Beilue: 6:34 may go down in infamy in Texas pro lore

Posted: Sunday, June 18, 2006

A little of this, and a lot of that:

The number - 6:34 - may go down as the second-costliest final few minutes in Texas pro sports history, behind only 4:54.

Of course, just more than 6 minutes remained Tuesday in Game 3 of the NBA Finals with the Mavericks in control, 83-71. Forget the game. The championship hung in the balance. If Dallas goes up 3-0, it's over. The Heat are not coming back. Clear downtown for the parade. Hoist the trophy.

But Dwyane Wade went crazy, the Mavs went passive, and the Heat outscored Dallas down the stretch, 27-13, for a momentum-swinging 98-96 win. Now it's 2-2 and the Mavs, the better team, are clearly on their heels.

Should Dallas lose the Finals, 6:34 will go down in history in this state for all the wrong reasons. Just like 4:54.

Don't remember that one? That's how much time remained when Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers got the ball at their own 11, trailing the Cowboys, 27-21, in the NFC Championship game in January 1982.

That's when the 49ers ran and dinked their way down the field to the Dallas 6, which led to Monanta-to-Clark from the Cowboys 6 with 58 seconds left, which led to a 28-27 Dallas loss, which led to me staring at a wall in my room wondering whether life was worth living any more.

HOME COOKIN': What position would you rather be in, ahead 3-2 in a series, but the next two on the road, or trailing 3-2 and have the next two at home?

That will be the scenario for Miami and Dallas if the Heat win Game 5 tonight. I'd rather have the creature comforts of home and needing to win twice. The Mavs were 34-7 at home during the regular season and 6-2 in the playoffs.

Not sure the Mavericks will be down 3-2. Dallas should display a circle-the-wagons mentality tonight especially after the Jerry Stackhouse suspension. It bodes well for a renewed Mavericks effort after Avery Johnson called them out, and they changed hotels to get out of downtown Miami.

Rumor has it there's been a Dirk Nowitzki sighting too.

PAR FOR THE COURSE: Winged Foot is just the way a course should be for the U.S. Open: long, rough tall enough to hide Ian Woosnam and tricky greens. The course should be extremely challenging to determine golf's national champion.

It's the one time that the course should test the world's best to break par. This shouldn't be a John Deere Classic of a course where 15-under to 20-under wins. An Open shouldn't be target golf to see which player can out-birdie the other.

Today's winner may not be in red numbers. By comparison in the last three majors, Phil Mickelson was 7-under to win the 2006 Masters and 4-under to win the 2005 PGA Championship, while Tiger Woods won the 2005 British Open at 14-under.

The winner needs to conquer the course as well as the field. It should take a little more to win an Open.

NO CONTENDERS: If Texas Football Magazine is close to accurate, there won't be many area high school teams playing in December. Only four teams cracked the preseason Top 25 among 11-man teams. Canyon is No. 24 in Class 3A, Stratford - a lock for No. 1 in 1A had the defending champion Elks stayed put - is No. 20 and Childress is No. 22 in 2A, and Nazareth is No. 23 in 1A.

Oh, wait, I forgot. This year there's 27 divisions and 852 teams making the playoffs. Everyone will win something.
