Drew Gooden’s Beard

“Jason Kidd is my name, and basketball is my game…”

“Dallas killed the president, and now they need more pepsodent…”

I attended the first home game of the Dallas Mavericks Jason Kidd Era II last night.  The Mavs are now a completely different team than the team I saw beat the Bucks a few weeks ago, mostly because of Kidd.  Before the trade, they relied on one-on-one moves and jump shots to get points; now, they try to run the break and make cool passes every time down the court.  It’s like everyone wants to impress the new guy.  We’ll see if they can make this work against good teams, but early returns are looking good for the pro-Kidd faction.

But Kidd wasn’t the story of the game, nor was Erick Dampier (even though the trade somehow turned him into a real live NBA center), nor was Dirk, nor was new Chicago Bull Drew Gooden (who has a beard that makes him look like a vaguely Islamic James Bond villain).  No, the story of the game was that I happened to be sitting in front of a couple from Milwaukee, which was a nice coincidence. But wait — theres more.  Not only was the woman of the couple from Wauwatosa, but she went to the same high school as I did — Milwaukee Lutheran (Go Red Knights).  Now, she graduated 10 years before me, but she did go to school with one of my brothers and several of my wife’s high school teachers.  But wait…there’s more.

Someone mentioned Pilgrim School in Wauwatosa, and she was able to confirm for me that Pilgrim school is actually closing (thanks again Jim Doyle).  Also, amazingly, one of the girls in my grade school graduating class happens to be her sister-in-law.  What are the chances of that?  We always joke about being only 2 degrees of separation from every other Lutheran.  Then something like this happens, and we realize it’s not a joke.  Going to an LCMS grade school, high school, and college is like living in a spread-out small town.  It’s crazy.  Now I know why my parents seemed to know people every time we went out in public.

Anyway, my wife and I went with two 5th-grade girls from our church — twins — that happen to share my wife’s birthday, Feb. 27. Recently traded Maverick Devin Harris’ birthday is also Feb. 27, and he’s originally from Wauwatosa, so it all comes full circle.  But anyway, one of the twins really liked Devin Harris, and booed Jason Kidd when he was introduced.  They were a lot of fun, those girls.  They brought a sign with them in an attempt to get shown on the jumbotron (do they still call it that?), but the stupid camera people never found them.

As for the Mavs, we’ll see if this pass-happy thing wears off, and how far Jason Kidd’s aging biracial body can take them.  One of the side-effects of the trade is that their bench is horrible, so their 22-6 opening-bell lead turned into pretty much a tie game by halftime.  They really have nobody but Stackhouse and the undersized banger “Man-fish” Brandon Bass in reserve.  That’s a seven-man rotation with no backup center, peoples.  This could present problems come playoff time.
Oh, and it was great to see Kirk Hinrich, of all people, get thrown out of a game.  It’s my contention that he got thrown out because he was tired of looking at Drew Gooden’s islamofascist facial hair.  Seriously, you need to see Mr. Gooden.  I didn’t even recognize him.  Let me try to get a picture:

He looks like a pro wrestler or something.  What is this world coming to?