Basketball has arrived!!

Basketball season is here! In San Antonio lots of people get super excited to cheer our Spurs on! They didn't do so well against New Orleans. We lost by 7 points. A loss hurts no matter what.. but when the loss is by single digit points it seems more painful. I could NEVER, EVER do what they do physically, which is why I don't bash them but I can imagine they were not so happy to lose by such a small margin. And at halftime you could see Pop was none to thrilled with their progress as well.

Now Dallas Mavericks is a bad word here in S.A. I know I know. Everyone HATES Mark Cuban and to be honest... I don't really blame him, but it's his antics and childish behavior that makes watching him interesting. I love, love, love when the Mavericks go up against the Spurs because there is always some exchange of words or challenges between him and Pop. As much as I love the Spurs, whether they are winning or not, I must admit I am also VERY fond of the Mavericks.... Why you may ask? Because of this man right here... Dirk Nowitzki...

Let me in on our story. Yes, "our" as in mine and Dirk's.... Papa Bear and I were leaving Dallas and I needed to go potty of course. We passed on exit and he promised to stop at the next. We pulled in to the station and this beautiful huge BMW pulls up beside us. I unbuckle, get my stuff together and open my door to go in. Well the driver of the BMW opens his too and sprints up to the door to open it for me. I turned to say "Thank you" and had to look up, up, up... Yes my friends it was none other than the SUPER BEAUTIFUL Dirk Nowitzki, all 7 ft of him. And from that moment on I have had a fondness for Dirk. He didn't have to be such a gentleman and it was a small gesture but he made the effort and those small gestures are almost lost in this crazy, busy and often rude world.

This isn't my only encounter with one of the players. Mike Brown used to be an assistant coach for the Spurs. His boys were a couple of years older than Sierra but they went to the same school. One morning Papa Bear was being less than stellar and wouldn't take CC to school, even though it was raining and I was running late to work. So here I am dressed and in heels walking her in to the school when I go and fall down on the sidewalk. Mike Brown was behind me, picked me up and asked me if I was ok. Horrified was more the word. I told him yes and thanked him. Again, a wonderful gentlemanly gesture of manners that has made me follow his career even know as he is with the Cleveland Caveliers.

Former Spur Bruce Bowen shops at my Costco. Once I saw him buying huge cases of plastic plates and cups and napkins. It was right before the playoff last year. Everyone was nice to him, no one bothered him for an autograph and he drives a regular truck. Nice, nice man! His wife also owns a fabulous spa salon not too far from my house.

Here is Tim Duncan and Antonio Daniels. I remember one evening I was tired and Papa Bear wanted me to go to the gas station for lotto tickets before it got too late. I didn't feel like it. I just wanted to take off my work clothes and relax. I ended up going anyway. What pulled up beside me? A yellow Ferrari... and who was behind the wheel? Antonio Daniels! He was with a friend and purchased milk and bread. He came over to the car and autographed my "Selena" cd. It was all I had with me. He was very kind and respectful! I have liked him ever since.

Fabricio Oberto was once with the Spurs. He, like Ginobili, is from Argentina. Now I haven't met him personally but I have seen him on numerous occasions at this Italian restaurant at La Cantera that all the Spurs seem to generate to. Papa Bear has fixed his wife's jewelry on a few occasions and made a mother's day charm for him. It was kinda cool to see him waiting at the restaurant for Emil to bring his jewelry to the store.

Again, I have never met Manu Ginobili, almost wrecked into his red Ferrari once. Or shall I say he almost wrecked into me. He was pulling out of CVS pretty fast. But we ofter see him at La Cantera in his red sports car jamming out to music.

I could really care less about one of this half but oh well. We see Tony Parker quite often, well at least once a month driving his Bentley from Eva Longoria's parents house. They live down the street from us in a beautiful community. I haven't seen her but a few times when I've stopped at my Target the cashier will tell me Eva was just here. She bought pillows. Ok... I really don't care. I just don't like her that much. She could be super nice and charitable but I'm just not that fond of her. I think what made me not like her too much was when the Spurs won the championship and she was on camera with Tony singing "We are the Champions" in French. Then it's her story about how they met, she has said that she was asked if she and her father wanted to go meet the players after a game and she said "yes", then she said her friend who is a sportscaster here asked her if there was one player she wanted to meet and she said "Tony." I believe that one. THEN... for me the icing on the cake was when she changed her name to Eva Longoria-Parker. She said she didn't like adding and hyphenating Tony's name because it made her feel old. Well, I think she had to make that decision to change her last name. If she didn't like it, why did she do it?

Well, that's about it. The Mavericks play the Clipper tonight and the Spurs play.... ummm.. I need to find out. But either way that is what I will be watching tonight. Emil knows that he has to watch TV in one of the girls rooms when basketball is on, or at least when the Mavericks are on. Boxing is really the only sport we watch together besides Spurs games.

Do you like sports? What is your favorite team/sport/player?