batteries at Santa. Throwing a drink on Artest as he lay defenseless on the scorers table. Once, these actions were from fans in far away fairy tale lands (especially the classlessness of Philly fans - still booing the best QB in their history)

Today, they post on almost every Mavs related site and fill the seats at the AAC. So, when do expectations unfulfilled turn hearts once full of hope to stone? And, once at that point, why do so many take joy from casting hate at all who would still attempt to reign in a "sunny" disposition? Is optimism, or hope for those you held some version of love, truly that dreadful of a sin?

I suppose these fans could argue that they are only upset at the fans who continue to support the team, as their support hinders the march towards change, and in their eyes, resurgance.

Could you also argue that this is a sign of a much larger problem within our society, a society that takes as much pleasure in the destruction of the idols built as in first constructing them?

Or, is it somewhere in between and of little significance?

First, let's look at some of the possible reasons "fans" may sew beneath their vibrant disdain towards a team:

1. Is it a Defense Mechanism?

Are we essentially scorned lovers who fain hate for the one who left us scorned? Are the emotional scars so deep from our team's failures that we can't allow ourselves to remain outwardly attached, and thus vulnerable, and we'll attack anyone who has the audacity to continue on in faithful support as an affront to our stance?

Sounds very melodramatic to me, like cursing out my PS3 for cheating after losing a game of Madden and holding a lasting grudge. I've never walked by a week after a loss caused by the system's clear cheating (you know they cheat sometimes), and sneered in anger at it...the scars just shouldn't be that deep.

That said, if we are to take joy and bliss from our team's winning is it not appropriate to feel the antithesis of this when losing. Tasting the sour makes the sweet that much sweeter (unless you're a fan of Memphis - and then you better just learn to love sour).

2. Are the malcontents primarily Displaced Fans?

This would be all the people that may have recently moved to Dallas (or wherever your team is) and still hold tight their allegience of their hometown team.

For some reason, this one just doesn't ring true for me. In modern society, the number of people living in towns or cities that they would not name when asked, "Where are you from?" has grown tremendously. I suppose it would be natural for someone from New York who now lives in Dallas to hate the Dallas teams, and thus the Dallas fans.

I don't have a problem with that part, but are the number of fans that relocate enough to form more than half of an areas fan population? Possible, but of those displaced fans, are enough of them bound to either their former loyalties or current fan disapproval with enough force to maintain them?

Again, logic says it's possible, but for reasons I can't explain this doesn't ring true. Having lived in a few cities, including two large markets with multiple teams (Houston and Dallas) I've found it hard not to begin to follow the local teams, although I still prefer the Texans to the Cowboys I have no trouble rooting for a Cowboy team I never followed closely before living here.

Of course, those are both in Texas, which removes the chance for interstate rivalries. I do know that if I moved to San Antonio, I would hate Spurs fans and never be able to adopt them as a team. Growing up a fan of the Rockets, who (like the Mavs) were rivals with the Spurs, I could never justify that to myself. Once the league stole an MVP trophy from Hakeem for David Robinson (just before Hakeem dominated him in the playoffs) I just couldn't do it.

3. People like to see others Fail

Another way of stating this could be that some people take joy from dislike, and even more joy from seeing those they dislike fail. There are two ways of looking at this as well, depending on who the disenfranchised chose to envelope with their dislike: the team or the other "poser" fans.

Of course, to those tethered by logic or reason, these are the most disgraceful of fans...the Band Wagon Fans. These are the very essence of a "poser" fan.

They hate the team when they either aren't very good or don't live up to expectations, and they love them when they are great. Of course, they claim to have always loved and remained loyal to the team...meanwhile they keep both a tattoo artist and laser tattoo removal center on retainer and have had the team's logo drawn on and burned off more times than you or I have sneezed in a lifetime within a pepper factory(what, they exist...somewhere).

To me, these are the people that make up the majority of the people now posting (2009) at Dallas Maverick websites. They are the ultimate pretenders. They've decided they hate an organization or something specific within that organization (Dirk, Cuban?) and take great joy in trying to force this hate on others.

They root against the team, and ridicule those with the nerve to hold out faith, no matter how small.

To me, one movie character pretty much sums up these fans. Bill Paxton as Hudson in Aliens. You know of, "That's it man, game over man, game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? " fame.

And the classic response to Sigourney Weaver's, "Hudson! This little girl survived longer than that with no weapons and no training."

Which was, "Why don't you put her in charge."

Classic.

Hudson in Aliens is the movie character equivalent of these true poser fans. No, he doesn't have to paint his former ally fans as enemies, but he is the first to panic and lose faith at the approaching of adversity...or crazy aliens with two mouths that can punch through a human skull like a hammer through a watermelon.

In short, these are the people that deserve to be gone before the good times come back around. They're the coke fiend that loves you when you're rich, and hates you when you're not.

I will freely admit that there are many other roots feeding these "fans" that are currently dissatisfied with the Mavs. That doesn't change the fact that I find these insanely negative fans, pretending to be without hope, cursing out and insulting those who remain supporters, to be annoying and unworthy of taking joy whenever things do get turned around.

Very quickly, because I am never wordy and always make my points very quickly, let me expound upon the above paragraph.

I say, "pretending to be without hope", as many of these fans spew rhetoric about the hopelessness of this team. They are the one's screaming to trade Dirk and start over. These fans are a joke, because they can't even be honest with themselves. They placate themselves with fained hopelessness...yet, I bet they still check the game score and will proclaim their everlasting support as soon as something goes right.

True hopelessness grants separation. Once you have absolutely no hope that your ex will take you back, you don't keep following her/him or keeping up with them. As long as you do, you hold some kernel of hope.

It would be absolutely no detriment if these fans quit posting, attending, watching, listening, or talking about the Mavs. We aren't the Grizzlies or some small market team that has about as much chance of getting good as you or I of winning the lottery.

Look at the Lakers or Celtics before last year for how quickly things can change. Things tend to change as the wave we never saw building breaks (all at once), and hate or disdain do not affect the seas of change. Your efforts would be far better served with indifference.

It's ok to get upset, but to turn your anger towards the fans who deal with their frustration without the pretend hate is ridiculous and shallow. We all feel the hurt of losses, bad management moves or horrible efforts. This doesn't grant you the right to childishly throw your tantrums at those who would remain civil. Our dedication, loyalty and emotional bond is no weaker than yours.

We feel the hurt and have undoubtedly hurled our insults at the tv, and we too can feel the need for change when change is warranted. There is no sin and wearing our hope on our sleeves.

It's not "game over, man" until the team moves, shuts down or the league fails.

Is Dirk a Superstar?

Alright, I actually broke out a tiny bit of research to help my argument that Dirk is in fact a Superstar. Some of you may be saying, "No kidding, jackass." But, surprisingly, here in Dallas and around the fandom of the NBA, this seems up for debate.

People seem to hold the fact that Dirk hasn't won a championship, combined with the fact that his TEAM choked in the finals (with the obvious help from some terrible officiating - this is not an excuse and not up for debate to anyone who can see without bias - It wasn't the officiating alone, but it certainly played a part) and against the Warriors the following year.

To counter this, I'd have to point out the supporting cast, or complete lack there of, surrounding Dirk. So, let's start there:

Going back to when Dirk first became a factor on the floor in the 2000 or 2001 season, how many All-Stars has he shared the court with. Here's the list:

2000- Finley
2001- Finley
2002- Nash
2003- Nash
2004- NONE
2005- NONE
2006- NONE
2007- Howard
2008- NONE

Let's look at some of those. The two years Finley was an All-Star he was the leader of that team. Dirk was just coming into his own and was considered a supporting player to Finley. Also, the Mavs were yet to become a playoff team.

2002-03 - Nash comes into form as Dirk does. They were both very young and made the playoffs for the first time. Sadly, until today (1/18/09) this was probably the best supporting cast for a young Dirk with an All-Star in Nash and a still viable but fading Finley. If you hold these playoff failures (which weren't considered failures at all by the franchise at the time) then you must hold someone like Chris Paul and David West to the same standard.

2004-2005-2006 - Including the year the Mavs played themselves to the Finals, Dirk was without a single All Star worthy teammate. If you want a comparison, how many Finals did Garnett get to without Pierce and Allen (or for that matter, Pierce or Allen without the others)? How many Finals did Kobe get to without Shaq until last year when Pau came on board along with what is considered one of the deepest benches of all time?

In fact, since 2000 only two teams have won a Finals with only one player playing in the All Star game. They were the '03 Spurs and '04 Pistons...and these are both very misleading facts. The Spurs' only All Star was Duncan on a team with David Robinson (his final season- with the motivation of that announcement prior to the season), Tony Parker (in his 2nd season), a blossoming Ginobli, and a clutch Stephen Jackson.

The Pistons' only All Star was Ben Wallace. Yet, that team consisted of All Star talent much like the Spurs of the year before and included Billups, Rasheed Wallace, Prince and Rip Hamilton.

Back to Dirk's support - in 2007 the Mavs finally had an All Star not named Dirk in Josh Howard. Yet, Howard was an injury replacement and was widely considered to have only made the team due to the Mavs holding the best record in the league. A worthy All Star, perhaps. Rightfully so (for the regular season), this was the year Dirk took home the MVP trophy.

2008, the Mavs acquired Jason Kidd, who made the All Star team, but Kidd was not yet a Mav and it would be hard to argue that he played at an All Star level once joining the Mavs (for reasons that are highly debatable).

Based on the above, you could very easily argue that Dirk has done as much and possibly more than anyone in the modern era (2000 to current) to carry his team to success.

For one quick final argument, I'll let a few players career numbers make the case for Dirk being a great player:

Dirk Nowitzki: 22.6 pts, 8.6 Reb., 2.7 assists, 1.0 blk, 0.9 stl, 1.0 TO, 48%FG,
38% 3pt

Kobe Bryant: 25.1 pts, 5.3 Reb., 4.6 assists, 0.6 blk, 1.5 stl, 2.9 TO, 48%FG,
34% 3pt

Kevin Garnett: 20.3 pts, 11.1 Reb, 4.3 assists, 1.3 blk, 1.4 stl, 2.5 TO, 49.5%FG,
28.2% 3pt

Tim Duncan: 21.5 pts, 11.8 Reb, 3.2 assists, 2.4 blk, 0.8 stl, 2.8 TO, 50.8%FG,
18.9% 3pt

I was going to include Jordan, but it's not really fair to compare anyone to him. As you can see from the above stats, Dirk compares nicely with some of the widely acknowledged best players of the current generation (at least, until Lebron reaches his potential)...including someone (Duncan) who many will argue is the best PF of all time.

Dirk may not be as graceful as we'd like our superstars to be and may not show the pure displays of athleticism of a Jordan or Kobe (unless you count the ability to simply put the ball through the net). In fact, he may often appear to be clumsy and out of control (until the ball once again goes through the net), but to argue that he is not a true superstar is either ignorance, naivety, or unadulterated bias.