Yes, this is real, and not the Matrix…despite how it feels.
The RoundUp is still in shambles. You may have noticed fewer posts of this variety since…the trade. Part of that is my well-chronicled depression, but it’s also the dearth of quality Dallas Mavericks content on YouTube. Turns out – and hold onto something, this may shock you – when you trade the best talent in franchise history, the YouTube well runs a bit dry. Yet we are here, bringing you the sights and sounds and YouTube channel offerings which manifested in the 48 hours following the return game. Before diving into the videos featured below, a quick word about the unprecedented atmosphere on Wednesday night.
Mark Cuban hanging his head as the chants of “Fire Nico” rained down would lead one to think this visceral moment from the throng of Mavericks fans was disrespectful to the players in his eyes. It was not. It showed loyalty to the team and players.
A player’s role in the equation is to give their best. A fan’s role is not to give their money, though they do. It isn’t to blindly cheer, though some will. Rooting for clothes – as Seinfeld put it. A loyal fanbase’s role is to be authentic in their response to the relationship they cultivate with the team and its notable players.
The fans did their job and conveyed the right messages. They supported Luka with love and loyalty – and they unified in righteous indignation aimed at the architect of an idea so bad – Nico Harrison should have to star in a reprisal of this SNL skit for Bad Idea Jeans.
This sort of pressure might tip the scales for Patrick Dumont to grasp the depths of the blunder and feel the need to short-circuit the final stages of the Harrison era before it careens into the ditch. One can only hope. The Mavericks faithful – most of them too young to remember the basketball wilderness – are bracing for the nuclear winter to come. They have every right to be pissed and pour that anger – not onto the court – but into that tunnel where the smallest man in sports was hiding. Fire Nico, indeed.