READERS' PICK
The Hardline
BEST DALLAS MAVERICK
Michael Finley, forward
This is almost as big a no-brainer as the Dallas Mavericks themselves. As we've said all along, if Michael Finley--acquired in that Jason Kidd-to-Phoenix trade in 1996--played for a real basketball team, he'd be a superstar by now. As it is, he's stuck playing for Dallas' CBA franchise, a team so terrible the Los Angeles Clippers get excited when they see the Mavs on their schedule, even though the Mavs did beat Chicago, Indiana, and Seattle (twice) last season. And managed to finish 42 games back in the Midwest Division in the process--impressive.
Hell, it might not be so far off to say coach-general manager Don Nelson is the best player on the Mavs' bench--and he hasn't suited up since, what, the Ford administration? Last season, and it pains us to reflect back upon that debacle, Finley led the team in scoring (21.9 points per game), assists (4.9), and steals (1.6). Then again, he was also the only professional basketball player on the floor wearing green and white. Not to knock Erick Strickland--bless him, he tries hard--or Samaki Walker, who might be good, someday, or A.C. Green, who was rewarded this year for showing up to work 978 straight days--with, like, several off-seasons in between.
But without Finley, this pitiful excuse for a basketball team doesn't even win 20 games--four fewer than it won the year before, when Don Nelson blew up the Mavericks as if it was a federal building and told then-coach Jim Cleamons to clean up the mess. The best Dallas Maverick--what a totally worthless title.
READERS' PICK
Michael Finley
BEST SPORTS-TEAM OWNER (OF THE WORLD?)
Tom Hicks, Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers
Perhaps Chancellor Media Corporation's chairman wins this one by default. After all, the only Best-of-Dallas award Jerry Jones is likely to win this year is Best Ability to Cover Up What Really Happened to Everett McIver After Michael Irvin Stabbed Him In The Neck With A Scissors During Training Camp. And he sure ain't getting the nod for Best Hairpiece anytime soon, though he might well get Best Public Relations Move by putting Ticket morning man George Dunham on the payroll as the voice of Texas Stadium's public-address system. (Jerry hits a homer!) We like Jerry well enough, maybe because he talked to us during training camp, which is more than we can say for Mavs owner Ross Perot Jr., who ducks us in the Reunion Arena hallways as though we haven't bathed in months.
Hicks might well be a greedy (sorry--very smart and kind) son of a gun who's taking over the world a hundred radio stations at a time, and we sure don't appreciate the fact that he's determined to turn Dallas radio into rock and roll's graveyard with a bunch of oldies stations.
Still, here's a guy who signed Ed Belfour when he needed a goalie, reupped Mike Modano for relatively bargain-basement prices, then let Stars general manager Bob Gainey go out and make the biggest off-season signing in Dallas sports history by inking St. Louis Blues superstar (and son of a legend) Brett Hull. Hicks wants to win, no matter the price, which is evident in the skyrocketing Stars payroll--despite the fact that the team will keep losing money until it moves into the new arena, or so team management keeps insisting.
Now, the Rangers' situation is a whole different ball of twine: Hicks knows he needs to sign a Randy Johnson--he said that very thing during an interview with the Observer this spring--but that ain't gonna happen, and Todd Stottlemyre ain't no Randy Johnson (or Randy Jackson, for that matter). So he's stuck with a middling team fighting for its playoff life in a division that's barely breathing. And his timing couldn't be worse, with attendance falling well off last year's three million mark. Oh, well. He's going to own every single human being sooner or later, and surely there's one among us who can pitch worth a damn.
BEST SPORTS FAD
Dallas Burn and Major League Soccer
Soccer may be the most popular team sport in America, but try telling that to all the empty seats at the Cotton Bowl when Dallas' entry in the Major League Soccer league, the Burn, takes the field. The founders of the MLS forgot something important: Just like you shouldn't go shopping when you're hungry, you shouldn't start a professional soccer league when American interest in the game has been artificially boosted by hosting the World Cup. If it lasts two more years, we'll be surprised.
