Uh…Mark?

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has picked up a nice piece about Mark Cuban and Shaq–the “oddball couple,” ugh–written for the Associated Press by my old pal Jaime Aron. But I warn you: It contains the worst picture ever taken of the Cubes. And I think scout Reggie Johnson agrees, from…

Mavs in Seven?

Dwyane Wade looks really neat in NBA Live 06. Too bad even the videogame version’s gonna get spanked. Screw Vegas. Put your money on the $7-plus billion per annum videogame industry. EA Sports, publishers of NBA LIVE 06, ran a videogame simulation of the NBA Finals and concluded that Dallas…

Finally, The Finals

Us sports nuts have been waiting since Saturday for the Dallas Mavericks-Miami Heat NBA Finals to start. Devoted Mavs fans have been waiting 26 years, actually. But for the rest of you Dallasites just now trendily hopping aboard the bandwagon (Hi, honey!), here’s a neophyte primer to this really important…

Game 1’s Tonight. Uh, Don’t Forget.

But seriously, don’t these guys scare you just a little bit? Abu Musab al-Zarqawi no longer needs his morning Mavs-Heat round-up, and it sure looks like he’s gonna miss tonight’s first game of the NBA Finals, but what say the rest of us get down to it? Let’s go international…

Chumps to Champs

Screw David Hasselhoff. Where’s Zelda Rubinstein? Rather than the former Baywatch crooner turned Mavericks coattailer, Dallas should trumpet its long-awaited arrival at the NBA Finals with Zelda, who played creepy clairvoyant Tangina Barrons in Poltergeist. As she did dramatically in declaring the departure of ghosts from a haunted house in…

And You Thought Gas Prices Were Out of Control

As you can probably tell by now, I loves me some Mavs. I’m a teenager who attended their first game at Reunion Arena back in 1980, an adult who made a decent living chronicling their every move in the newspaper and a parent whose son named the family dog “Maverick.”…

Sports News You Can Use or Peruse or, Even, Abuse

In our ramp-up to the Mavs-Heat NBA Finals, which tips off tomorrow night, we continue our wrap-up of the national media coverage of the series. Let’s begin all the way up in Washington state, where Seattle Times writer Percy Allen brands this a most watchable series–and not only that, but…

Gossage a Ranger! Well, Different One.

My old baseball-card-tradin’ pal Jamey Newberg, author of the beloved and essential Newberg Report, passes along the following missive regarding the Texas Rangers’ draft-day doings. Yeah, I know–who knew the MLB was having its draft today? Well, Jamey did, which is why Unfair Park allows him free access to the…

The Texas Strangers

Don’t look now–no, really, don’t look, you might miss the Mavs in the NBA Finals–but your baseball team is somehow in first place into June. I say somehow because, considering the moves that have backfired, what the Texas Rangers are accomplishing would make David Blaine do a double-take. Consider: General…

Havin’ a Ball with the Mavs & Heat

Every morning, till the end of the NBA Finals, Unfair Park will serve up with yer breakfast a round-up of what the outta-town papers have to say about the Dallas-Miami match-up in the NBA Finals. We begin today with what’s turning out to be a golden-oldie: the name game. USA…

Diesel Does Dallas

One of these guys will not be playing in the NBA Finals beginning Thursday. That is so awesome. The good news: After 26 long years your Dallas Mavericks are in the NBA Finals. The bad news: Shaquille O’Neal is coming to town. Whether it’s been dunking on Shawn Bradley, mocking…

Miami Hot Under the Collar

I couldn’t get to bed Saturday night or Sunday morning; I was still listening to the Dallas Mavericks’ post-game show on KTCK-AM (1310, The Ticket) at 2 in the a.m. and briefly considered going out to Love Field, before realizing, yeah, that would be too…ah…yeah. Anway, that was easily the…

Better Late Than Never?

Dallas’ Only Daily has done it again. No, not break the news. More like ignore the news when it gets beat on a story, then gently, quietly let it slip out months later. Latest example: If you read your friendly Dallas Observer (and of course you do), you got the…

Worst to First

Dirk Nowitzki rebounded from his worst game of the season to the best playoff performance in Dallas Mavericks history. In case you were too anxious about UTA’s chances of upsetting Texas in the NCAA baseball playoffs or about Terrell Owens’ debut as a Dallas Cowboy in this weekend’s mini-camp, the…

The Son and the Suns

Tractor traded: Do you remember Robert Traylor? He’s the backbone of the Dallas Mavericks. No, seriously. Before holding onto our chairs and grabbing our throats during tonight’s Apocalyptic Game 5 of the Mavs-Suns NBA Western Conference Finals at the American Airlines Center, let’s take a second to give credit where…

Proud Papa

Do it for Don. And I don’t mean Nelson. Since he practically invented smallball and had an appreciation of Steve Nash way before the MVPs, it wouldn’t be shocking if, deep down, part of former Dallas Mavericks coach Don Nelson is rooting for the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Western…

Rocket Landing

Sports Illustrated They don’t call him The Rocket for nothing. Those hoping the Texas Rangers’ World Series push would be led by Roger Clemens, get a clue. Baseball’s worst-kept secret became official this morning when the seven-time Cy Young Award-winner signed a one-year, $22 million contract with the hated Houston…

The Eagle Has Landed

Roger Staubach thinks Matt Nordgren–the Bishop Lynch stud who went to the University of Texas and found himself killin’ time behind Chris Simms and Vince Young–still has a shot at being an NFL quarterback. (Nordgren’s now with the Philadelphia Eagles, who start rookie mini-camps this week.) Staubach might be the…

No, I Will Not Wear That

Not to dog on Quick twice in one day, but we’ve a bone to pick with their “Weather” columnist—a blue-green-and-silver bone, with the word “Mavericks” inscribed upon it. See, the column not only offers weather predictions, but suggestions for weather-appropriate attire. For today (and tomorrow, Sunday and Monday), “Weather” shamefully…

SMU Wins!

Just wanted to see what it felt like to type those two words together: SMU wins. In the immortal words of Staind, it’s been awhile. Actually, the Ponies’ athletic department has won something. Something called the American Football Coaches Association’s 2006 Academic Achievement Award. The Mustangs compiled an abysmal 11-35…

The Fish is Off the Hook

You may remember a profile we ran on FC Dallas striker Carlos Ruiz last month. When Ruiz started playing Major League Soccer in 2002, he scored four goals in his first two games and went on to win the league scoring title and the championship. In the years since, however,…

Stalking Stevie

I went to the American Airlines Center last night, and, like you, I want to pull Steve Nash’s hair out. Little bastard did it to his old team again, scoring 10 straight points in the blink of an eye down the stretch to help his Phoenix Suns rally over Dallas…