Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Media Day!

The Fish isn't as much of a sunshine pumper as some folks on The Boards make him out to be, and I trust his analysis of what's really going on. On Media Day, all appears well . . . or as well as can be for a team that's been more or less written off (serious, check the power rankings on ESPN).

I'm clinging to the signs of hope. As a fan, what other approach should I take? I've lived without hope or expectation before. This is better.

Things I Like:
- Josh Howard finally acting like a grownup. Thanks in part to the Mavs's PR guys, who made sure the atmosphere stayed cordial, and thanks to J-Ho's sincere apology, I feel much easier in my mind regarding his judgement. A strong preseason and some good regular season games and this entire mess goes back to being yesterday's news. Nobody'd hate another All-Star season, either.

- On the question of how he would handle J-Ho, Coach replied, “I don’t handle people. If I worked in a zoo, helping with the giraffes and the lions and the horses, I’d handle. Here, you work with men.’’ Touche.

- Having a specific plan of action . . . or at least the appearance of one. One of the things I didn't like about last year is the vagueness from some of the leadership, generalities about what was wrong and no real plan on how to fix it -- yes I'm looking at you Mr. Johnson. Say this about Coach Carlisle; for the moment he seems to know what the hell he's doing and he's being concrete about how he's going to do it. After two months of generalities about execution and lack thereof, that's a relief.

- The mental image of Jerry Stackhouse high-fiving Champ. It makes me smile.

Things I'm Not Crazy About
- Mark Cuban badmouthing Avery Johnson. We already know he'd lost the players' allegience. Rehashing it now seems . . . counterproductive. And I don't like the idea that a third of the roster had, either directly or through their representatives, presented Mr. Cuban with get-me-out-of-here ultamaitums. That begs the question of which players, and I don't like where those thoughts go. Further, if the team discord was that bad, how seriously should we take the MBT's (Mavs Brain Trust) assurances that everything's fine now?

- The buzzcut. No, I'm not okay with it, I'm never going to be okay with it. So there. Myah! Grow it back, man! Please!

I can't wait. Seven more days!
-BJ

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