Jun 28 2006
Thirty-Something Heat
This post is at least a week late, but it’s tough for me to keep the NBA, or MLB for that matter, on the radar for very long. Their protracted regular-seasons aren’t worth watching, and I never really care until the playoffs. When it comes to the NBA Championship, I only watch because there is no other sports programming available of any import. Sorry hockey fans — Edmonton vs. Carolina on the Outdoor Life Network didn’t pique my interest. So, given the fact that I’m always at least a week behind on NBA news (when’s the draft?), I figured I should post my thoughts on the champions at least a week late.
I spent nearly all of the series pulling for the Mavericks. Though I generally despise most things Texas, I like Avery a lot, love Dirk, and really enjoy their almost college-like focus on defense, shooting and running. But when it was all over and the Heat had won, I surprisingly found myself happy for them. Why? Because they’re “old” like me. Shaq, Antoine, Alonzo and Gary are all considered “old.” They’re in their thirties, which for modern athletes, means ancient. The same holds true in Hollywood. Whereas athletes’ knees and shoulders actually go bad as they age, the closer to 40 you get in L.A., the more out-of-touch you are in the eyes of the latest, greatest, brand-spankin’-newest, 20-something Harvard MBA-type hired to be a studio exec. Four years at Morgan Stanley or Earnst & Young absolutely gave them all the training they would ever need to nurture and develop stories for the big screen. But I digress….
As the confetti fell, I was pleased to see Shaq get one-up on Kobe the Destroyer, despite the fact that he couldn’t hit open ocean with a beach ball in the middle of the South Pacific. Coach Riley, Antoine Walker and Derek Anderson all went to Kentucky. Four other Heat players are from the SEC. Posey went to Xavier and my wife is a Musketeer. Dwayne Wade is as magnificent and humble a basketball player as we’ve seen in many years. A bunch of “old” men have some new hardware to flaunt to the young bucks around the league. And the best part is, thanks to several bad calls and no calls in favor of the Heat, those proud Texans now know what it feels like to be Al Gore and get robbed in Florida. So in the end, I guess it all worked out for the best.
For the record, being a Texan doesn\’t automatically make you a supporter of our esteemed President. There was a time when Texas was a blue state.
It was wrong of me not two mention that two of our best friends are Texans, and that they have a wonderful family whom we love. BUT, beyond our esteemed president, there is still the matter of the Cowboys. “America’s Team.” Game of the week every week during the 70′s and a lot of the 80′s no matter who they were playing. And then there’s just the general attitude that everything is better there. Everything’s bigger there. “And by God we might as well be our own country — we were for a while anyway.” I dunno, there are many good things that have come out of Texas, but the place just isn’t for me.