A letter to Jason

June 12, 2011

Dear Jason,

Do you remember 2006?  No, not because of the cancer diagnosis that occurred in May.  But the NBA finals between the Mavericks and Heat?  I bet you do.  We would watch the games in the hospital and then look at the American Airlines Center and watch the colors change on the building.  Your very best friend in the whole world, Mike, came a few times.  It was a bright point in the middle of one of the darkest times in your life.  That is, until they blew it.  A few times, the nurses would come in and tell us to quiet down because you'd yell at the television in frustration. :)  After the complete and utter meltdown of the Mavericks in the series, you loyally looked forward to the Cowboys that year.  That NBA series allowed you to escape for a time and distract you from the battle that you were fighting.  Even when they lost, your outlook was good.  After all, it could be worse.

Well, now it's 2011 and you've been gone for a year.  The Mavericks returned to the finals against the Miami Heat, but this was a different time and a different team.  You would have pointed out several things to Jack that you thought were important.  I think the main thing is that one man (or two big names for that matter) don't make a team.  You would have said, and I would have agreed, that the entire Mavericks team should have received the MVP award because of the way they worked together.  Yes, Dirk is the big name on our team but we have several other players that contributed to the series win.  Kidd, Terry, Chandler, Barea, etc.  The names are too many to name.  You would have marveled at how Mark Cuban conducted himself during the finals (quite different from the first go round).  You wouldn't have said it was a maturity thing, but a smart thing for him to have done.  Instead of talking himself up, he pushed the notice onto the coach and players during the awards ceremony.  You would have been impressed with the fact that Don Carter was allowed to go up there, another fine gesture to be sure.  You would have pointed out the sportsmanship and absence of gloating from the Mavericks as model for how to conduct oneself in sporting events.

I'd like to think that in some way you were there.  The ball that seemingly shouldn't have gone into the basket, swished right in.  Did you do that?  Did you remind them to keep fighting and how good of a team they really are?  I know that they are a different team, and it is 5 years later but it's still a sweet victory.  Not just for them, but for us too.  I can just see that wonderful Huffdaddy smile.  

Love Always,

Me.