Don't Tell Me What To Do, Rick Reilly

Rick Reilly's one of the new sportswriter types that gets away with unabashed biases in his column. In order to be a columnist, you have to have opinions and with that your biases will show through. But I don't think that I've seen a national columnist so predisposed against one particular team (well, except for Bill Simmons, but he's more of a fan than a journalist). Now, I'm not one to say that I can never read certain writers. I agree with some writers more than others, and sometimes I'll disagree with them. And I just can't agree with Rick Reilly telling me to root for the Mavericks. Here's what he says:

Pull for Dallas to win these NBA Finals because Miami will get forklifts of rings someday. This might be Dallas' last chance.

There are no guarantees that Miami gets those rings. Will they? Probably. But this isn't about everyone getting an equal share, it's about who's the best team.

Pull for Dallas because it got screwed in the 2006 Finals worse than Bartman. To lose to the same team five years later would be tantamount to basketball waterboarding.

Yeah that sucks for Dallas. But if they wanted to win in 2006, they should have taken care of that in 2006 and found a way to stop a young guy named Dwayne Wade. These are two totally different teams.

Pull for Dallas because Mark Cuban hasn't opened his mouth once.

 The fact that we always have to mention Mark Cuban, regardless if he's talking or not, is a good enough reason for me NOT to root for Dallas. Who even cares who owns the Heat, or just about any other NBA franchise?

Pull for Dallas because Dirk Nowitzki deserves this title more than anybody else on the floor, more than LeBron James, more than Dwyane Wade.

Absolute fallacy. Titles are earned. If you "deserve" a championship so much, go prove it on the court and win one. This isn't Fun Fair Positive Basketball. People lose. Doesn't matter how good of a player or person he may be, the majority of players will not win a championship.

Pull for Dallas because Nowitzki stayed with his team, never took his talents anywhere but to the damn gym every day. 

 Dwayne Wade stayed with his team. Sooooo......???

Pull for Dallas because Nowitzki has stuck it out through 13 seasons so far with this one team, stuck it out through all those depressing playoff springs, all those one-and-dones, all those words people called him -- "loser" "choker" "soft" -- stuck it out even when Steve Nash left, leaving Nowitzki with a lot of nobodies and some mops.

Cry about it. Dirk admitted that he would have considered leaving if LeBron and Wade asked him to come to Miami instead of Chris Bosh. Staying with one team is admirable, especially with free agency, but that's hardly a reason to root for an entire team. Udonis Haslem has only played for the Heat (discounting his season in France).

Pull for Dallas because when you ask Nowitzki why he didn't bolt the way everybody else does, he simply says, "Because this is where my heart is."

Also because nobody asked him to. See above.

Pull for Dallas because Nowitzki didn't try to win a title the new way, didn't pick the best kids on the playground and take on everybody else, didn't get a bunch of super-human friends and schedule himself a ring, like you might a kegger or your birthday party.

The new way? I guess that Dirk told Cuban and the Mavs, "Devin Harris is too good, we can't win a championship like that, it's unfair. Trade him." It goes against all logic not to get the best team you can. If this is really your reasoning, then I'm sorry. I can't root for idiocy.

Pull for Dallas because Nowitzki has this crazy idea about trying to win one the old fashioned way, by getting better.

 ALERT: DIRK NOWITZKI IS THE ONLY NBA PLAYER TRYING TO GET BETTER. Man, Kobe's going to get pissed about this. Someone get the cameraman over to the gym to film him honing his craft. At midnight. During the offseason! That'll show 'em. Meanwhile LeBron and the Heat are going to go back to what they do best. Not trying to get better at basketball?

Pull for Dallas because James is so heaven-sent talented that he'll get more than his share of rings before he's done.

 Talented≠Championships. Ask Dan Marino. Ask Dominique Wilkins. Ask Dirk.

Pull for Dallas because Nowitzki is much closer to done than starting now.

I'm really starting to lose track of his reasoning.

Pull for Dallas because 38-year-old Jason Kidd deserves one, too, despite what he says. "I want this more for Dirk than for me," says Kidd, who's played in three decades -- 17 years -- in this league without champagne in his hair. "All the work Dirk's put in, all the time. Man he deserves it more than anybody on this team. Plus, if he gets it, that means I get one too, right?"

1) We've been over this whole "deserving" thing. 2) Jason Kidd doesn't have hair to get champagne in.

Pull for Dallas because Kidd is the guy everybody likes, the Ray Bourque of the NBA, the one everybody wants to see hold the trophy over his head someday. If he doesn't win it now, in his third Finals try, he'll never win it.

Jason Kidd beat his wife. I don't like that.

Pull for Dallas because it has the best locker room in the NBA, not a whiner among them. There are more good guys in that room than in some divisions.

 So give them the best locker room award. Give whoever wins this series the Larry O'Brien Trophy. (Apparently Mark Cuban doesn't go in the locker room. He whines for the lot of them.)

Pull for Dallas because it doesn't do pre-championship celebrations. Dallas has this crazy notion that you should actually hold the trophy in your hands before you throw the parade. Wouldn't it be nice to give them one?

It might be nice if they earn it. Houston should really look into these celebrations. It will be a nice morale booster for the public, and half of them won't even know the difference! And what's with Dallas and all of these crazy notions and ideas?

Pull for these Dallas Mavericks because the way things are going, the Dallas Cowboys may never win a title again.

 It's not like the Dolphins are the toast of the town.

Pull for Dallas because it's clear they're the underdogs in this, sort of the way a squirrel is the underdog vs. an owl. You knew that after Tuesday night's Game 1, the way LeBron James was flying over people like Air Florida and Dwyane Wade was dazzling everybody else, the way he does in NBA Finals. You knew that the way they pulled away to that win in Game 1.

 I respect the underdog thought. A lot of times I'll go with that line of thought. So I won't contest that point, but instead use another argument that I go to: I'm from Houston, I despise Dallas.

Pull for Dallas because its best player, Nowitzki, has a torn tendon in his left middle finger now and yet never once blinked when we asked if he'll keep playing.

Dirk Nowitzki often beats the media in staring contests. But seriously, he got hurt in his non-shooting hand. Kobe's fingers have been messed up for years now and not once have I even entertained the thought of rooting for him or the Lakers. Who wouldn't play through that in the Finals?

Pull for Dallas because it's not about The Decision. It's about one team taking the easy way to a title and another team taking a way that just keeps getting harder.

 Once again, apparently getting the best players possible is the now the easy way. What about Miami's season has been easy? The media scrutiny 24/7? Facing the Celtics in the conference semis? Shutting down the league MVP and pushing past the league's best team? Sure they have the most talent, but that doesn't mean it was easy. This isn't about The Decision. The Decision was about this, playing for a title.

Pull for Dallas, because, my God, how many good things can happen to Pat Riley in one lifetime?

 Eh, you can have this one, Reilly.

Root for Dallas if you must. I won't hold it against you (well, yeah I will, but I understand people do things like that). Or root for the Heat. Or don't root at all. But as interesting as the one-on-one matchups are in this game, this isn't about one person. This isn't about Dirk, not about LeBron, or Wade, or Bosh. This isn't about Mark Cuban or Pat Riley. This is about the Dallas Mavericks versus the Miami Heat, and which team can reach four wins first.