“My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.”
— Abraham Lincoln
Congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks on their best season in team history. Let’s hope they’re not content.
Brian Clark is the founder of Copyblogger, the midlife personal growth newsletter Further, Unemployable, an educational community that provides smart strategies for freelancers and solopreneurs, and Creative Affiliate, affiliate marketing advice for creators.
Reader Comments (10)
Liz Strauss says
My support to you, Brian. You stand out as an award-winning fan. My sincere regret on the loss for your team. (Living in the land of the Cubs, I know about dashed hopes and persistence.)
I send you a virtual beer and kudos for a season well played.
David Krug says
The roughest thing about the Heat is the fact that well they aren’t that great. They remind me of the Bulls led by huge egos playing only for a championship not because they love the game. Although I suppose DWade loves the game.
But its really upsetting to see the Mavs work so hard to get this far over the years only to fail.
Well there’s always next year. I remember watching the Broncos work so hard in the NFL only to finally get over the hump and win a few of them.
chartreuse says
These playoffs mark the resurgance of the NBA. The games were exciting, which is what matters to the fans.
Here’s this season’s marketing lesson:
This season Mark Cuban became a superstar. He raised the bar for team owner participation in the game. His passion created Dallas fans all over the country.
That’s good marketing.
On another note, the Mavs loss this series when Dirk missed that free throw in game 3. He never recovered mentally and you could see it in his gameplay afterwards.
There’s a lesson in that, too.
Brian says
Liz, thanks for the beer (I think I’ll stick it in the fridge until July 4).
David, yeah, true. DWade is the real deal, but the Mavericks appeared to be the better all-around, integrated team with a much better bench. So much for that.
Char, you’re right on both counts. And despite how much he raised his profile in these playoffs, Dirk likely failed to overcome his marketing problem by flaming out in the Finals.
Chris P. says
Do you have a quote repository or what? I always wonder how people grab all these pertinent quotes for their articles…
Anyhoo, freakin Mavs. Freakin Cuban. I totally agree with Char about the free throw in game 3.
Also, I have to say that I think way too much attention was focused on Shaq defensively, as he spent much of the season proving that he was no longer the guy who averaged 29.4 ppg in his previous NBA finals appearances.
Sure, his series stats sucked, but what about DWade? He absolutely stomped the Mavs. He was getting like a point a minute. Ridiculous.
Somebody tell Avery – you shoulda put the clamps on DWade!
Brian says
Chris, I thought DWade was getting a foul call a minute. Didn’t he shoot a couple of free throws from the bench? 🙂
I’m no NBA conspiracy theorist, but a few of those “phantom fouls” were ridiculous.
And no, I’m not making excuses. We lost, plain and simple.
howard lindzon says
I am shocked because dallas was a wayyy better team and I hate them.
Dirk made me look bad and than redeemed my opinion in this series.
Can’t figure this one out.
I feel your pain on losing though
ming says
there you go:) loosening up a bit!
I’m watchin usa vs Ghana in the world cup. I’m not american but i’m rooting for you guys in this game.
you’re 1 down at halftime.
but i think that the team is ‘smarter’ than Ghana, no offence to the opposition, and i mean smarter in footballing tearms.
And i think you got the history to pull through!
GO usa
Chris P. says
Having to root for USA soccer is possibly the worst fate any fan could ever have.
Our team is terrible. Our players did not show the speed that the opposition did (at least from the forward position), and worst of all, our offensive sets were, well, offensive.
Brazil put on an absolute clinic yesterday in the game after the USA bomb. Granted, they’re the best team in the world, but come on…All this hype for USA soccer, and they came out flatter than Nicole Ritchie.
meryl says
Amen, Brian. The team can’t be content… and I think Cuban will continue to be as persistent as ever. Proud of ya, Mavs.
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