By John Garces/sports editor
With the Dallas Stars currently beginning their first-round playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks, and the Mavericks fighting to make the post-season, reminders of the growing list of recent playoff troubles by Dallas sports teams are everywhere.
It’s no big secret that playoff wins have become a rarity for one of the biggest sports markets in the country.
Apparently, it seems the latest round of disappointments has been a colossal blow to the sports psyche of the area.
It all started two years ago when the Mavericks reached the NBA finals for the first time, and appeared headed to a title after going up 2-0 over the Miami Heat.
Four games later, it was the Heat hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy as NBA champions—all at the American Airlines Center to boot.
A year later, the top-seeded Mavs, winners of 62 regular season games, became the first top seed in NBA history to lose a first-round series when former coach Don Nelson led the Golden State Warriors to victory.
The Dallas Stars, who own the last championship won by a Dallas sports team, the 1999 Stanley Cup, have themselves not made it out of round one in five years.
I’d rather not dwell on the Cowboys most recent playoff losses.
It’s hard for all of us fans to get away from the realization that the Cowboys’ last two defeats have come by a total of a mere five points.
Besides, every Cowboy fan knows the painful truth of the franchise’s not having a playoff win since 1996.
It’s gotten so bad that even the least-known franchises are going down in flames come “winning time” as the postseason is often known.
Last season, the city’s arena league football team, the Dallas Desperados, went 15-1 in the regular season, only to be defeated in their first playoff game in what has become the typical crushing fashion.
Even the soccer team, now known as FC Dallas, has a futility streak that stretches multiple seasons since its last playoff series win.
The one thing, of course, we’ve always been able to depend on in our time of desperation and despair is the Rangers not letting us down because it’s hard to let someone down in the playoffs when you’re never actually in the playoffs.
On the other hand, early returns suggest the Rangers might not be that horrible this year, possibly opening the door for more disappointment.
But then again, it’s only April.
Now back to the hockey playoffs and the next attempt by a Dallas team to advance.
Like former NFL coach Jim Mora’s famous rant, we just hope we can win a game (or series), soon.
