Fan By Fate: The Dirk Game That Hooked Me For Life

Ahead of Dirk Nowtizki's Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Ceremony on Saturday, DallasBasketball.com reflects of some of the fondest memories we have of The Big German.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – As Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki prepares for basketball glory on Saturday, when he'll inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, fans and media alike have been sharing countless stories of what The Big German has meant to them over the years.

Anyone who has kept up with my writing over the years knows that I didn't have a 'traditional' entrance into the sports media world. I was just a Mavs fan who went to the University of Southern Mississippi to get a business degree. But that diehard fandom always had me wanting more, which led to me getting my feet wet with a few Mavs blogs before ultimately ending up here at DallasBasketball.com, where I've spent the better part of the last six years.

It was an unconventional way to get into sports media, perhaps even one that's frowned on by some of my peers who had to go through the other proper channels, but it's what worked for me, and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to cover Nowitzki in the last few years of his career.

Before any unconventional media forging happened, though, I grew up as an unconventional Mavs fan. Born and raised in south Mississippi, there wasn't much NBA fandom going on around me in a football-crazed state, but Dallas was like a second home to my family, which is how I got connected to the Mavs in my childhood.

Although I was a fan from afar in the early days of Dirk Nowitzki, when he was tearing it up with Steve Nash and Michael Finley, I became hooked for life in 2006 when I attended my first game in person at American Airlines Center. It was fate, really, as my family and I were casually making our way back home, taking the usual cut through Dallas ... but then we saw a billboard: "Western Conference Finals Game 5: Dallas Mavericks vs. Phoenix Suns.”

Given how epic the Mavs/Suns rivalry was back then with Nash leaving Dallas for Phoenix and winning two consecutive MVPs, it was a no-brainer to take advantage of our perfect timing and attempt to get some tickets. Not to mention, the Suns had defeated the Mavs in the second round of the playoffs in 2005, which added yet another layer to the drama.

After spending some time downtown, we found a scalper and bought some tickets from him, blindly trusting that we wouldn't get scammed. It tuned out to be an all-time decision, as Nowitzki went on to pour in 50 points and 12 rebounds as the Mavs took a 3-2 WCF lead over the Suns with a 117-101 win after trailing by seven late in the third. 

That was the moment that pulled me in for good. The roaring of the AAC crowd in a high-stakes playoff atmosphere. Nowitzki hitting big shot after big shot down the stretch, sticking his tongue out at one point as if to say, “yeah … I’m that dude.”

Nowitzki has had many other iconic, career-defining moments, including his Game 7 performance against the San Antonio Spurs in the series before playing Phoenix in 2006, and defeating LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals — I was fortunate enough to attend Game 4 of that series as well, Dirk’s legendary 102-degree fever game.

But ... that one fateful day when he decided to drop 50 on his old buddy Nash and the Suns will forever stick out more in my mind than the rest. It was about as good of a live first impression as one could ask for. 

As Nowitzki gets set for the crowning achievement of his basketball career at the Hall of Fame, I find myself reflecting on all the times he's made an impact on my life personally. From watching him from afar for years, to having the opportunity to have real conversations with him in person, first as a fan, and then later in the locker room as part of the media, it has been one of the greatest joys of my life to have had the opportunity to connect with Nowitzki.

The famous saying is, "Never meet your heroes, you'll be disappointed," but that doesn't apply to Nowitzki. He has lived up to my wildest expectations and exceeded them, and I simply couldn't have asked for a better sports role model to look up to.

Every time there’s a big Dirk Nowitzki event, I can’t help but think back to 2017 when my wife & I gave him our wedding invitation in New Orleans. He signed it & had it mailed back to us a few weeks later. Such a small act, but it meant the world to us. pic.twitter.com/96n0xjKoRk

— Dalton Trigg (@dalton_trigg) August 1, 2023

Mavs owner Mark Cuban said it best in the team's official Hall of Fame PR statement from Thursday: "Dirk is the perfect example that good guys can and do finish at the top. He is a special human being and well deserving of the honor of being a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer."

So here's to you, Dirk Nowitzki. Enjoy your special weekend to the fullest with your family, friends and peers, crank out that emotional 10-minute speech that you aren't necessarily looking forward to, and keep on making your lifetime supporters proud like you always have.

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