Fair-weather fans

10-0 – Franchise record for starting for most wins to begin a season. Is it the Stars? Nope. The Cowboys? Definitely not. Do we even have a baseball team?

Now, the fact that the Mavericks have started so well may not shock those of you in your first or second years, maybe even third, of living in Dallas, but to someone who has been here through all levels of school, this is absolutely ridiculous. Five years ago half of Dallas didn’t even know the Mavericks existed. Now they are the toast of the town.

A few years ago, about seven of my friends and I went down to Reunion Arena to try go watch the Mavs play the Knicks, which was a decent team at the time. We walked straight up to the box office, got seven seats in a row, went inside and saw that we probably could have gotten a whole section if need be.

Three days ago, I tried to get 15 tickets – not in a row, just hoping they were in the same section and we might be able to switch around – for the game against the Bulls on Nov. 30. This was two and a half weeks away, against one of the worst teams in the league. For 15 tickets, the seats would have been spread out through four different upper deck sections. I never thought I would see the day again, after 1987, that Mavs tickets were actually hard to get.

This seems to be the sports ethos of our lovely Dallas. The Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox, who haven’t won a championship since 1906 and 1918, respectively, are two of the most well known and well attended franchises in pro sports. Even the Sacramento Kings could sell out their arena on a regular basis when they were horrible back in Mitch Richmond’s heyday. But not here; not in Dallas.

In 1994 the Stars were the new team in town, but they weren’t very good. By 1995, the novelty had worn off, they were a mediocre team, seats were easy to come by and no one really seemed interested in learning anything about hockey. But once they started making runs at the Stanley Cup, all these “fans” came out of the woodwork, and suddenly everyone’s favorite sport was hockey.

The same thing with the Rangers – when they were winning division titles, everyone was going to baseball games. Now … well, yeah. They suck, and no one cares. Did anyone like the Cowboys – America’s Team, for Christ’s sake – in 1989 or 1990? No. Is their popularity dwindling now? Yes. I hate fair-weather fans.

I guess what I’m saying is that Steve Nash, Michael Finley and Dirk Nowitzki had better enjoy this while they can, because as soon as something goes wrong, Dallas “fans” are out of there.

Now, I understand the Cubs and Red Sox are special franchises, and that not every franchise has this kind of grasp on people. But every one of the franchises of the four major sports in this city has won a division title since 1996. It’s not like it’s been 20 years since they’ve had success. It’s not like they are SMU’s football program, which got shut down for 4 years and hasn’t recovered. The Rangers won a division title in 1998, and now they are probably the least popular team in town. The Cowboys are having trouble selling out now that Emmitt has the record, and they are probably the marquee franchise, along with the Green Bay Packers, in all of football. Everyone in the whole world knows who the Cowboys are. I know ticket prices are high, and that that is part of the problem. But there seems to be apathy all around this town when a team doesn’t win for even one year.

Don’t be a fair-weather fan. In 10 years, you’d all better still like the Mavericks when they are bad again. Otherwise you’re just perpetuating this cycle of Dallas, the city of fair-weather fans.