Tag Archives: Dallas Mavericks

Sports news, State news

Sing it out loudly?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick got his underwear tied up in knots when Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban announced he wouldn’t allow the playing of the national anthem before NBA games at the American Airlines Center.

Then the NBA intervened and declared that, oh yes you will, Mr. Cuban, play the anthem, because it’s league policy that we hear “The Star Spangled Banner” before pro basketball games.

Patrick, though, was so angry he announced he would push for “The Star Spangled Banner Protection Act” in the Texas Senate, over which he presides.

The act is quite fascinating. The Texas Tribune reports about the bill: It hasn’t been filed yet, but it would require the playing of the anthem at all events that receive public funding. Presumably, that would include sessions of the House and Senate, which start with prayers, and pledges to the U.S. and Texas flags, but no anthem.

Analysis: A Star-Spangled culture war in Texas | The Texas Tribune

Let’s play this out. Do we play the anthem before we commence, oh, city council or school board meetings, or before counties’ commissioners courts meeting? They’re all open to the public. They receive public money, too.

I have the pleasure of attending Farmersville City Council and school board of trustees meetings as a freelance reporter for the Farmersville Times. I do not believe we are going to sing the anthem before the governing bodies start their meetings.

This, I submit, is a typical example of government overreaction that offers a so-called solution to an alleged problem.

Sports news, State news

Mavs owner agrees to play the National Anthem

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Stop the presses!

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has backed away from his plan to forgo the playing the “Star Spangled Banner” at Mavericks home games at the American Airlines Center.

Huh? Hey, it’s OK with me. So, too, was his prior decision to skip playing the National Anthem.

But now the NBA has restated its pro basketball league policy that involves playing the Anthem. As The Associated Press reported:

The league’s initial reaction to Cuban’s decision was to say teams were free to conduct pregame activities as they wished with the unusual circumstances created by the coronavirus pandemic. Most teams don’t have fans at home games.

But the NBA abruptly reversed course with Cuban’s decision reverberating around the country, including a question put to White House press secretary Jen Psaki during her daily briefing. Athlete protests of social and racial injustice during the “The Star-Spangled Banner” became a flashpoint between then-President Donald Trump and various leagues during his administration.

“With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in keeping with longstanding league policy,” the league said.

Mavs’ Cuban relents on anthem after NBA reiterates policy (msn.com)

Are we clear on that? My hope now is that Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, whose shorts got all twisted up because of Cuban’s decision to skip the Anthem, can concentrate now on legitimate legislative business, rather than pushing the Texas Senate — over which he presides — to pass a Star Spangled Banner bill that makes playing the Anthem mandatory at all sporting events in Texas.

Sports news, State news

Patrick strikes back at Mavs owner

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Maybe I should have seen this coming.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has declared a form of political “war” against Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. You need to know why. He is angry that Cuban no longer allows the National Anthem to be played before NBA games at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

Patrick won’t have it. He wants to make playing the Anthem mandatory at all sporting events.

Ayyye!

I’m tellin’ ya, the measures some folks take to insert government into matters where it really doesn’t belong. This appears to be one of those matters.

“It is hard to believe this could happen in Texas, but Mark Cuban’s actions of yesterday made it clear that we must specify that in Texas we play the national anthem before all major events,” Patrick said in a statement. “In this time when so many things divide us, sports are one thing that bring us together — right, left, black, white and brown. This legislation already enjoys broad support. I am certain it will pass, and the Star Spangled Banner will not be threatened in the Lone Star State again.”

Dan Patrick introduces “Star Spangled Banner Act” after Mavericks stopped playing national anthem | The Texas Tribune

I’ve already stated my tepid view on this matter. It remains so.

Cuban doesn’t want the Mavs to be inserted into political statements, such as when players “take a knee” during the Anthem to protest police brutality chiefly against African-American citizens. Given that the NBA comprises an overwhelmingly African-American roster of athletes, this form of peaceful protest has become standard among players.

Now we have the Legislature getting involved?

Give me a break. Please.

Patrick tweeted this: “Sell the franchise & some Texas Patriots will buy it. We ARE the land of free & the home of the brave.”

The land “of free”? Yes, we are. We are free to run our businesses as we see fit. Which is what Mark Cuban is doing. He isn’t making a choice I would make, but he’s the owner of the team. The lieutenant governor ought to butt out.

local news, Sports news

This guy is really and truly an iconic figure

I don’t follow men’s professional basketball all that closely these days. Sure, I know who are the game’s top stars: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry.

Oh, yeah! Dirk Nowitzki, too!

Well, I had to move to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex to understand fully how much this guy Nowitzki means to diehard fans of the Dallas Mavericks.

Wow! This big fella got quite a send-off as he retired from the National Basketball Association.

I had little clue as to what he means to this community.

The Dallas Morning News published a 14-page special section on April 14. We came home from a two-week trip to points south and east to find that edition of the paper on our driveway. The section contained stories about how he perfected his fade-away jump shot; it had testimonials from his former coaches and from former rivals; about how he makes an impact on D/FW kids.

NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley calls Nowitzki “the nicest man ever.”

There even was a two-page spread showing a remarkable graphic of every shot he took and made during his more than two decades as a pro basketball player.

Incredible! Nowitzki is thought of as one of the game’s truly good guys. He is devoted to his wife and young children. He spends time visiting seriously ill people in hospitals and he does it all under cover.

He played 21 seasons for the Dallas Mavericks. He came to Big D from Germany, the nation of his birth and where he grew up. You listen to him these days and you detect barely a German accent. He is going to stay in Dallas in his retirement years.

He finished as the No. 6 scorer in NBA history, passing Wilt Chamberlain to reach that ranking. He finished behind legendary figures, too: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

I watched the Mavericks over the years from some distance. Sure I knew that Nowitzki was a great athlete. I knew he could shoot well for a guy who stood 7 feet tall.

I just didn’t appreciate the iconic status he attained during the course of 21 seasons playing basketball.

Holy cow, man!

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Cuban speaks the truth … bluntly

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Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks pro basketball team, can be labeled many ways.

He is brash, loud, at times brusque, occasionally inarticulate.

He is not a racist.

Thus, he is getting hammered unfairly over some remarks he made recently in the wake of the Donald Sterling brouhaha over whether Sterling uttered racist remarks in that recorded phone conversation with his gold-digging girlfriend/aide/pal V. Stiviano. Sterling did show his racist colors and the Los Angeles Clippers owner has been banned from pro basketball for the rest of his life.

Cuban popped off this week about what he’d do if he saw a young African-American male wearing a hoodie and droopy pants. He said he’d walk to other side of the street. Cuban also said he’d precisely the same thing if he saw a tattoo-marked, white kid with a shaved head and pierced jewelry stuck in his ears, nose, lips and eyebrows.

http://www.realclearsports.com/2014/05/23/cuban039s_views_not_scary_censorship_is_120250.html

Does any of that make Cuban a racist? No.

I’m not the first to acknowledge this in print — although the thought occurred to me the moment I heard about the controversy over Cuban’s remarks — but the Rev. Jesse Jackson said virtually the same thing some years ago.

I don’t need to stipulate, but I will anyway, that Rev. Jackson is African-American and he was talking about the discomfort he feels when he encounters young black men on the street. Jackson said he doesn’t feel as safe as he does when he encounters young white men. No one in their right mind accused Jackson of being a racist then.

Mark Cuban deserves the same presumption now.

He was speaking a blunt truth about human beings. “While we all have our prejudices and bigotries, we have to learn that it’s an issue that we have to control … not just kick the problem down the road,” Cuban said.

Mark Cuban is not in the same league as Donald Sterling as it relates to racism.