Don't Count Your Eggs

If there is one thing in sports that drives me insane, it’s band wagon fans. Maybe it’s because I was raised by a man who stuck by his team, win or lose (not always happily), but if you are going to call yourself a fan, I think you need to stay loyal to “your team” no matter what.

This offseason has tested the loyalty of a lot of Dallas Mavericks fans. After an undeniably painful 2011-2012 season, where the Mavs were barely eligible for the playoffs and then oh so quickly eliminated in the first round, many of the “die hard” fans from the previous year peaced out. However, a lot stuck around with the anticipation of a rebuilding 2012 offseason. Then came the free agency fiasco of 2012.

When they didn’t sign Deron Williams at the beginning of the NBA’s free agency period, a few fans fell off the bandwagon. Then when the team let go two of their title-team stars, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry, we lost a few more followers. After former Maverick Steve Nash signed with the Lakers and Dwight Howard continued to drag his deciding feet, most Mavericks fans threw in the towel. Sports radio air time was filled with panic and anger toward our former title winning team.

But then came a light at the end of the tunnel when the Mavericks brought on Chris Kaman, O.J. Mayo and a much needed point guard, Darren Collison. Cleaning up their team even further, the Mavericks let Brendan “butterfingers” Haywood go and are contemplating re-signing guard Delonte West. Slowly the fans that were so skeptical two weeks ago are coming back around. Sure, they most likely won’t compete with teams like the Lakers, the Heat, the Thunder and probably even the Clippers this year, but the Mavericks do still have veterans like Dirk, Marion and Vince Carter. The wisdom that led this team to their single NBA championship is still there, they’ve just added some more athleticism with the younger additions.

Will our Mavericks win their second NBA title this year? Probably not. But we’ve all seen the movie Hoosiers… you just never know. So I have said it once and I’ll say it again, don’t count your eggs before they hatch.