We love that Bas-Skee-Ball
Scott Stone was posing for a photograph at “The Hangar,” as they call American Airlines Arena in Dallas, when an employee of the NBA Mavericks found him.
“We were in our seats and I stood up so my wife could take a photo with Dirk Nowitzki’s banner in the background,” Stone, a Kalispell resident since 2016, said on Thursday. “They approached and asked me if I wanted to participate in one of their contests between quarters.”
It was April 10 and San Antonio was in town to play the Mavs. Stone was among 20,270 fans that watched Dallas beat the Spurs 130-120. Speaking of which…
“I’m honestly not great in front of big crowds,” Stone said. “My wife had to answer for me. She said, ‘Yes, we will,’ and I’m glad she did because I was pausing.”
Let’s back up. Stone grew up in Dallas, and he ran cross country, swam and played soccer at Woodrow Wilson High School. A slender 6-foot-1, he didn’t play much basketball or hockey but nonetheless became a lifelong fan of the Dallas Mavericks and the NHL Dallas Stars.
“I enjoyed basketball and hockey because we got to go as a family,” said the 37-year-old. “The Stars moved down in the early 90s. They always had good deals for family packs, and same with the Mavericks: The early 90s they weren’t the best, but tickets at Reunion Arena were more affordable, up in the nose bleeds.
“Then they drafted Jason Kidd (as the second overall pick in 1994), and got pretty good.”
That was after a season in which the Mavericks won just 13 games and was in the midst of a 10-year run of missing the playoffs. We’re talking devoted fan, here.
So devoted he has a Rodrigue Beaubois jersey, which may or may not have caught team officials’ attention. And if you’re asking, who? The answer is: Exactly. Beaubois was a 25th-round draft pick of Oklahoma City in 2009, and the 6-foot French national with a 6-9 wingspan was traded to the Mavs. He became a favorite of at least one fan.
“I was high on him his first two years,” Stone said. “And then he broke his foot.”
Kidd came and went. So did Steve Nash, and Beaubois. Nowitzki stayed, and in 2011 the Mavericks won it all. Stone and his future wife, Ann, were working as backpacking guides in Bemidji, Minn., at the time.
It almost goes without saying that Stone arranged with the nearest barkeep to tape Game 6 of the NBA Finals, so he could watch it on the camp lodge VCR, projected against a bedsheet.
A data analyst, Stone has been working at Logan Health the past several years; before that he and Ann spent 6 years in Salt Lake City; before that there was a year in Milwaukee.
Through it all, the Mavericks stayed on the radar.
“Every time they came to town we tried to watch them play,” he said.
Which brings us to April and a long-awaited pandemic-delayed trip to Texas, where Stone’s dad Steve was able to secure tickets to the Mavs. No nosebleeds this time: The quartet — Scott, Ann and their 4-year-old son were there along with Steve — sat in section 105, behind one of the baskets.
Right after tip-off Stone was taken to a team tunnel, shown the game — a basketball version of Skee Ball — and allowed to practice. He watched the rest of the first quarter from floor level. Then it was show time.
He was “bowling” for a signed Luca Doncic jersey, and needed 300 points. He stalled at 250, but because it was the last home game of the regular season, and Fan Appreciation Night, he landed the jersey anyway.
“It will be framed,” Stone said, and he’s thankful for his wife’s quick answer, his beloved Mavericks — and a 13-year-old Beaubois jersey that still fits.
“I did ask them why they picked me,” he said Thursday. “They said, ‘You looked like a really big fan.’ “
Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 758-4463 or fneighbor@dailyinterlake.com.