My Encounter with Dirk (after the Indiana game)

[LonghornDub]

Thought some of you guys might like to hear about this.

My friend's girlfriend, who's in the German club at a DFW-area university, got tickets to this little Q&A session with Dirk that took place after the Mavs-Pacers game. They invited me to go a few weeks ago, and even though I'm in the middle of a month-long push towards final exams, I obviously had to take them up on that offer.

Anyway, there were about 200-250 people at this little Q&A, mostly DFW area German students and their teachers. It was actually a really intimate environment, and people basically got to ask Dirk anything they wanted. Some of it was conducted in German, but some was in English. I've never taken German or anything, so I sort of just sat there and listened.

I just had a few things I wanted to mention about this whole ordeal. First, I think everybody here knows this, but Dirk is just an absolutely hilarious dude. He's got this real dry sarcasm thing going on, but he does it with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, so he doesn't sound like a bitter old man or anything.

Second, Mavericks fans, especially younger kids, are really lucky to have such a good role model representing the team. Dirk came off as such a great guy during this little Q&A. The thing went about an hour longer than it was supposed to because Dirk kept insisting that people could ask as many questions as they had. The admin staff running the event kept saying "Ok, last question..." but Dirk repeatedly told them that he'd take as many questions as he needed to. The thing ended up lasting until about 12:00am because he really just wanted to give everybody a chance to talk to him.

Now that I've spoken sufficiently in generalities, here's a few of the more memorable moments from this session--

1) At one point, a younger girl (probably a freshman in HS) began her question to him with "Oh my God, I love you!" Without missing a beat, Dirk's response was, "I love you too!"

2) Dirk told us about playing a game of horse with Justin Timberlake, and someone asked him "Who won?" Dirk's face lit up, and he goes (jokingly), "I did. That question is disrespect."

3) Dirk said the best game he's ever played in was probably Game 7 in SA. That got a nice cheer from the crowd.

4) A kid asked him who were some of his favorite teammates. Dirk said there were way too many to list, but he listed 3 (in this order): 1) Nash, 2) Finley, 3) Terry .

5) They had us fill out some cards with our names/addresses/etc., then Dirk pulled a few out of a box and those people won autographed posters. The first card Dirk pulls out, he says the kid's name and hometown, then starts reading his cell phone number. He stops about halfway through and says "just kidding."

6) When that first kid came up to get his autographed poster, Dirk handed it to him and said, "Make sure you frame that."

7) Dirk said he's dating someone, and he's living with her. This is the first time he's ever lived with a girlfriend. This was actually a sort of interesting moment, because there were two really old ladies in front of me who apparently didnt like that he said that. One of them turned to the other and said (with a scowl), "They should be married."

8) During another part of the raffle, Dirk pulled one of the cards out of the box and said "So and so, from Lantana, TX." Then he paused for a second and said, "Lantana--I've never heard of that. I need to get out more."

9) Towards the very end, Dirk said he's going to keep trying his best to bring the championship to Dallas. This, of course, got a great cheer.

That's about all I can remember as far as specifics. Really, I just wanted to confirm what we already knew--Dirk is an awesome guy. I'm really proud of him. I think Dallas is incredibly lucky to have superstar athletes like Dirk and Romo representing our city.