In crowd now calling AAC home

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In crowd now calling AAC home

By JEAN-JACQUES TAYLOR / The Dallas Morning News

Emmitt Smith, wearing a Jason Terry jersey, cheered as loud as anyone Friday night, the last time the Mavericks played in American Airlines Center.

So did Cowboys safety Roy Williams. And PGA Tour golfer J.J. Henry. Even 73-year-old Kansas City Chiefs owner and Dallas resident Lamar Hunt made a little noise.

Texas Stadium was the place to be in the mid-'90s when the Cowboys won three Super Bowls. And the Stars made hockey hip in Dallas at the end of the decade when they won a Stanley Cup.

These days the rich and famous and the beautiful and handsome are making their presence known at American Airlines Center, where seeing and being seen is all part of the game day experience.

The Mavs just dispatched their nemesis – the San Antonio Spurs – in a compelling, heart-pounding seven-game series that some are calling one of the best in league history. Now, they need four victories over the Phoenix Suns to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time in the franchise's 25-year history. The Mavs host Game 1 of the Western Conference finals tonight.

That is hallowed ground for a team that was the laughingstock of the NBA in the '90s when it was among the worst franchises in professional sports.

With success has come popularity and a celebrity following. During Monday night's Game 7 in San Antonio, Mike Modano and Michael Irvin cheered on the Mavs.

Anytime the Mavs play at home, the AAC becomes a happening place. The Mavericks have sold out 195 consecutive home games, dating to December 2002.

Ladies sit in courtside seats with their French manicured toes on display in Jimmy Choo shoes and multicarat diamond rings on their fingers, and they're accompanied by gentlemen who prefer Rolex watches and loafers without socks.

Fans in Suite 1211 used two sets of binoculars – one more powerful than the other – during halftime of a recent game to scan courtside seats for celebrities. They spent several minutes trying to figure out if the tall man dressed entirely in black, including a fedora, was Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens.

It wasn't.

"I like the social atmosphere," said Valerie Elizabeth, a political consultant who splits her time between Dallas and Los Angeles. "I've been here quite a few times this season. I try to come whenever I'm in town.

"It's always a good time regardless of whether they win, because of the show Mark Cuban puts on. I like the whole atmosphere: the ManiACCs, the dancers, the music, the halftime shows."

This is not the wine-and-cheese crowd that arrives in the middle of the second quarter at the Staples Center to politely cheer for the Los Angeles Lakers.

This crowd gets rowdy.

"We're standing three-fourths of the game," said Mr. Henry, a former TCU golfer who's 44th in PGA Tour earnings. "Someone told me to sit down, and I just kind of looked at them. I'm a sports fan; so is my wife. We love coming to the games."

Lee Henry said they've had season tickets for about five years.

"We're with the Mavs, win or lose," she said. "We're sports fans, but the games are great because there's so much excitement."

Radio personality Chris Arnold of K104-FM said he's seen the crowd change during the 10 years he's worked on the Mavericks' game day presentation as a roving announcer who gets the crowd revved up.

"Things changed after the Mavericks went to the Western Conference finals in 2003," Mr. Arnold said. "More people started coming to the games, and you could tell more big money people started coming. But Mark Cuban has done a good job of making sure a certain amount of tickets are available to the public for every home game, and he has helped make sure the crowd doesn't get fat, happy and quiet.

"A lot of times, it's like a college atmosphere in here. They don't show up at halftime and wait to be entertained. The celebrities are here at tip-off, and so is everybody else, and they're into the game."

An hour before Game 6 against San Antonio on Friday night, it took 30 minutes to get a table at the Jack Daniels Old No. 7 Club, where fans paid $24.50 for a buffet dinner. When the lights dimmed and the video highlight package began inside the arena, signaling the introduction of Mavs players, nearly all of the 20,986 fans were packed in.

Some fans like Cowboys receiver Terry Glenn and former Baylor standout and 14-year NFL veteran Ray Crockett preferred to watch the game from the Old No. 7 Club, which has seemingly covered every inch of wall space with flat-screen TVs.

"This is so much fun," said Ashley Wettengel of Bentonville, Ark., who attended her first game last week. "There's a lot to do besides the game."

The Mavs have won at least 50 games each of the last five seasons, making them one of the league's elite teams. During the Don Nelson era, the Mavs excited fans with their run-and-gun style that produced points in rapid fashion.

Those teams had style but little substance. Though they won, they were often ridiculed for being soft. No one can say that about this team led by Avery Johnson, the league's coach of the year.

He demands defense and toughness.

"I'm dying to get my seats back. I gave them up because I didn't like some of the adjustments that Nellie made," said Southlake resident C.I. Dixon, referring to former coach Don Nelson.

"I couldn't sit and watch us lose in the first or second round every year. These guys are in it for the long haul – not just this year but next year and the year after that."

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Fans fill AAC, no matter the view

Supporters find reason to cheer about even the worst seats

By MICHAEL E. YOUNG / The Dallas Morning News

Arturo Rodriguez carefully surveyed the expanse of American Airlines Center from his seat in Row T, Section 328.

"You might say we're on top of the world," said Mr. Rodriguez, a Dallas Mavericks fan from Fort Worth.

He was certainly at the top of the AAC.

Of the 19,200 seats in the center's basketball configuration, none were higher than Mr. Rodriguez's. His vantage point left 7-footer Dirk Nowitzki looking like a 7-year-old. The steep climb to the top could give a mountain goat pause. A thirsty fan might wonder whether the beer man would hike that high just to make a sale.

But Mr. Rodriguez saw only the silver and blue lining.

"Up here in the last row, I can stand for the whole game," he said, "and no one will tell me to sit down."

With the Mavericks opening the Western Conference finals against the Phoenix Suns tonight, each seat is precious, and every one is a bargain – even with asking prices of $1,500 and more.

That will buy a seat on the floor from Texas Tickets, but back in Row P, R or T. Those seeking certain media exposure will have to pony up more.

Every time coach Mike D'Antoni huddles up with Steve Nash and the rest of the Suns, you're practically guaranteed face time in a pair of seats on Row C, Section 120, according to one seller on eBay.

"You will be on TV in these seats as cameras pan the Phoenix bench!" the pitch promises. And you'll also get a parking pass for your $3,499.99.

On the Dallas Mavericks Trading Post, where season ticket holders can sell their seats for individual games, a pair of seats in Row C, Section 106 – about midcourt – was listed for $1,864.50. A single seat in Row W, Section 118, was offered for $1,441.

But forget about getting anything for close to face value online.

Gary Hinds and his son Michael, from Prosper, took in a game between the Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs last week from the upper reaches of Section 306.

"My wife got these online for us," Mr. Hinds said.

Did he know what she paid for them? "Yeah," he said.

Too much? "Yeah."

The tab was $165 for the pair of $23 tickets, but neither father nor son complained.

"I still think it's a great seat," Mr. Hinds said. "I think every seat in the house is great."

But they did arrive a couple of hours before game time – and not just to avoid traffic.

"We thought we'd get here early in case we had to pause for breath halfway up," Mr. Hinds joked.

Some people, of course, do pay face value for their seats. Most are season ticket holders or, like Mark Vakos of Irving, they're really, really lucky.

Mr. Vakos was one of a couple of thousand fans who drove to American Airlines Center early Tuesday morning for a chance to buy tickets for games tonight and Friday.

Officials used a lottery system to control the frenzy, so Mr. Vakos came by about 7:30 a.m., picked up a ticket for the lottery, "then went home, took a shower and came back at about a quarter to 9."

"I figured if I hit it, great. If not, oh well," he said.

Guess whose ticket put him at the front of the line?

A block-long trail of people stretched out behind him. Only the first hundred or so – their places assigned by the lottery – had reasonable hopes of buying tickets. But hundreds more decided to hang around, just in case.

The sidewalks simmered as the minutes dragged by. In a modest circle of shade near the AAC's East Entrance, a crowd lounged carefully in the shadow's perimeter. But few people grumbled at the wait, or the odds of walking away with a ticket.

All they wanted was a chance. And that was all most of them got.

But for the fortunate ones, the result was worth the trip.

"I'll be bringing my wife and my kids on Friday night," Mr. Vakos said as he strolled back to his car. "They'll have a great time."

He came by mostly on a lark, he said, and fate smiled.

"I was hoping to get lower level," he said, fanning out his four tickets for Row A, Section 329. "But what the heck.

"A lot of people didn't get seats at all."