league could care less if the Spurs ever made it to the Finals again"

[ducks]

RANDY GALLOWAY
In My Opinion

Star-Telegram
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/14899744.htm


Memos to myself after two months of local NBA playoff entertainment:

Don't ever say again that Cowboys' market dominance will never be seriously challenged.

Using every yardstick, including something as simple as on-the-street reaction, Mavs Mania equaled or surpassed anything Cowboy since the Super Bowl runs of the early and mid-'90s.

Why am I surprised? The Cowboys haven't won a playoff game in 10 years. The Cowboys have been to the playoffs only four times in the last decade.

But still. It's the Cowboys. So I was surprised. Pleasantly so.

Biggest local loser in the Mavs going to the Finals?

Probably the Rangers.

June and July are usually the "money months" in Arlington, and while there have been only 10 home games this month, attendance has suffered.

The same goes for an attractive homestand in late May that was also in the path of the Mavs' run.

Overall, the Rangers have played half their home games, and attendance is a disappointing 11 percent below a year ago.

And this with a team hanging around first place in the division.

You can almost directly trace that gate drop to the last 20 home games going up against the Mavericks' postseason.

Then again, it was the Rangers who took out full-page ads in both local papers Friday, congratulating the Mavericks.

A lot of class, right there.

Based on my e-mail overload, the most amusing aspect of the Mavs' collapse in the Finals was the joy of Spurs' fandom.

Fueled by all the local whining over officiating, Santone faithful took a "what goes around, comes around" rebuttal.

Something about the Mavericks wouldn't even have been in the Finals if the refs hadn't jacked the Spurs in the second round.

Which brings me to Mark Cuban's defense of himself in strongly disagreeing with the notion that his antics turned the refs and the league against his team.

"If that were true," Cuban asked, "then how did we beat the Spurs?"

Because, Mark, against the Spurs, wasn't Dirk given Dwyane Wade-like treatment? Didn't Dirk parade to the foul line on a regular basis in that series?

Is it coincidence (and I'm NOT whining here, just answering Cuban) that Dirk didn't get the same kind of calls against the Heat?

And when he didn't, what did Dirk do? He stopped driving to the hole and settled for jump shots.

Straight from the horse's mouth (I'm just not telling you which horse):

"The league couldn't care less if the Spurs got back to the Finals. They've got three les, but they don't bring the TV numbers. Same way with Phoenix.

"Look at our local TV numbers. Huge. Best in the country by far. The league loved it that we made the Finals. We delivered the TV audience, big time.

"But us winning it all became another story with the league.

"You tell me why the refs suddenly changed the way they had called the games throughout the playoffs, except for Wade."

I'd say because of Cuban, without a doubt.

Regardless, that statement from the horse's mouth backs up the paranoia in San Antonio and adds to the local paranoia.

No other professional sport comes close to the NBA on delivering constant conspiracy theories.

I forgot when the Cowboys open training camp, and I'm in no mood to look up the date at the moment.

But now that Jerry Jones is officially in charge of football decisions at Valley Ranch, maybe this team can regain some luster.

Bill Parcells has failed, which I guess is why Big Bill announced six weeks ago that he's no longer in charge.

Football decisions are now "a collective process," Bill told us.

No matter what has come out of Mark Cuban's mouth lately, Parcells' meek surrender is still the most amazing sports statement of the year.

Don't ever say again, "The Rangers will always hit home runs at the shooting gallery in Arlington."

Forty-one home games down, 41 to go. The home team has 45 home runs. Last year, the Rangers hit 153 in Arlington. A stunning decline. Even worse, some surprisingly good pitching thus far has been wasted because of the power outage.

Plus, the home record is still under .500.

More stunning: Mark Teixeira hit three homers in April, three in May, and when the last homestand wrapped up on Thursday, he had zero in June.

Where would the Rangers be without Gary Matthews Jr.? OK, I was wrong. He can play and produce every day.

A final word to Mark Cuban:

If you think it's only a media plot, local and national, in telling you to "shut up," then it means you haven't done your homework.

Mark, I thought you always did your homework.

[greywheel]

Blah. Randy is a lot better radio 'personality' then he is a writer. Let me try and shed some light on some of the things that I think motivated this article. I think Randy misses covering baseball. I know Randy predicted high Maverick ratings for the local area. While I don't think they got as high as he predicted, he'll still pat himself on the back for it. I also think part of this article is the result of his radio interview with Cuban. Two men who want the last word don't always make for good conversation. But when one of those men, writes for the newspaper, he'll find a way to get the last word. I am tired of Cuban so I am not going to check his blog, which he uses to do the same thing.

[Obstructed_View]

In other news, sky believed to be blue.

At leat the article means every time the Spurs win a le, they do it on their own merit. That's good enough for me.