A little bug

Once upon time, I would get worked up by all the peripheral bullshit that comes with watching and enjoying professional sports.

I hated the network announcers that seemed to perpetually downplay my favorite team and praise the opponent. I hated when opponents would get injured by a seemingly innocuous play. I hated when the opponent would mock or ridicule my favorite player. I hated when the referees were apparently fixing the game and making certain decisions that proved favorable for the opponent and not my team. I hated pundits that seemingly piled on my favorite team and could not withhold the praise for another.

Here's the rub: I was 15. The problem is that all you assholes are 40 years old and some of you are "journalists" with a certain obligation to provide insight and opinion about the actual game and not the bullshit that surrounds it. I'll give you a pass for not being impartial. Just give me something good.

Over the past month, Dallas Mavericks fans have bitched about the officiating, opponents hotdogging, opponents feigning injury, opponents being dirty, certain players getting calls and others not.

Again, I struggled with the same thing. Unfortunately, I was a dumb kid that didn't know any better.

I dare anyone to go and rewatch the 2006 NBA Finals. For every suspect call by an official, count all of the mistakes by the Mavericks. I daresay its a 3:1 ratio of bad plays to bad calls. The officials didn't steal that series for Miami, the Mavericks gave it to them.

Mavericks Nation -- ahem, the same crowd that for 41 games would stroll into the American Airlines Center in the middle of the second period and stay on their phones for the other period before leaving early to hit a bar -- was all a-titter over video of Lebron James and Dwayne Wade walking into the arena with their shirts over their faces, coughing, sneezing and pretending they were sick.

Clearly, this was comment on Dirk Nowitzki's game 4 when he played with the sniffles and a high temperature.

First of all, let's face it, we overblew Nowitzki's illness. It wasn't Michael Jordan's flu game. The flu knocks you the fuck out. Temperature and the sniffles (I believe Dirk called it the sniffles in the post-game interview) do not constitute the flu or any serious illness.

Does a temperature suck and could it affect a game? Sure. However, I saw Nowitzki with that temperature dash past Udonis Haslem for that clinching lay up and he didn't seem that weak to me.

We bitch when Dwayne Wade feigns a hurt hip and yet ignore our own innate ability to overrate our own guy's "illness." We're all cut from the same cloth: As assholes.

Two, Dwayne and Lebron know Dirk. They probably see each other relatively often. They're all three superstars and those two have the utmost regard for Nowitzki. Chances are, at some point, on the court they talked to Nowitzki and his "illness" and they all probably laughed about it.

What we watched and got all pissy about wasn't a "diss" as much as it was an inside joke that none of us were in on. It was dumb to get so angry.

The truth is, what does any of this matter. It doesn't. Still, everyone gets their feathers ruffled and gets so angry at these athletes. Meanwhile, Nowitzki and Co. could give a shit about officials, being disrespected or what the opponent is doing.

The Mavericks haven't lost sight of what is important. The fans and media have. It's about winning. It's about hoisting that trophy at midcourt on Sunday or Tuesday. It's about the ring.

Wade keeping his hand in the cookie jar too long or the "coughing" fit will mean nothing if Nowitzki and Co. finish this out. If they don't, fans will have nothing to bitch and moan about other than their own team.