Blues And Basketball In Austin

After Tuesday night's Vipers-Red Claws game, I awoke the next morning and headed out on the road again to see my third D-League game in four nights and the last basketball of this quick trip. The site of Wednesday's game was Austin, or more accurately just outside of Austin, a place I hoped would be very different from Frisco and Hidalgo. In fact I had so much faith that it would be different (i.e. better) that it's the only place I decided to spend two nights on this entire trip. My one and a half days and two nights in Austin started with the Austin Toros hosting the same Maine Red Claws (did I mention best name and logo in the NBDL, hands down?) that I saw face the Rio Grande Valley Vipers the previous evening some 300 miles or so south of Austin.

Austin, contrary to what the Lea Thompson's character in the original Red Dawn movie believed ("Wrong, Commie! It's Houston!), is the capital of Texas. It is also the music center of Texas which is why I've wanted to visit Austin for years. I've already checked Memphis, Nashville and New Orleans off my list, it was time to hit Austin. Austin's music history is one of country and blues, with Willie Nelson, Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray Vaughan all having associations with the town. I hoped I could hear some good music while I was in town in addition to watching hoops. I was determined to find some after the Toros and the Red Claws game and then again the next night.

The Austin area was first settled in 1830, the year that Mexico decided to close then Tejas' border with the United States to stem what had become a troubling number of American settlers crossing the border. In 1839, the capital of what was at the time the Republic of Texas was moved to the Austin area and incorporated as Waterloo. The name was changed shortly thereafter in honor of Stephen F. Austin, the "Father of Texas," who brought the first significant number of American families to settle in the Texas. Today, Austin is big to support the state capital and the University of Texas. There are about 650,000 residents in Austin, a far cry from the 11,000 in Hidalgo.

Unlike the Legends and Vipers who joined the NBDL as expansion teams, the Austin Toros are one of the three surviving original D-League franchises, along with the Tulsa 66ers and the Canton Charge. And just like those other two original members of the league, the Toros didn't begin life where they are now. The team started out in Columbus, Georgia as the Riverdragons in 2001 but moved to Austin after four seasons in 2005. The Toros are the defending NBDL champions although last year's championship won't necessarily translate to success this season as teams in the D-League tend to change over personnel fairly quickly. There is exactly one player, Jamarr Sanders, on this year's team who spent time in Austin last season.

The Toros actually play a little more than 20 miles from Austin in a suburb called Cedar Park. Their arena, the cleverly named Cedar Park Center, seats about 8,000, so it's larger than the arenas in Frisco and Hidalgo and it shows. The Cedar Park Center is the only one of the three D-League arenas I went to with a center scoreboard and instant replay. It gets closer to an NBA experience but with the replay on the scoreboard, there's no space left for stats, which are displayed annoyingly infrequently. As I did the previous night in Hidalgo, I once again sat center court second row for the game and paid far less than I would for an NBA ticket, in this case $40. Beers at the Cedar Park Center are $7.75 for a 24 oz. Budweiser about the same as the other two arenas. My friend Mike texted me during the game with the rhetorical question "Why is beer so expensive everywhere?" Because people buy it at that price, that's why.

The game was competitive into the fourth, when the Toros managed to break the Red Claws' spirit and pull away for a 111-94 victory. The game experience was a good one just like the night before in Hidalgo. My disappointment in the overly kid catering environment in Frisco didn't carry over to Austin or the Rio Grande Valley. I'd go back (but probably won't) to games in either of those places. I managed to track the Wizards-Pistons games on my phone during the game. Our winning streak was ended at four. Just can't beat Detroit this year.

The interest in Wednesday's D-League game for me was to see former Wizard Shelvin Mack play again. And I saw Shelvin play a lot Wednesday night as he logged all 48 minutes with the Red Claws down to only eight healthy players. Shelvin was the Wizards second round draft pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. He lasted all of his rookie season before being cut in training camp in favor of either Jannero Pargo or Earl Barron, depending on your perspective. Shelvin is consistently on the top of the D-League's prospects call up list and has had stints in the NBA twice this season, once with the Wizards and once for two 10-day contracts with the Philadelphia 76ers. 

Watching Shelvin's game, it's clear to see why he's bouncing between the NBA and NBDL. He's clearly the leader of his team. He calls all the offensive sets and defensive assignments, handles the ball every time up and makes sure his team is paying attention to the shot clock. There's no doubt he understands the game very well and he's serious about what he's doing. But he's also physically limited. He's not really quick enough or skilled enough to play point guard in the NBA as a guy with heavy minutes and he's not really long enough to defend or rebound against taller shooting guards. Shelvin's invariably in place to rebound or right in his guy's face on defense but he lost rebounds to an opponent taller than him and couldn't reach a few fadeaway jumpers from his counterpart. I hope the D-League serves him well and he gets back to the NBA again this season. I appreciated Shelvin coming over and saying hi to me before the game. As Royce White told me the night before, Shelvin's a good dude.

Fans in Austin are hard core. Some dude brought a giant Shelvin Mack head to wave at Shelvin and taunt him.

I didn't stick around much beyond the final buzzer for this one. I needed to get a beer or two in a blues club somewhere quick. Wednesday night I decided I'd take about any music played competently whereas Thursday I thought I should be more selective and serious. Austin's main drag is Sixth Street, sort of an equivalent to Memphis' Beale Street or New Orleans' Bourbon Street, although way smaller scale than the latter. Wednesday night I bounced between a couple of clubs with bands playing bad George Thorogood or Tom Petty covers before settling in at Latitude Thirty, a club on San Jacinto Boulevard, for a couple of Lone Star beers and a partial set. At one time while I was there, the club actually had four musicians and three patrons; most people were stepping in for $2 shots before quickly moving on, probably for another $2 shot somewhere else.

Sixth Street by day. It looks much different (i.e. drunker) at night.

Thursday night I weighed my options more carefully, ultimately choosing to see the Big Guitars From Texas at Antone's on Fifth and Lavaca over Tift Merritt and David Wax Museum on Sixth Street. If there is a club to know in Austin, it's Antone's. The place was founded by Clifford Antone in the mid-1970s and has been played by many blues legends, including Clifton Chenier, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and Stevie Ray Vaughan. So as this may be my only night spent in Austin, I had to not pass this one up.

Little did I know but Big Guitars From Texas were nominated for a grammy in 1986 in the Best Rock Instrumental Category (they lost to Jeff Beck) for their instrumental Guitar Army. This show was a reunion and benefit show for one of their members, Evan Johns, who played but who clearly was ailing, preferring to sit through the show. And ultimately the show was a great ending to a quick trip, a four guitar mostly instrumental show to send me back to D.C. with some good memories. I clearly didn't spend enough time in Austin. Live and learn.

Paying Tribute To Stevie Ray

In the spring semester of my senior year at the University of Michigan, I bought a ticket to see Eric Clapton at the Palace in Auburn Hills, MI. I couldn't find anyone sufficiently motivated to go with me so I went solo, not the first or last time I went to a show by myself. Before the concert, I was talking to a guy sitting next to me who raved about a Stevie Ray Vaughan show he had seen two nights earlier at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. He questioned if Clapton would measure up to Vaughan. I thought this guy was insane to question Clapton's preeminence since I really didn't listen to Stevie Ray Vaughan's music or understand how good he was at that time.

Halfway through Clapton's show, which I thought was lackluster to that point, Vaughan joined EC on stage and sat in on "Before You Accuse Me" and "After Midnight." Without question, Stevie Ray torched Clapton that night; he absolutely blew him off the stage. And when he was done hosting, Clapton, as if embarrassed, picked up on the energy brought on by Stevie Ray and finished the show strong.

Almost 23 years later, Stevie Ray Vaughan is one of my favorite guitarists. I have every one of his solo and Double Trouble studio albums but his live stuff is what I really love. His Live at Carnegie Hall is one of my favorite albums of all time and the double album which documents his 1982 and 1985 shows at the Montreux Jazz Festival is almost as good. I never got to see Stevie Ray Vaughan play a complete show by himself because about three months after I saw him that night in Auburn Hills (from waaaaay back in the Palace, I might add), he died in a helicopter accident after leaving an outdoor show near Milwaukee.

Vaughan was born and raised in Dallas, Texas but dropped out of high school at 17 and moved to Austin, where he really cut his teeth playing clubs in various groups. So Austin, which has such an amazing music scene, became his home and he likewise became a son of that city. In October 1993, a little more than three years after his death, a statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan was erected in Auditorium Shores park in Austin. I just had to make the walk from my hotel, across the river to the park to see his statue, listen to my iPod and think about the great music Stevie Ray left behind for me and everyone else to enjoy. Gone 23 years now, I hope he's still playing the blues somewhere.

Sitting Courtside In Hidalgo

Of all the places I am visiting on my basketball tour of Texas, I was looking forward to going to Hidalgo most of all. Seriously. It's a tiny town literally on the Mexican border. How can it get better than this? I have always had semi romantic notions of staying in small town America on vacations but never do it because quite honestly there's no reason for me to stay in small towns. I'm a city guy, what can I say? But Hidalgo has an NBDL team and that gives me a reason to stay for one night at least. Tuesday night their team, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, were hosting the Maine Red Claws (best name and logo in the NBDL, hands down). So Tuesday afternoon, I moved in to Hidalgo's Super 8, which is literally across the driveway from the arena, at a cost of about $50 and took in some hoops that night.

The Hidalgo area was first settled by the Spanish in 1749, meaning this area was inhabited well before the Republic of Texas was created. The town itself went through a series of names before finally settling on Hidalgo in 1885. Today the town has all of 11,000 or so residents. I suppose it's sort of a suburb of McAllen (population 123,000) and Brownsville (population 178,000) but suffice it to say there's more nothing than something around Hidalgo, mostly fields for crops or cattle. For perspective for those of you reading in northern Virginia, the population of Arlington is about 190,000.

The town sits right on the Rio Grande in the Rio Grande Valley, which is one of the richest ecosystems in the southwest United States. The sizeable Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, which contains 400 species of birds and over 250 species of butterflies is nearby and serves as a significant tourist attraction in the area. In the town of Hidalgo itself, there's not a whole lot to see. The most exciting attractions in town are the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse and a staue of a giant killer bee. Apparently the killer bee was first discovered in the United States in Hidalgo. Good times!

Following the Texas Legends before them, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers were an expansion team, joining the NBDL for the 2007-2008 season. They have spent their entire six year history playing in the Rio Grande valley. In their third season, they managed to win the D-League finals and were the runner up the following season so the team has experienced some pretty good success in a short period of time. For perspective, they have as many championships as my Washington Wizards in about one tenth the time. Apples to oranges comparison, I know.

The Vipers play at the State Farm Arena which, according to the venue's website, seats between 5,500 and 6,800 for basketball. That's a little more than the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco holds but still way less than the 20,000 or so at Verizon Center. The State Farm Arena website lists the hockey and concert capacity but not the basketball capacity, like basketball doesn't matter or something. The hockey capacity is 5,500. I'm assuming the building holds slightly more for hoops since folks, including me, sit on top of the ice.

Just as I did in Frisco two nights earlier, I paid far less than the price of an NBA game for my Vipers ticket. My center court, second row seat in Hidalgo cost me $50, which is the most pricey D-League ticket I bought on this trip. That price compares to between $850 and $1,250 at Wizards home game at Verizon Center. This game is four to six percent of that price. Beers at the State Farm Arena are $5.75 for 16 oz. of Budweiser (cans only) so only 10 percent cheaper. Funny how the price of beer doesn't change much from the NBA to the minor leagues.

When I got to the game, I actually had a rude surprise waiting for me. The second row ticket that I bought on Ticketmaster had been sold to a season ticket holder since I bought the ticket and therefore wouldn't be honored. Instead of my second row seat, they moved me courtside on the Vipers bench side of the court. OK by me. Definitely the first time I have sat courtside anywhere and it definitely made the game more exciting, although I had to get used to players and coaches walking in front of me during the game. The game itself was a no defense affair, a 139-122 victory for the Vipers. Former Wizard Shelvin Mack plays for the Red Claws so it was good to see Shelvin play again even though he didn't have the best game of his D-League career.

But the main excitement for me in this game was the chance to get to see Royce White once again play basketball. I became intrigued with Royce last year during the NCAA tournament and have followed his saga since, a story which hopefully gets way better starting with Tuesday's game. Royce White was the 16th selection in the 2012 NBA Draft. He was selected as the second of three first round draft picks held by the Houston Rockets this past year. But to date, Royce has not played a minute of NBA basketball for the Rockets for various reasons including depth at his position, sitting out and being suspended by the team. The majority of his non-playing time has been caused by a dispute he has been engaged in with the Rockets about his mental fitness and how that affects his ability to play basketball safely. Royce suffers from general anxiety disorder which affects, among other things, his ability to travel, especially by airplane, which a number of people in the press and public have falsely latched on to as his only source of anxiety.

His dispute with the Rockets, which has been featured on ESPN's Outside The Lines and HBO's Real Sports, centered on his contention that he needs an independent qualified medical professional to have the final say on his ability to play basketball on any given day. He wrestled with this issue during his collegiate career at the University of Minnesota, where he was not entirely successful, and Iowa State University, where he played a full season and led the Cyclones in his one and only season last year in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks per game. He is clearly a talented basketball player, a fact driven home to me this past summer in Las Vegas where he dominated the paint against the Wizards in a game I attended during summer league play. Anyway his saga with the Rockets led to suspension without pay by the team on January 6 and an eventual resolution to the situation on January 23 with an agreement for Royce to report to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on February 11, which happened to be Monday.

Sitting courtside allowed me the chance to talk to Royce before the game and let him know how much I supported him and how I hoped he didn't become this generation's Curt Flood (look it up) breaking ground for generations of players but getting blackballed in the process. Royce allowed that he could be blackballed for making his own stand but said he'd be OK financially which was my main concern. Royce is a smart guy and that comes across in interviews and conversations. He also noted that he feels lucky just to be playing the NBDL, advocating that most of the guys at this level are just as good as they are in the NBA. He's lying here and it's false modesty. Royce is better than the D-League and he's not going to be here too long in my opinion. His game was a little rusty but how good he can be showed in his passing. His second assist of the night was just gorgeous.

It took Royce forever to tie his shoes. Not surprisingly. He also wore his socks inside out. I wish I'd noticed that when I was talking to him. I'd love to know what that is about.

For some reason, I love water towers.

The Road To Mexico

My second D-League game of the week is all the way down in Hidalgo, right on the border with Mexico. The trip from Frisco to Hidalgo is 540 miles, which Google Maps calculates as an 8 hour, 19 minute drive. While I've certainly driven that far in a day before, that's just too much for me to take on this trip by myself. Fortunately, San Antonio sits pretty much midway between the two cities so I decided to take a day off from basketball and stop there for a night, although I hoped to find a sports bar somewhere that would allow me to watch at least the end of the Wizards game against the Milwaukee Bucks that night.

I had visited San Antonio once before for an overnight business trip in 2008. There was enough time on that trip for me to make sure my presentation to my client the next day was finalized; see a little bit of the Riverwalk (which I detested - I hate urban interventions that separate pedestrians from the street grid); stroll around the city enough to know how to get back to my hotel; and grab some Jack In The Box on the way back to the airport. So I was excited on this vacation to finally spend almost a whole day exploring the city. I was especially excited because the two things on my agenda scream Texas to me: the Alamo and the Rodeo.

Of all the people in the United States, no state's population seems to be prouder of their home state than Texians are. I don't get it at all and probably never will but there's no denying it; just check out the DMWT (Don't Mess With Texas - yes, they no longer even spell it out) t-shirts at the airport when you arrive in Dallas if you need proof. The siege at the Alamo during the Texas Revolution seems to me to embody that Texian spirit: an outnumbered, ill-trained bunch of ordinary citizens willing to lay down their life with no guaranteed commensurate reward just to get Texas free of Mexican control.

The Texas Revolution was the first of two wars in a span of 16 years that took Texas from Mexican control to a part of the United States. In 1824, the Mexican government decided the best way to maintain control of Texas (then Tejas) was to allow colonization of the territory by anyone who wanted to settle there. Offers of cheap land with promises of credit extensions led to an influx of settlers from the United States. In 1830, just six years later, there were enough United States citizens living there that it seemed more like a state of the U.S. rather than a part of Mexico. Fearing this might lead to a struggle for control of the territory with the very people who they allowed to move there, Mexico closed the border that year, which ironically sparked revolution, the very thing it was supposed to prevent. On March 2, 1836, a group of Texas settlers attacked a fort at Velasco on the Gulf of Mexico and the revolution was on.

The legendary spot of the supposed line on the ground General Travis drew to inspire his men.

The Battle of Velasco was the first skirmish in a four year long war that ended in an independent Republic of Texas. The signature battle occurred at the Alamo, the former Mission San Antonio de Valera which had been converted to a makeshift fort to house a garrison of soldiers. Construction of the Alamo had begun in 1724 by Spanish missionaries sent to convert the native populations to Christianity. In 1793, the mission was secularized and its lands were returned to the native populations. Forty three years later, on March 6, 1836, a vastly outnumbered group of Texians repelled two attacks by the well trained and equipped Mexican army before yielding to the third and final attack, resulting in the death of everyone inside. Despite the victory, the battle took a huge toll on the Mexican forces led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and less than two months later, on April 21, 1836, that army was defeated for good by Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto. The independent Republic of Texas was born although Mexico never recognized the Republic. It took until the U.S.-Mexican War a little more than a decade later for Mexico to agree that Texas was no longer part of Mexican territory.

Today the Alamo looks nothing like it did in 1836. The mission church is still in the same spot it was during the battle, although the roof that was missing in 1836 is now completed. The remainder of the property is vastly different than it was when it fell to Santa Anna. The church now occupies the western part of the property whereas in 1836 it stood on the eastern part of the fort. The enclosed courtyard of the original mission is now mostly occupied by the Alamo Plaza to the west and office buildings actually encroach on what was the original property. Visiting the Alamo today gives a good historical overview of what happened during the Texas Revolution. The models in the exhibit halls and gift store show pretty effectively what sort of challenge the Texians had during the battle.

Following my trip to the Alamo, it was time to see my first, and probably last, rodeo. Every year in early February, the San Antonio Spurs embark on the NBA's longest road trip of the season because the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo is in town. The three week long event started in 1950 and is now one of the top five Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (or PRCA for those more familiar with the acronym!?) events of the year. The rodeo is held nightly and features, in order, bareback riding, steer wrestling, mutton bustin', team roping, saddle bronc riding, calf scramble, tie down roping, barrel racing and bull riding. The rodeo is then followed by musical entertainment. The night I went featured Reba McEntire (or just Reba as I guess it is now) but I didn't stick around for that. I felt out of place enough already!

The opening equestrian flag presentation.

Translating all of the above into something someone north and east of Texas can understand, here's what goes on put into English, or "yankee" if you prefer.

Bareback Riding: Dude on a horse with no saddle basically getting tossed around like a rag doll until he is either forcibly ejected by the horse or elects to get off after the eight second count. This event has the second highest potential for major injury in my uneducated opinion. One rider got stepped on by a horse and one dismounted but his wrist didn't unattach from the horse. They both looked painful. The guy who got stepped on won a $100 gift certificate from Brake Check for his trouble. Apparently the person who gets maimed the worst wins this gift certificate each night.

Steer Wrestling: Dude riding alongside a cow and jumping off his horse while at full gallop onto the cow's neck, then twisting the cow's neck until it falls down beside him. Why anyone wants to do this is beyond me but it's fun to watch.

Mutton Bustin': Four to six year old kids (boys and girls) riding sheep. That's pretty much it. The one who stays on longest seems to win this one.

A successful team roping.

Team Roping: Two guys riding horses chasing a cow down with lassos. One guy ropes the head (pretty easy) while the other guy gets the hind legs (not so easy, since you somehow have to get the lasso underneath the target). Only the teams who get both ends wrapped up get scores that count. This event actually takes skill and I guess I can appreciate it.

Saddle Bronc Riding: Pretty much the same as bareback riding but not as good because the rider seems to have way more control. They should put this before bareback riding in my opinion.

Calf Scramble: This is a little messed up. Basically a bunch of calves are turned loose on the floor with a bunch of teenagers and they spend the next 15 minutes or so trying to put ropes around their heads. Not very exciting.

Tie Down Roping: This one is pretty complicated. The point of the exercise is to rope a calf but the way they do it is complicated. The calf and rider on horse are released simultaneously. The rider ropes the calf's neck with a lasso while stopping his horse dead and dismounting in one smooth motion. The calf, still running, is yanked backwards by the rope which is attached to the now stationary horse (horse weighs more than the calf) and then grabbed by the rider, who ties the calf's four legs together. If the calf stays down for six seconds, the task is considered complete.

Barrel Racing: Woman on a horse racing around three barrels (duh...) in a timed contest. This one is actually pretty exciting. It's clear that if you take anything more than the tightest turn around the barrel, you are not winning this event. Two thumbs up for this event!

The blurry quadruped is a bull trying to dislodge a rider.

Bull Riding: Pretty much the same as bareback riding except with a bull, not a horse, so way more dangerous and way more possibility of bodily harm. These animals are massive. I'm adding bull rider to the very long list of jobs I never want. During the bareback riding, the rider is assisted off the horse by two other riders on horses which they cannot do with the bull. So after the eight second count, it's up to the rider to  get off and the rodeo clowns (also on the list of jobs I don't want) to distract the bull so he doesn't gore the rider. One dude got tossed into the wall by a bull but somehow hopped right up.

I have to say the rodeo was worth the trip to Texas and the trip's only halfway over! It was a blast and I'd do it again (although I probably won't) despite the VERY long prayer we had to endure at the beginning of the thing and missing the entire Wizards game against the Bucks (a fourth win in a row by the way). I also got to gaze with envy on the Spurs' trophy case. Someday, maybe.

Frisco, Texas: D-League Assignment

After my overnight stop in Dallas, I was excited to head north to Frisco and take in my first NBDL game, a 3:00 p.m. matinee featuring the home Texas Legends taking on the Tulsa 66ers. Watching D-League ball is, after all, the primary reason for this trip.

Frisco is a suburb of Dallas located about 20 miles up the Dallas North Tollway. The area was first settled in the mid-nineteenth century along the Shawnee Trail, one of the trails used to drive cattle from their grazing grounds to the railway where they could be sold for slaughter. The present town, originally called Frisco City, was established as a stop on the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway which was built nearby the Shawnee Trail. The town took it's name from the railway which had given it life and later dropped the "City" from its name becoming simply Frisco.

Today, Frisco is one of the fastest growing communities in Texas, boasting about 130,000 residents. If I had to compare it to something around my adopted home town of Washington, DC, I'd say it's sort of like a more populous Reston, Virginia, an affluent suburban community 20 or so miles from the city with a town center with shops and restaurants and, in Frisco's case, three professional sports teams: FC Dallas, the Texas Tornado minor league hockey team and the Texas Legends. Frisco has managed to make itself into more of a tourist destination than Reston (which pretty much has zero tourist appeal; sorry, Restonites) through its sports teams and an active public art program. The highlight of the public art for me was a series of full size bronze cattle drive depictions paying homage to the town's and area's roots. They have clearly spent a lot of time and money on these things and it pays off, although I have to wonder how much time people spend appreciating these things. There is also signage documenting the history of cattle driving through the area.

The Texas Legends have been playing in Frisco for three seasons. They started out as the Colorado 14ers in 2006 attempting to join the Continental Basketball Association but they never got started in the CBA. They were technically one of the five teams that jumped from the CBA to the NBDL the year they were founded but, unlike the other four, the 14ers never played a single game before joining the D-League. They lasted three seasons in Colorado before being sold to the Dallas Mavericks organization who moved the team to Frisco after a year hiatus. Nine of the 16 current NBDL franchises are either owned by or affiliated with a single NBA team. The Legends were the one of the first to be owned by an NBA team.

The reason I wanted to make this D-League trip is to see how life in the NBDL compares to life in the NBA or get at least as much of that as I can see from a seat in the arena. My perspective on live professional basketball games is formed from my experiences in Verizon Center and the other basketball arenas I have been to in Boston, New York, Minneapolis, Charlotte, Phoenix, Chicago, Atlanta, Indianapolis and, most recently, Dallas. All of those arenas seat around 20,000 people for basketball. The current capacity of Verizon Center, home of my beloved Washington Wizards, is 20,308 which includes the recently added standing room only spots. The Dr. Pepper Arena, home of the Texas Legends, seats between 4,000 and 4,500 for basketball so it's considerably smaller.

It's also considerably cheaper. My season tickets in section 109 of Verizon Center cost me $50 per game as a season ticket holder but the list price of those seats is $80 to $100. The price for a ticket where I sat to watch the Legends play the 66ers (first row behind the hockey boards, center court) at Verizon Center would cost between $200 and $300 depending on the night and opponent, meaning Tuesday night games against the Milwaukee Bucks are $200 and Saturday night games against the Miami Heat are $300. My center court seat at Dr. Pepper Arena cost me all of $28, so 10 to 20 percent of the cost of an NBA ticket. The other important cost metric at arenas is the cost of a beer. A 20 oz. Budweiser costs $8 at Verizon Center; a 24 oz. Budweiser costs $7 at Dr. Pepper Arena, so beer is about 75% of the price of beer at VC. Oh how I wish NBDL beer was 10 to 20 percent of the cost of an NBA beer.

The Legends - 66ers playing in the third quarter. No, most of the crowd is not on a beer run.

With this afternoon's game in the books, I have to say the NBDL game experience is a huge step down from the real NBA. It's making me appreciate just how good I have it as a spectator at Verizon Center. The arena is poorly lit, there are bouncy playthings in the ends of the arena (including a very very slow semi-bouncy mechanical bull) and the arena was way less than half full. I can't imagine how some of the NBA veterans playing in this league can stand it. Maybe it's a sign that what I would consider the three true NBA veterans on the Legends team didn't play: Delonte West left the team last week and is apparently not coming back; Rashad McCants was let go by the team for conduct detrimental to the team (according to the PA announcer's side comments before the game); and Luther Head was hurt. On the 66ers side, everyone played, including Chris Quinn ,who played five years in the NBA, and 11 year veteran Rasual Butler, who is hoping to parlay this effort into a new NBA deal. Former Wizard Mike James tried a similar strategy earlier this year and was snapped up by the Mavericks after just one game. Based on his performance this afternoon, I'm not sure Butler's going anywhere.

The game itself was competitive for a while, although the Legends pulled away in the third quarter and ended up winning by 24. The stars of the show were Jared Cunningham, the Mavericks' 2012 first round draft pick who is on assignment to the Legends from the parent team, and Justin Dentmon, who poured in 36 in his 41 minutes. Dentmon spent a little time a couple of years ago with the San Antonio Spurs and the Toronto Raptors. It was clear at times when he was on the floor that Cunningham had more talent than others on the floor, although I'm sure at one time Rasual Butler would have looked just the same against the talent out there this afternoon.

Tomorrow is a day off from hoops on this trip for me. I'm hoping the two games I have left on this vacation are better attended than this afternoon's contest and the experience is better for me. Maybe the afternoon start time was just too much for people to handle. One final note: this is the first game I have ever attended where we were asked to stand and honor "God and America" before the game. I can tell I'm in Texas. :)

A Quick Stop In Big D

I like the multiple displays of game stats at the American Airlines Center.

Before my Texas D-League trip gets underway in earnest, I decided to spend a day in Dallas. When I initially scheduled this trip, I planned to travel on Sunday for that day's Texas Legends D-League game but finding that contest had an afternoon start and I might have to rush from the airport to the arena, I thought I should check the Mavericks' schedule to see if there was a home game in Dallas Saturday night. After all, I have Saturday off from work anyway; why not start my vacation a day early if I can? Sure enough, the Mavericks were hosting the Golden State Warriors that night so I switched my plans and decided to leave D.C. a day early.

I was last in Dallas for the AIA Convention in 1999 and I swore I'd never go back. I think my impression of Dallas in '99 was that it was about the ugliest big city I'd ever visited (Troy, NY probably tops the list of ugliest cities of any size for me) and I couldn't imagine voluntarily returning. Of course, I swore the same thing in 2002 or so when I first went to Atlantic City and I went back there last summer of my own free will, so clearly my track record in swearing off visits to cities is less than stellar. Anyway, on Saturday I found myself back in Dallas for a ballgame and whatever else I could get up to between the time my plane landed and tipoff.

The Dallas Mavericks have been one of the most successful NBA franchises over the last decade or more. They have won 50 games each full season since 2000-2001 and in 2011 they won the NBA Championship, beating the Miami Heat in an improbable comeback after being all but buried by Dwayne Wade's second half three point field goal and subsequent "victory" celebration in game two of that series. Before that 2000-2001 season, the first complete season under Mark Cuban's ownership, the Mavericks had been an NBA also-ran, making the playoffs only six times in their first 20 seasons, sort of the spot the Wizards are in right now. But this year has been a down year for Dallas. Before Saturday's game, the Mavs held a 21-28 record, good for 11th in the Western Conference and currently out of playoff contention. As an indicator of how desperate things are this year, the team has pledged to not cut their beards until they reach a .500 record. I wonder how long that will last and if they have to keep them in the off season if they don't reach that goal this year.

They have Slurpees at Mavs games. Cool!

So Saturday night I found myself in the lower level of American Airlines Center attending an NBA game that I had no skin in for the first time since I saw the New Jersey Nets beat the Charlotte Hornets in the 2002 playoffs in North Carolina. Incredibly, I have no bias against either the Mavericks or the Golden State Warriors. Neither team has any former Wizards who I think "wronged" our franchise nor has either knocked us out of the playoffs ever. I love Dallas because they beat LeBron James and the Heat in the NBA Finals and I like Golden State because they have one of the most loyal fan bases despite many recent years of mostly losing (I'm sympathetic I guess). I watched a Wizards-Warriors several years ago with some Warriors season ticket holders in the sports book of the Excalibur hotel in Las Vegas and we swapped stories about being fans and season ticket holders before the Wizards won the game and I got a congratulatory free beer out of the exchange.

Over the last 20 or so years, I've been to professional basketball games in a handful of cities. With the exception of New York's Madison Square Garden (classic) and the old Charlotte Coliseum (awful), most of the NBA arenas I have been to are mid-1990's vintage or later and they all look pretty much the same, except for the arena in Indianapolis, which is a cut above. Basketball is played on a standard size symmetrical court so there is very little flexibility in arena design, unlike baseball whose parks can have dimensional and other sorts of quirks that lend character to the game experience. The American Airlines Center where the Mavs play looks pretty much just like Verizon Center in D.C., just with a slightly different layout and without VC's terrible purple seats.

In the game experience category, I give the nod to D.C. We somehow seem more genuine in our pursuit of fans' attention. But there are three aspects of the game experience I'll give the Mavs an edge in: cheaper beer ($8 gets you 24 oz. of Bud, rather than 20 oz. at VC); game stats are far easier to see due to stats on the faces and corners of the scoreboard and at a huge monitor at the end of the arena; and Dallas has the Mavs Maniaacs, who are basically a bunch of fat guys making noise for the home team all game long (they beat our Power Pack to a pulp). I assume the double A in the Maniaacs name is for American Airlines. And I guess if I had ever had a Slurpee, I might give some props to the 7-Eleven stand in the arena too.

Saturday I decided to root for the home team despite having nothing against the Warriors and the game was a bit of a laugher, similar to the Wizards' thumping of the Nets the previous night. The Mavs built a 26 point halftime lead before Golden State made a little run to make the game seem close (but never within single digits) in the third quarter before Dallas put them away and emptied their bench with about four minutes to go. All in all, as the middle game of three consecutive professional basketball games in three straight days (and three different cities) for me, it was a good warmup to three D-League games in the next four nights.

The former Texas School Book Depository. The X is the spot where the second and fatal shot hit Kennedy.

Before the game, I tried desperately to find something in Dallas that was more attractive and exciting than I found during my trip in 1999. And I think I found something which almost changed my opinion about the city. Since it was relatively near the arena and my hotel, I made my way over to the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. The museum sits in the West End Historic District which is an area of town being redeveloped from what appears to be an older industrial area of town to a museum, shopping and nightlife area. It's starting to get there. The museums and western wear shops are cool, but they should kick out T.G.I. Friday's in favor of something with a little more soul.

The Sixth Floor Museum itself is located in the building which used to be known as the Texas School Book Depository. If that name rings a bell, it's because that is the building Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed President John F. Kennedy from on November 22, 1963. The museum occupies the sixth and (ironically) seventh floors of the building and chronicles the assassination and legacy of Kennedy. The museum does a very effective job of capturing the events of that November day 50 years ago. Being able to walk around Dealey Plaza after touring the museum really allows you to figure out what happened where. The area is very much the same as it was in 1963. I watched Oliver Stone's film JFK on the flight down to Dallas to get some background on the assassination before visiting the exhibits. The museum touches on some of the conspiracy theory laid out in the movie but ultimately sticks to the official story. I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist myself. I prefer (probably naively) to take things at face value and trust the government but it seems like there are an a awful lot of fishy circumstances surrounding the assassination and the subsequent murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, the one and only suspect in the case.

Only a dreary day and a Segway tour group could make the Kennedy Memorial look worse.

Next to the museum sits the Kennedy Memorial, a Philip Johnson designed monument to Kennedy. I have to say if I paid Johnson for this design, I'd feel taken. This thing's an absolute eyesore. There's a description of the memorial on the museum's website. I've written enough fluffy architectural descriptions in my life to tell you that what's written on the website sounds way better than the actual memorial.

Scratching The Underbelly

In April of last year, I read an article in the Washington Post about Cartier Martin, whom the Wizards had just signed to a 10-day contract out of the National Basketball Development League (otherwise known as the NBDL or the D-League). It was the fifth 10-day contract of Cartier's career and the third with the Wizards, so it had become sort of an annual tradition for him, one which I am sure he would have traded for a guaranteed NBA contract (something he received from the Wizards this past summer). In reading that article, I was surprised to learn that the maximum salary for a season in the NBDL was only $25,000 (the minimum is $13,000!). That's not much at all, especially for a job which most people think of as a high paying gig with a rockstar lifestyle. A 10-day contract in the NBA could easily exceed a season's pay so getting signed to one is understandably a big deal for someone playing in the D-League.

That same week, I found a  Sports Illustrated piece about Antoine Walker, the former three time NBA All-Star who spent his glory years with the Boston Celtics before winning an NBA championship with the Miami Heat. Walker made more than $110 million as a player in the NBA but had blown it all on failed deals, an extravagant lifestyle and gambling, much of the latter with former Wizard Michael Jordan (okay, so Jordan played a bit with the Chicago Bulls, too). Walker was attempting a comeback in the D-League with the Idaho Stampede and SI was there to see it. I was struck by the kind of lifestyle that players in the D-League have: Walker was living in a two bedroom apartment (with a roommate) paid for by the Stampede just hoping for a call up to the NBA. One that, as it turned out, never happened.

Those two articles got me thinking about the journey that some guys take to get to the NBA. Sure, most get drafted, sign guaranteed contracts and either make it for a little while or a long while, earning more money than most average Americans will ever see in their lives, while living a storybook lifestyle. But there are plenty of others who don't take that path. So I started digging.

Last summer, I read Paul Shirley's book Can I Keep My Jersey?, his account of his life as a basketball journeyman spending time overseas, in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) and for a brief while in the NBA. I followed that up with Carson Cunningham's excellent book Underbelly Hoops, which detailed his last year in the CBA trying to fulfill his own dreams of playing in the NBA. Both books convinced me that I needed to take a journey during a Wizards road trip to take in some D-League ball to see at least the public side of what some guys go through on their way to find their own hoop dreams.

The NBDL was founded in 2001 as sort of a minor league system for the NBA after the NBA offered to purchase the CBA from Isiah Thomas, who at that time owned the entire league. Thomas was asking for more than the NBA was willing to pay so the league went its own way and founded the NBDL. While the NBDL serves as a place to develop younger players on NBA rosters and as a pool of late season call-ups, the league is not a minor league in the same sense as hockey or baseball minor leagues. While some franchises are owned by NBA teams, others are not and may feature younger players from multiple NBA teams at any one time or may feature none at all.

The NBDL is quite honestly the quickest route to the NBA for someone without an NBA contract. Most players in the D-League could earn more playing in Europe or China but signing a contract abroad limits options: you have to play out the contract overseas so playing in the NBA, which is the world's premiere league, is just not an option until your contract expires. For some guys, it's a calculated risk; they deliberately earn less money now hoping for a call up to the big league. For some, it works; for others, it doesn't. Some guys have made it big using this strategy, the most recent notable D-League alumnus probably being Jeremy Lin, who signed a three year, $25 million deal with the Houston Rockets this past off season.

The D-League started with eight franchises, all located in the southeast in such places as Mobile, AL and Roanoke, VA, an area of the country probably not full on crazy with NBA fever. But the league over time has become national, moving out of the southeast entirely, adding expansion franchises and picking up a few teams from the then-failing and now-defunct CBA to today number 16 franchises in three divisions. Almost all of the teams are in what I would consider tier two cities. Although there is a franchise in Los Angeles, other cities are less familiar: Erie or Boise or Des Moines or Bakersfield, places you wouldn't naturally gravitate towards either for NBA entertainment or vacation. But with a little break in the Wizards home schedule after last night's 89-74 thumping of  the Brooklyn Nets and a 14-35 record, that's just what I am doing over the next few days as I take my own journey through the D-League, Texas style.

I've been all over this country since my family moved here in 1979 but while I've taken three trips to Texas, I've never really explored the Lone Star State. I visited Houston way back in high school to check out Rice University; spent a few days in Dallas for a conference in the late '90s with a day before in Fort Worth; and took a quick overnight business trip to San Antonio where I was able to see, but not enter, the Alamo. But I've never really set out to see Texas. I've driven a car there once, from the San Antonio airport to a meeting and back and so have never seen what I imagine is a vast sort of desert-y wasteland (I'm thinking Big Tuna from David Lynch's Wild At Heart). And so this for me is an exploration of an area of the country I have never really traveled in addition to getting a glimpse of what life in the D-League might be like.