Even more important than your hatred for the city of New York is your hatred for the city of Dallas, Texas.  A sports fan from Philadelphia is trained to despise the city of Dallas harder than any other city in America, but the 2011 NBA Finals has caused me to go against everything I have been taught from birth.

In the 2011 NBA Finals, my cheers are reserved for some fine German hops in the form of Dirk Nowitzki. (Credit: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)

I find myself cheering for the Dallas Mavericks harder and louder than I have ever cheered for any team from the city of Dallas in my entire life – which isn’t too hard to do considering I’ve been booing teams from that same town for the bulk of my fandom (except the Stars because I secretly had a man crush on Mike Modano in my young hockey watching career).

When the NBA Finals are displayed on my beautiful, high-def television, I’m sitting at the edge of my seat hoping beyond hope and wishing beyond wishes that every shot from Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, little J.J. Barea and every Mavericks player in between goes in.  I hope that LeBron and Wade go a combined 3-45 from the field.  I hope that Chris Bosh gets embarrassed trying to post up Tyson Chandler – something that wouldn’t happen because Bosh, a power forward, seems to have forgotten his post game since moving to Miami.

After game one, I started to feel a little down even though I’ve never cheered for the Mavericks before, but I absolutely lost it when Dirk Nowitzki drained a pretty three pointer and followed with game two winning lay-up after driving right by Chris Bosh from a high isolation set.

My friends and family back home in Philadelphia probably view this column as sacrilege or an act of Philadelphia sports treason. Still there’s reason to cheer for Dallas if you don’t live in the greater Miami metropolitan area. The Dallas Mavericks collectively represent George A. Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh playing the parts of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Chief Gall.  The Mavs are the last stand of true NBA basketball, and the basketball purist in me wants Dallas to win so badly just to protect the sanctity of the sport.

The best thing in any sports league is parity – the idea that any team can win a championship at any given time.  When the Heat brought James and Bosh to Miami to team with Wade, it, to me, started the beginning of the end of my NBA watching.  Even if Kobe Bryant had Pau Gasol, there was the chance that the Boston Celtics with their big three or the Orlando Magic with Howard, Turkoglu & co. could win a championship.

Call me a “Heat Hater”, a “LeBron Loather” or a “Bosh Basher” if you like, but I stand by my opinion that what came about in South Beach is absolutely bad for the NBA.  The Miami Big Three are three of the best players in the game today, and they’re young, which means they could theoretically win every NBA Championship until their contracts run out at the end of the 2014 season (unless they all accept their player options for the next two years).

The Philadelphia sports fan in me would pretend not to know me, but the NBA purist in me smiles proudly when I say: Go Dallas.

If you don’t win, I won’t be watching the NBA until 2016.

Although I don’t buy into all the ridiculous urban myths about Philadelphia fans (see the Santa incident that happened some 40+ years ago), I still will admit that we are a tough fanbase to please. We appreciate hustle and hard work and we’ll let the athletes know when we don’t like something.

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel came out with a rather interesting quote, though, that I scratched my brain over.

“Our fans are still really into everything. They fill our ballpark up and they stay,” Manuel said. “I notice sometimes if fans are near our dugout and talking to our players, they always want to talk about last year. That’s good. I want them to keep coming to the games. But I want the fans to start telling them they want to win this year, too. Of course they love us and everything, but maybe they should get on them a little bit.”

Has Philly lost that edge after the Phillies’ magical 2008 championship run? Take a look at the 2008 playoffs, when the Phils didn’t lose a home game during the postseason. It was a house of horrors for visiting teams. In the 2009 season, however, the Phils’ home record is abysmal, while the road record is one of the best in the majors. How can that be?

I know that after 2008, I personally became slightly complacent. I’ve been hard at work shooting a new film most of the spring and summer so far and haven’t been able to pay as much attention to my Fightin’ Phils. I haven’t been getting angry or even that concerned over the poor starting-pitcher ERA and alarming number of home runs given up in the early going. Brad Lidge has blown several saves already and has an ERA over 9.00. Have I become so satisfied with the championship that I’ve granted the Phils a free pass?

During the Eagles’ 2008-09 playoff run, I know that I wasn’t too happy with their performance (or lack thereof) in the NFC Championship game. I felt angry and betrayed, as usual, with the Birds. But I seem to have been forgiven the Phils for past, present and future boneheaded mistakes.

Maybe Manuel has a point. Part of what gives the Phils such an edge at Citizens Bank Park is the cozy confines of the crowd. We push them to perform with greatness while intimidating the opposition. It seems the opposition plays carefree right now and the fans are forgiving of the home team’s mediocre play.

I do wonder though if it’s smart, though, to invite the storm and clouds to return to Philly. The worst thing in the world is to awaken sleeping giants.