are you a real Mavericks fan?

[Bayliss]

A lot of parallels...

I grew up being a Boston fan in the mid 80's. Much like KG and Murph, I was a little too young to remember the glorious 80's... and did not focus on the Mavericks til the very early 90's. I remember reading the Dallas Morning News preview about the players... I remember Randy Frickin' White, the great Donald Hodge...and Cherokee Parks's diary. Out of the group, I liked Jamal Mashburn. I loved the addition of Jason Kidd. I remember reading an article about him titled "The Fruit Loops Kid" and decided I had to watch Cal basketball to see what all the fuss was about. After the first game he played in which he set up Lamond Murray I knew the Mavs needed him.

After Nellie broke up the team, my fandom waned. It was very hard to watch them after that.... much like the way it's hard for me to watch the Cowboys now. What got me started again was seeing a flop haired soft white boy take it to the rack and dunk on two Supersonics. Then it was on again. And I've watched every game ever since.

I don't know what I'll do if Dirk gets traded. But that I've loved the NBA Draft as long as I can remember and I'm sure I'll find someone to "latch on to" when the Mavs draft.

[dude1394]

Now I'm still a "fan" of the local sports teams, but watching a team that is not competitive is not my idea of a fun way to spend a dollar or an afternoon.

[chumdawg]

I think what cinched the deal for me was when I found out God was a Mavericks fan.

[Usually Lurkin]

I was a tepid fan at best throughout the 80s. Went to a couple of games. But I became a real fan in the 90s. I was away at college and followed the boxscores as the mavs competed hard to avoid the worst record in league history. I always thought that would be the better "bad news bears" kind of story. At the end of the movie, the ugliest kids on the block get to stand up and cheer "yeah! we're not the worst!!!". Misfits making good. Since Popeye left, Shawn Bradley might be my favorite. But like someone just said, if any of them leave, they just become someone else I hope loses their last game of the season.

[Mavdog]

Been going to the games since Derek Harper and Dale Ellis were rookies. I love the game, although some games with Buckner and Cleamons really tested that desire.

I made it through the '90s, I can take any player leaving, I'm a mavs fan.

[sike]

Originally posted by: chumdawg
I think what cinched the deal for me was when I found out God was a Mavericks fan.

you buttkiss!

[chumdawg]

Better safe than sorry, Sike. Better safe than sorry.

[Nash13]

i became a fan ever since i bought a Jim Jackson jersey in the mid90s. I took a break from watching ball until the 99-00 season, and now i can't stop watching Dallas.

And i'm a fan of the team not a player. I wouldn't mind if we traded any one player on our team as long as we get equal value. Although, i'm a huge fan and probably biased towards Avery Johnson.

[sike]

For Chum:
Luke 12:5
But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

[G-Man]

I've been backing this team since I moved to Dallas in 1982. I had a $6 half season ticket in the upper deck at Reunion from 84 to 86, when we were competitve with Majic's Lakers, DR J's '76ers and Bird's Celts. In '86, I moved to Chicago, but only went to see MJ 2 or 3 times.In '90, I moved to Atlanta, and you couldn't pay me to watch the Hawks. When I returned to Dallas in 1991, I went right back to buying Mav's tickets. It was a different world. In the 80's, every game was a sellout. By '93, the loudest sound in Reunion was an echo. Plus I had to listen to my friend Dale Hansen tease me that his Cowboys would win more games in a year than my Mav's.

So I love having the team headed back to the top. I paid for these good times by sticking in there through the bad ones. I never lost hope. I want every Mav player to suceed. I love the way Finley's locker room reformed the image of bad boys like Juaan and Nick and Stackhouse. Nellie drove me nuts refusing to use his better defenders like Raja Bell at the ends of games, but he mostly made the right moves, including the retirement. I'm behind Avery and his 'D' 100%.

I know this team will win championships. I just can't wait for the playoffs to see if this is the year.

[JLEEHASMUCHGAME]

I watched the Mavs during the eighties (as a kid); stopped watching for awhile during the nineties; started watching again when we acquired a guy named Finley; pestered fellow dallasites to watch the mavs and that guy named Finley to very little avail; became a fanADDICT while dirk, nash and fin were doing their thing; had tears in my eyes when the Mavs beat the Jazz in that fifth game of their series; and here I am.

[sike]

I am Don Carter!

[JLEEHASMUCHGAME]

ha

[bernardos70]

Originally posted by: sike
Does anyone remember a cartoon called "Freakazoid"...once in that cartoon, the main character asked someone, "So, who do you like it the playoffs?...the other guy mumbled something and then Freakazoid said: "The Mavericks? Yeah Right!"

Just thinking of that Lines still makes me laugh today....the Mavs were so bad that children's cartoons made fun of them....and I was their fan!

Dang, were the Mavs THAT bad?

[Day1MavsFan]

Check my username. That'll tell ya. Though, I guess you could accuse me of just being an Abdul Jeelani fan.

[veryclueless]

hi i am from malaysia so i dont get much nba sometimes only once every 4 months i get to see a game. But one day i saw the mavs game aound 3 years back(i think). I fell in love with the big 3 and every time i played NBA LIVE i choose the dallas mavericks. My admiration for the team continue to grow albeit on limited coverage i tried my best to log on the net for as much information i can grab. Then i met this forum and i got acces to certain mavs game. Yes im a mavs fan because of the big 3 but my favourite player is steve nash, i try to play like him (i failed if you are wondering) ....i hope we meet them in WCF but of course i would like the team to be the champions.

[AnMan21]

I was digging through boxes of my old man's 80s clothes the other day and stumbled across this sweet old jacket. I tried it on, put my hands in the pockets and pulled out two ticket stubs from a Mavs-Lakers game during the 85-86 season. I showed him, and he told me that it was the first professional game he ever took me to - I was 4. I don't remember going at all, but I'd like to think it was the beginning of my love of the Mavericks because I sure can't remember a time when they weren't my team.

[Dirkenstien]

I've been a Mavs fan all my life, and will remain one until the day I die.

Going through those tough times makes the good times oh soo sweet.

And if the team eventually gets back to that point...I'll do it all over again.

[NewMexiMav]

Mavs fan from Day One!

I was 14 years old when my family moved to Dallas in the summer of 1980. I figured I was new to Dallas and so were the Mavs, so I started to follow them with interest. I even remember being excited that they were going to have a 7-foot center that first year, Ralph Drollinger, who turned out not to ever step onto the court. And thus began the Mavs bad luck with big men. Regardless, I followed that expansion season with excitement, despite the frequent drubbings, confident that Carter/Sonju/Sund/Motta would build a strong franchise.

Before moving to Dallas, I grew up in Kansas and my hero was a young, skinny kid who came to Kansas State from Brooklyn (via Panama) and shot his way onto the cover of Sports Illustrated. Of course, I'm talking about Rolando Blackman. When the Mavs drafted him, my lifelong allegiance to the Mavs was sealed! I've been there through thick and thin, and even after career and family moved me away from Dallas, fortunately satellite TV and NBA League Pass have been there to keep me connected.

I'll welcome whoever wants to jump on the Mavs' bandwagon, but the ride to a championship will be the sweetest to those who have been there for the entire journey and have cheered Bill Garnett (ughhh!) just as enthusiatically as Dirk Nowitzki.

[vinylstar]

Originally posted by: Rhylan
Ted Davis on WBAP. 13-69. Listened to every game.

my friend's dad was (and still is i think) the official score keeper for the mavs, so we had season tickets. we went to nearly all the home games that year.