Fear of Failure: Mavericks, DFW Fans Too Soft For Success?

The Dallas Mavericks haven't won a NBA title in 12 years but don't mention it out loud because you might hurt their feelings.

WHITT'S END 4.28.23:

Whether you’re at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt’s End …

Usually in this space I spew sports and society and snark – heavy on the snark – on topics in and around DFW via mostly forgettable bullet-point observations. But some days I’m moved to yank the microphone from its stand and rant on a singular topic.

Welcome to one of those days. Because sports in general, and DFW in specific, have gotten too soft for their own good.

There’s a reason we’ve endured 4,338 days (and counting) without a major sports championship in the Metroplex: We’re kinda – shrug – fine with it.

(Okay, I lied. Cue the bullet points.)

*Right, Dallas Mavericks?

In 2007 the Mavs went 67-15 and were the No. 1 seed in the West and overall favorite to win the NBA championship. Alas, partly because of a dismal performance from star and league MVP Dirk Nowitzki, they were upset by the 8th-seeded Golden State Warriors.

In the wake of the epic failure (remember that word; get comfortable with it), Dirk went binge-drinking and backpacking in the Australian outback. But not before sheepishly accepting the MVP trophy in the bowels of an otherwise empty American Airlines Center while the postseason continued without him.

Dirk then: “As time passes I hope I’ll look back on this as a special moment. But right now … right after we failed to get out of the first round … it sucks.”

Dirk recently: “I was embarrassed. I let the city and my team down.”

He, literally, took it like a man. Years later, you may have heard, Nowitzki led the Mavs to a championship.

Fast-forward to Wednesday night in Milwaukee, where the top-seeded and title-favorite Bucks joined the Mavs in historic first-round failure. With star Giannis Antetokounmpo missing 13 free throws and committing seven turnovers, the Bucks blew a 16-point, fourth-quarter lead on their home court to lose Game 5 and the series to a Miami Heat squad that lost a play-in game before squeaking into the playoffs.

In his post-game press conference, Giannis bristled at being asked – gasp! – if he viewed the season as a failure.

“There’s no failure in sports,” he said between exasperated sighs. “There’s good days; bad days. Some days you are able to be successful; some days you are not. Some days it is your turn; some days it’s not. That’s what sports is about. You don’t always win.”

Before I could fully digest the absurdity of that answer, Giannis inexplicably garnered support.

From iconic Mavs’ radio voice Chuck Cooperstein, who claimed on Twitter that the reporter’s question was “asked disrespectfully.” And from Mavs owner Mark Cuban, who said it was a “ridiculously bad” question and a “great response” that should be used a model for sports media members and journalism students in the dwindling time before AI rescues athletes with couched, kinder, gentler queries.

Bull. Spit.

If that’s a hard question, we’ve officially become too soft.

And if that’s such a fantastic answer, I expect Cuban to employ it as the Mavs’ marketing slogan in 2023-24: “There’s No Failure In Sports!” I can hear the P.A. at AAC now: “Mavs fans, let’s get Rowdy, Proud and, meh, Whatever.”

Giannis went on to chastise the reporter, asking him if he thought Michael Jordan experienced “failure” in the nine seasons he didn’t win the championship. We’ve yet to hear from the GOAT but, Shaquille O’Neal, your thoughts?

“He’s not a failure as a player,” Shaq said of Giannis on TNT’s post-game show. “But is it a failure of a season? I would say yes. I played 19 seasons, and I failed 15 seasons. When I didn’t win, I was very hard on myself.”

If being only the sixth team since 1984 to lose in the first round to a No. 8 seed isn’t failure, then perhaps the sports snowflakes should tweak the definition. Giannis is a remarkable player, a champion and an exquisite role model, but his response reeks of a participation-plaque generation that absorbs defeats like ho-hum potholes.

If there’s no “failure” in sports, why even have standings? (Even the Harlem Globetrotters use a scoreboard, for crying out loud.) Conversely, if there is no “success”, next time Giannis wins a championship he should do so without confetti or a trophy or the 50 nuggets he gleefully bought at Chick-Fil-A. Just a subtle nod to a “good day.”

A month ago Cuban protested a game he wanted to win. Last week of the season he then orchestrated a Mavs’ intentional loss.

Now he’s shooting another team’s messenger … for having the audacity to ask a tough question in the face of failure.

*Right, Texas Rangers?

The Rangers were on the way to their best start in 10 years when – in the span of six days – they suffered four losses (dare I say, “failures”?) to two of the worst teams in baseball.

Last Friday in Arlington they jumped to a 4-0, first-inning lead on a laughingstock Oakland A’s outfit that entered the game 3-16 and saddled with a seven-game losing streak and unfathomable trend of allowing 9+ runs in half their games. Sure enough, the Rangers were blanked the rest of the way and wound up losing, 5-4, in what will likely remains as a strong candidate for worst loss of the year by any team in Major League Baseball.

In the aftermath, local post-game TV host John Rhadigan opened with … positivity?

“Not the result the Rangers wanted but still, wow, what a great night at the ballpark,” he exclaimed, pointing to the debut of the team’s new City Connect uniforms. “Fans are buying their new hats and jerseys … and still a great start to the season as the Rangers are 12-7.”

I get it. Unrealistic to expect the emcee of state-run TV to issue doom-’n-gloom. But a loss like that greeted with a milk-toast reaction is why Josh Hamilton was right back in the day when he claimed DFW wasn’t a “baseball town.”

Then on to Cincinnati, where the Rangers suffered a three-game sweep to a team that entered with the worst record in the National League. A night after Texas coughed up a 5-1 lead, the Reds rallied from down 6+ runs for the first time in 250 games, since 2012. In the finale, Cincy got a walk-off homer from somebody named Nick Senzel.

How did Rhadigan and the boys start the post-game show? With a clip of a “milestone moment!” – Rangers pitcher Jon Gray’s 1,000th career strikeout.

Even the vision of grizzled manager Bruce Bochy – a man with three World Series rings – is suddenly too fuzzy to see the failure.

“There’s nothing to be concerned about,” he said with a straight face after Wednesday’s loss. “These guys will bounce back and we’ll continue to get better.”

Maybe. Probably. Only because it can’t get much worse than gut-punch losses to the A’s and Reds.

But in the wake of infuriating lapses and indifferent reactions, it’s difficult to take these Rangers seriously. Or at least differently. Especially when this weekend in Arlington wide-eyed, short-memory fans will flock to Globe Life Field to watch the New York Yankees and simply hope to “ooh” and “aah” at a home run and ensuing fireworks.

When failure isn’t recognized, those suffice as success.

*Right, Dallas Cowboys?

Thursday night the Cowboys could have drafted a fictional “Mazza Roddy” – instead they chose a run-stuffing Mazi Smith – and the “Jerry the owner should fire Jerry the GM!” howls would have continued their decline in both fervor and frequency.

Once the biggest, brightest and best franchise in the NFL, Jerry Jones’ Cowboys have for almost 30 years settled for simply being the most popular and most profitable.

Despite not playing in a Super Bowl since the 1995 season, the Cowboys continue to lead the NFL in attendance, souvenir sales and TV ratings.

Over the last two years they have dominated the regular season with 24 wins (behind only the Kansas City Chiefs), 15 players in the Pro Bowl (behind only the Chiefs) and league-leading totals in defensive takeaways (77) and points scored (997). Bottom line: Only one playoff win, in the Wild Card last season.

Fans – either gassed or appropriately gaslighted – barely raise an eyebrow when Jones turns his team’s pre-draft press conference into a stand-up act.

Quipped Jerry with Mike McCarthy at his side, “Draftin’ is not our problem; coachin’ is.”

And then about widely respected player personnel voice Will McClay, “I can’t make him general manager. We have one. It’s tenured. If Will can write those checks, I might consider it.”

After the selection of Smith, Jones attempted to convince reporters that the defensive lineman - taken 26th - was actually ranked "13th or 14th" on Dallas' draft board. When pressed on if he was fibbing, Jones joked:

"Who gives a sh*t. We got him."

Failure, cloaked in funny.

Right, Richie Whitt?

I despise toxic masculinity and I’m all for being “woke.” But not numb.

Life is not always properly measured in black-and-white wins and losses; more so shades of gray in between. But our sports?

The Mavs’ sickening season (and Giannis’ performance), the Rangers’ early losses and the Cowboys’ quarter-century of crap deserve harsh criticism, not hugs and cuddles.

I’m not advocating the grandstanding of Bobby Knight throwing chairs at referees or Jimmy Johnson sending players to the “asthma field.” But I also push back on the notion that we can just wrap adversity in a blanket of positive “thoughts and prayers” and assume everything will magically heal.

Once upon a time Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was harpooned for saying of a season-ending loss: “If this is the worst thing that will ever happen to me, then I’ve lived a pretty good life.”

Mavs coach Jason Kidd essentially echoed those sentiments this season when addressing his team’s fading playoff chances: “If not, that’s just the season. No one is dying.”

Even with the trade for Kyrie Irving and the team’s deathly serious nudges to buy season tickets, we barely blinked an eye.

No one is dying. Except our backbone.

We used to be the proud, passionate home to seven major sports titles and 14 “championship” appearances in 40 years. But over the last decade we’ve shrank softer than butterflies having a pillow fight in a cotton patch.

Our unflinching acceptance of mediocrity has become unhealthy. Winning still feels amazing, but losing hurts a lot less.

We live in a politically correct era where gymnast Simone Biles quits in the middle of the Olympics and winds up on a Wheaties box for her “courage.” Same for tennis star Naomi Osaka, who won four major tournaments and then set the bar laughably low in rationalizing her, yep, failures.

“You got up this morning and didn’t procrastinate? Champion,” she said. “Figure out something at work? Absolute legend.”

Sports shouldn’t work that way. Athletes are paid to win, not just to perform and entertain. It’s a simple equation: Set a goal + work hard all year to hard to achieve it + fall short = Failure.

Good thing Giannis doesn’t have a real job. Try telling the regional market manager, “There’s no failure in sales.”

I’ve failed countless times. Acknowledged them all: Marriage. Business venture. Tennis matches. Radio. And you know what pushed me to succeed in my next step?

Something the DFW sports culture has completely lost: Fear of Failure.

*Hot.

*Not.

*This Weekend? Consumed by the NFL Draft. Here’s hoping there isn’t “failure” for the Cowboys. As always, don’t be a stranger.

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