The Dirk Side of the Force

Dirk Nowitzki finally exorcised his demons of failures past by leading the Dallas Mavericks to a 4-2 NBA Finals victory over the heavily favored Miami Heat and its "big" triumvirate of All Stars Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Without the benefit of homecourt advantage and down 1-0 and 2-1 in one of the most exciting Finals ever, Nowitzki battled even more formidable odds in Game 4 with a torn left middle finger tendon (he wore a splint since Game 2) AND a flu virus. Inspired by the gallant effort of their main man playing through pain and illness, Dallas pulled off yet another trademark come from behind victory to tie the series at home and turn the tide in their favor.

With the top seeds falling by the wayside in the playoffs (my Lakers, included), and with the apparent ease that Miami manhandled New York, Boston and Chicago, it became an interesting "good vs evil" Finals subplot. While many still supported Miami (Filipinos rooted for Fi-Am Heat coach Erik Spoelstra), Lebron James, the self-anointed "King" who left Cleveland to team up with Wade and Bosh in a selfish, desperate attempt to win a championship , became the face of greed and villainy.

A fan made poster which went viral during the finals

Fans (not a few of them Cavaliers faithful) rallied around the Mavericks, who came into the finals as the underdogs, despite breezing into the play-offs themselves. I rooted for Dallas because:

a. I wanted the team who beat my Lakers, the defending champs, become this season's champs themselves.
b. I wanted Jason Kidd, the charismatic Mavs captain and PG, to earn a ring. Like Dirk, Cap'n Kidd is also a future Hall of Famer haunted by many seasons of frustration and disappointment. With the lock-out looming next season, Jason Kidd would most likely retire.
c. I own a Dirk Nowitzki #41 Adidas jersey, which I won in a Gatorade raffle two years ago.

d. I believe piggy-back riders do not deserve a championship.

Where Dirk played on magnificently despite illness and injury, a healthy pretender-King sputtered and failed miserably.

Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, summed it up nicely in his tweet:

Kobe Bryant: Jedi, Sith or Mandalorian?

Kobe Bryant, a.k.a. The Black Mamba,  took on all East comers both young upstarts and ageing pretenders, tallying 37 points, 14 boards, 3 dimes and 3 heists to lead the West squad to a 148-143 win in the 2011 edition of the NBA All Star game.

Take that pretender King!

Lookit me...

Where you at, Rajon?

He bagged yet another All Star MVP award, tying Bob Pettit for the NBA record of 4.

Bryant has won All Star MVP awards in Philadelphia 2002...

, Las Vegas 2007...

 and Phoenix 2009 (co-MVP with ex-teammate Shaq)

I will not enumerate Kobe's numerous accomplishments anymore, but even haters would agree that his feats have been extraordinary and out of this world. This beggars the question: If Kobe was a character in the Star Wars universe, would he be a Jedi Master, a Sith Lord or a Mandalorian?

a. Jedi? - Before he became The Black Mamba, an ESPN poll conducted several years ago showed a lot of fans wanting to call him "Kobe Wan Kenobi". This was early in his career, before the "incident" in Colorado, and the moniker sounded good. Kobe showed huge potential as a Laker rookie, winning the Slam Dunk contest and scoring the most points then in an All Star Rookie Game. He was charismatic and had a youthful innocence coming straight from Lower Merion High School.

b. Sith? - As his skills improved exponentially, haters saw a cocky, arrogant ballhog who wanted the seize the limelight from his superstar teammate Shaq. He was seduced by the dark side and thirsted for power, wanting to make the Lakers his own. After winning 3 straight NBA championships , Kobe became "The Dark Lord of the Rings" (yep, I made this one up). Well publicized feuds between  Shaq and Kobe, and the loss to the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 NBA Finals led to downward spiral, with Shaq leaving LA for Miami

c. Mandalorian! - For the SW uninitiated, Mandalorians are the most feared warrior-mercs in Star Wars lore, and dreaded enemies of the Jedi. Boba Fett, the most famous bounty hunter in the galaxy, is also the best known Mandalorian. I'll make another moniker up and call Laker #24 "Kobe Fett: the Black Mamba-lorian". His Colorado episode was his Pit of Carkoon, the lowest point in his life personally and professionally. Yet like Boba Fett, Kobe managed to rise from certain doom and escape the Sarlacc. Throughout his career, he has been known to be a cold-blooded assassin who delivers the killer clutch shots during crucial games. Like Mandalorian armor, Kobe has  shown durability and invincibility, despite the wear and tear of playing 14 years in the league, and numerous injuries to his fingers, body and knees. And at the end of this season, Kobe Fett will again collect his bounty: The Larry O'Brien Trophy.

Darth Bader and Athletes with Star Wars inspired monikers

The Dark Side of the Mouthpiece: Ryan "Darth" Bader (photo from phoenix.fanster.com)

One of the undercards of UFC 126 (featuring Anderson "The Spider" Silva vs Vitor "The Phenom\ Belfort" as the main event) piqued my interest as it pitted two young up and coming fighters, Jon "Bones" Jones and Ryan "Darth" Bader. Now that's a cool crossover between the UFC and Star Wars .

(image from cbssports.com)

Ryan (real name: Ryan DuWayne Bader) was the winner of The Ultimate Fighter Season 8 finale and had a pristine MMA record of 12-0, racking up impressive wins over Keith Jardine and Antonio "Little Nog" Noguiera) before falling to Bones Jones in their match via 2nd rd guillotine choke. Too bad, I guess the force was not strong  with Darth Bader today. Bones was the same fighter who broke Brandon Vera's cheekbone and I wanted Bader to sort of avenge him.

So, which other athletes have used Star Wars influenced monikers?

I Believe I Can Fly (Samboy Lim before Space Jam)

1. Avelino "Samboy" "The Skywalker" Lim
This Philippine Basketball Association legend mesmerized Pinoy hoop fans in the early 80s with his devil-may-care aerial acrobatics

Kenny Walker (image from hoopedia.nba.com)

2. Kenny "Sky" Walker

His claim to fame was winning the 1989 Slam Dunk contest while he was with the New York Knicks.

DVD Cover of Skywalker: The David Thompson Story (Image from tower.com)

3. David Thompson

Perhaps more deserving of the moniker than Kenny Walker is David Thompson, a Hall of Famer whose career started with the ABA then eventually the NBA where he was a 4 time All Star. He played for the Denver Nuggets and Seattle Supersonics. His Airness Michael Jordan admitted that he looked up to David Thompson as his role model while growing up. Another interesting fact: Thompson was drafted number 1 by both the ABA and the NBA

Lester Hayes (image from fannation.com)

4. Lester Hayes ("The only true Jedi of the NFL")

More popularly known as "The Judge" and "Lester the Molester", Hayes was a big Star Wars fan who anointed himself "the only true Jedi of the NFL" He played for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders as cornerback and was the 1980 NFL Defensive Player of  the Year. He was literally a Force to reckon with.

Black Mamba with a Lightsaber (image from with-malice.com, an LA Lakers blog)

5. Kobe Bryant (Kobe Wan Kenobi)

OK, you might say I made this one up just because I'm a Kobe Bryant fan. But to prove you wrong, early in Kobe's career, Chris Berman of espn.com conducted a poll among readers of The Berman Files to see which nickname was appropriate for Bryant. Interestingly enough, out of 15,500 votes casted, Kobe Wan Kenobi won with 5,586 votes. If you're still skeptical, click on this link: http://espn.go.com/page2/s/bermanfiles/bryantwinner.html

Shaqawookiee? (image from mtv.com)

Just wondering, if Shaq had a SW nickname, what would it be? Remember that dance number he had during the All Star game in Phoenix with the Jabbawockeez? Could it be "Jabba the Shaq?" "Shaqawookiee?"

Your guess is as good as mine.