Weeee are the Champions, my Fri-ends!!

I have never been more proud of eleven men that I have never met in my life!  My Dallas Mavericks are the 2011 NBA Champions!  Some people find it funny that I am a Mavs fan, and really I find it odd myself.  I have never been one to follow sports, in any form, but these guys, they just get my heart to pumping and I become one of those raging, foaming-at-the-mouth sports fans that I have always despised for most of my life.

Four years ago, my friend BAG, came to town after she had been living in the Dallas area for several years.  Which wasn't that strange of an occurrence, as her parents still live in the area, but it is always a happy occasion for me.  Anyway, she came down and was visiting me at my house and suggested we switch it over to the NBA finals because she was in lurve with Dirk.  Eew!  I say, I don't want to watch sports.  Gross!  But we did, and from that moment on, I was hooked.  We were facing the Miami Heat and we didn't do all that well, as some of you will remember, but I knew that these guys were MY team. 

Underdogs, maybe.  Honest, hard-working, home-spun, team-oriented (could I come up with any more hyphenated phrases?) guys that give credit where it is due and don't try to hog all the glory when they don't deserve it.  When they suck, they admit it, and there have been PLENTY of times when they have sucked, and they always welcome room for improvement.  I respect them for the amount of sportsmanship that the exude, and strive to be like that whenever I am given the opportunity.

My involvement in Roller Derby has probably fueled my Mavericks fire.  That spirit of competition that I had not yet tapped making me feel for them as athletes and not just as a spectator.  I am in LOVE with this!  I never knew I had it in me.  But I am proud! to announce, I am a basketball and more specifically MAVS fan!  And plan to stay that way until I die.

And being from West Texas, this is some feat.  This is Football Country.  The very birthplace of Friday Night Lights.  Amid this staunchness and adherence to code, I have chosen the underdogs of an underdog sport to be my heroes. I will get my Mavs tattoo and Roller Betties tattoo on the same arm, as they have impacted my life in equal amounts.  Mavs and Betties Forever!