Alice in Dallas

I worked in Houston when the Rockets won the NBA championship-- twice! The city went nuts both times; it felt like a Houston team was finally getting the national recognition given to other teams.

Ha.

Actually, the nation yawned. Of course, in 1995, another incident eclipsed the championship: OJ Simpson's murder charge. During Game 5 that year, the infamous "low-speed chase" in the white Bronco happened live at the same time as the game. (The NBC station decided to split-screen the action.) That year, OJ ended up on the cover of Sports Illustrated instead of the first-time champs. The Houston Who?

I wonder if it will be the same during this year's NBA finals between the Mavs and the Heat. Neither team is a "national" favorite. Both teams are in their first championship pairing.

But we've got Dirk and Avery Johnson. They just have a sometime-actor named Shaq.