Growing up a sports fan in Dallas, I'm used to losing.
Born in 1993, no part of me remembers the Dallas Cowboys winning the Super Bowl in 1993, 1994, or 1996. And truthfully, I've never been that big of a Cowboys fan. Not until the invention of NFL RedZone and Scott Hanson in 2009 was I really even that into football.
Early on, my sports loyalties were evenly divided between the Dallas Mavericks and Texas Rangers. Not coincidentally, baseball and basketball were and always have been my two favorite sports, and my childhood is decorated with colorful sports memories.
Going early to batting practice with my dad. Taking family trips to baseball stadiums around the country. Getting in long, sweaty autograph lines hours before first pitch or tipoff and absolutely insisting that we stay until the final buzzer. No matter what.
While these were great times, there wasn't a lot of winning.
First, the Rangers. My favorite baseball team went to the playoffs three times between the years of 1993 and 2009. They faced the New York Yankees empire in the 1996, 1998, and 1999 American League Division Series, losing all three times and winning just one out of nine games.
Fast forward to 2010 and 2011, and the Rangers played in the World Series in back-to-back years. Thankfully I'm about to start talking basketball, because pretty much everyone knows how the Rangers World Series tale ends.
My dad has been a Dallas Mavericks season ticket holder since almost the very beginning of the franchise in 1980. He tells me stories about the cheap seats, the crazy Reunion Arena environment, and how he and his friends would get a free pizza if the Mavs scored 125 points.
(That deal today would put Domino's out of business.)
Since I was old enough to remember that I existed, let's say at age 5 in 1998, I inherited my dad's love for basketball and for the Mavericks.
In a twist of serendipity, that was the same year the team drafted Dirk Nowitzki and went from a franchise of perennial losers to a franchise of perennial losers that went really far in the playoffs.
In the midst of all those promising seasons with bitter ends, I had a friend ask me a very valid question:
"Would you sacrifice a championship for a decade of suffering?"
At the time, I said yes. Now, I say yes. During the chaos that was the Mavericks existence from 2012 until the end of Dirk's career, I still say yes.
10 years ago today, on June 12, 2011, the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA championship.
In the words of Chuck Cooperstein, radio voice of the Mavs: "The Mavericks have scaled the NBA playoff mountain and have planted their flag! They are the NBA champions!"
It was a magical moment for a lot of obvious reasons, but few sports franchises had been through the pain, suffering, and humiliation that the Mavericks had been through over the previous decade-plus.
The Mavs were a playoff team every year from 2000 to 2012. That's certainly not something I took for granted growing up. Going through the thrill of the NBA Playoffs every year of my life from age 7 to 19 was an incredible treat that I'm forever grateful to the sports Gods for.
And by sports Gods, I mean the German one. (And I wrote more about that dude right HERE.)
Making the playoffs every year, but not winning a championship, is still a blast. The up's and down's, the heartache and triumph that sports teams put us through, that's what being a fan is all about.
If it was all winning, it wouldn't be worth it. "Super Teams" born overnight through free agency or star-demanded trades don't provide the same satisfaction. It's about the journey, and Dirk and the Mavs certainly went on a wild one.
That ride didn't end, but certainly hit its peak, in the 2011 NBA Finals. Beating the Miami Heat was sweet, poetic justice after choking away a 2-0 Finals lead against the same organization five years prior.
Perhaps worse was in 2007 when the Mavericks somehow started 0-4, ended up 67-15, and then got punk'd in the first round to the 8th-seeded "We Believe" Golden State Warriors.
After so many years of sports misery, 2011 was everything. The final moments were emotional to say the least, myself watching through tears as Dirk left the court immediately following the game to collect his own emotions.
"Would you sacrifice a championship for a decade of suffering?"
Dallas bonded over that title. People came together. It wore off, like all things good and bad do. But it happened. Despite what followed, it can never be taken away.
Happy 10 Years!
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