In today’s Through the Lens I went to the Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Dallas to catch up with the couple that has the dance world talking about the “Texas Couple”.  You see most of the big time competitors from the US are from either New York or California. To have someone from Texas on the big stage is rare.

Alexandra is actually from New York.  The 12 year old moved to Dallas so she could partner with 14 year old Nicholas Stevens.  Yes they’re just barely teenagers.  Stevens parents are the owners of the Arthur Murray Dance Studios in Dallas and Plano and have coached the couple over the last year.

Nicholas started dancing when he was 4 and Alexandra when she was 6.  Last year her coach said their was a boy from Texas she should partner with and the two seem to work well together.  So well that they kept winning competition after competition. First they won a regional contest then won three separate national competitions and were sent to Paris to represent America in the world competition.

Zach Stevens said it was like a Rocky movie where the underdog just beat all the odds and the unknown “Texas Couple” had somehow managed to come in second in the world competition.  The next day they took first place in WDC Paris Open.

Watching the two dance, it’s like they have been together for a lifetime.  They move around the floor like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers instead of two young teenagers who have barely been dancing together a year.  They tell me they practice 2 to 3 hours a day six days a week.  That is dedication, and it seems to be paying off.

There was a kid, born in Los Angeles and raised in northern California to Taiwanese parents who immigrated to the United States in the 1970s. Leaving behind a grandmother on mainland China, the child was raised on a mix of Asian customs and Americanization. He played video games, spoke English and liked sports, especially basketball.

The kid learned the intricacies of hoops from his father, Gie-Ming, who fell in love with the sport through the Los Angeles Lakers-Boston Celtics NBA Finals in the ‘80s. Dad took his 5-year-old son to the local YMCA and was frustrated when the boy only stood at mid-court, too scared to do anything but suck his thumb. Soon thereafter, however, Gie-Ming was explaining to wife, Shirley, that their kid had to be taken out of games because he’d reached his maximum points allowed – in the first half.

By the time the boy was a high-school senior he was a pretty good player, leading Palo Alto High School to a 32-1 record a state championship. But camouflaged by the sports stereotypes (scrawny and, more importantly, Asian) his play didn’t raise eyebrows, much less prompt scholarship offers. Despite playing in their backyard, neither Stanford nor Cal nor the University of San Francisco took a look at the kid.

Fortunately, he was also intelligent. Smart enough to be accepted to Harvard.

In the afterthought Ivy League, the kid played more basketball and once lit up future NBA Lottery draft pick Kemba Walker for 30 points and nine rebounds in a close road loss to perennial powerhouse UConn. Still, few noticed. And those that did weren’t overly impressed with the kid, who had blossomed into a 6-foot-3, 200-pound playmaking point guard.

After a triple-overtime loss to Harvard in Nov. 2009 in which the kid hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, William & Mary coach Tony Shaver may have become the first genuine believer.

“He’s as good an all-around guard as I’ve seen,” Shaver said that night. “He’s a special player who seems to have a special passion for the game. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the NBA one day.”

Shaver had plenty of elbow room alongside his lofty opinion of the kid.

Unscholarshipped out of high school, the kid was also undrafted out of college. At this point the fairy tale could end with the glass sneaker not quite fitting. The easy way out for the kid would be to use his economics major from Harvard and start cleaning up the mess at Bank of America or creating gold-plated portfolios at Merrill Lynch. But, no, the kid wasn’t finished chasing his dream.

For those who believe this story is already too ridiculous and unbelievable to sell to even Disney, this is your crowded exit.

For the rest of you dreamers, cue the twinkling piano.

There isn’t exactly a long legacy of success among Asian athletes in America. Ichiro in baseball. Yao Ming in basketball. Hines Ward and Patrick Chung in football. And in these parts we remember Dallas Cowboys’ linebacker Dat Nguyen and Dallas Mavericks’ forward Wang Zhi-zhi and are now positively giddy over Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish joining the Texas Rangers.

But damn the stereotypes and the odds – 0.5% of college basketball players are Asian – the kid persistently pursued his passion. He’s a devout Christian with designs on being the pastor of his old church back in Palo Alto. But Heaven, turns out, can indeed wait.

Passed over in the 2010 NBA Draft, the kid would take the bumpy, pothole-littered path to professional basketball known as the Summer League. Turns out there was one team willing to give him a chance – your Dallas Mavericks. In Las Vegas in the summer of ’10 Lin quickly turned heads as fast as he broke ankles. He out-played the Mavs’ second-year guard Roddy Beaubois and rookie first-round pick Dominique Jones and held his own against No. 1 overall pick John Wall of Kentucky. At the end of the session Mavericks’ general manager Donnie Nelson offered him a one-year contract, but likely a trip to the team’s new D-League outfit in Frisco since the Mavs already possessed point guards Jason Kidd, Beaubois and J.J. Barea.

The kid politely passed, and instead accepted an offer from his hometown Golden State Warriors.

“We thought we had him,” Nelson says. “But he wanted to play close to home. There’s no doubt we liked him. He’s a smart point guard with a lot of athletic ability and there will always be a place in the NBA for guys like that.”

In Golden State the kid played in 29 games alongside current Mavericks’ center Brandan Wright.

“In practice we knew he had mad skills,” says Wright. “And he’s a great guy, fun to be around. But I think we’d all be lying if we said we saw this coming.”

The Warriors didn’t, and they cut the kid on the first day after the lockout ended last December. Three days later he was signed by the Houston Rockets, who cut him on Christmas Eve after two pedestrian pre-season game performances.

Says Warriors’ general manager Larry Riley, “I have egg on my face.”  Adds Rockets’ general manager Darryl Morey via Twitter, Did not know he was this good. Anyone who says they knew misleading U.

After being signed by the New York Knicks on Dec. 27, the kid was thiiiiis close to again being released. The Knicks confirmed that they almost made the decision to cut the kid last week, the day before his $762,000 contract was guaranteed for the season. Instead, they gave him a shot. With injuries and ineffectiveness saddling guards Baron Davis, Mike Bibby and Toney Douglas and creating a point-guard chasm, coach Mike D’Antoni – desperate for a spark with an 8-15 disaster of a team – played the kid against the New Jersey Nets and he responded with an eye-popping 25 points off the bench. One-game wonders happen in sports, in the NBA. But the next game the kid started and … the Knicks haven’t lost since.

The kid scored 38 in beating Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. He had the game-winning free throw in a win at Minnesota. And last night in Toronto he capped a 27-point performance by tying the game with a three-point play in the final minute and then, with star Amare Stoudemire buried as a decoy in the corner and star Carmelo Anthony a spectator on the bench, the kid arrogantly waved off his teammates and calmly drilled a straightaway 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds remaining to stun the Raptors and quintuple the madness.

“He’s come out of nowhere,” says D’Antoni, who did not play the kid in 13 of New York’s first 22 games. “What’s happening here is not normal.”

The guy who was a week ago sleeping on his brother’s couch and was literally a day from being cut is now …

“The greatest story in sports,” says teammate Jared Jeffries.

The Knicks have won six straight with the kid on the court and his 136 points in his first five NBA starts are the most ever, eclipsing the previous mark of 129 set by Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal.

Echoes even NBA commissioner David Stern, “I think it’s wonderful.”

The kid’s success transcends the Knicks and New York’s Chinatown. This week Madison Square Garden stock rose to an all-time high. His No. 17 jersey is the hottest in all of sports, much less the NBA. His stereotype says statistician, his substance says substitute, and yet s his story? Dumbfounding

From the end of the bench to the back pages of the New York newspapers and the front story on ESPN’s Sportscenter? In one week? Yeah, right.

It’s reality TV on mushrooms and steroids, with a Red Bull chaser. Screw Basketball Wives, this is Basketball Player. The kid’s rise is the hottest thing to emanate from Harvard since Facebook.

Combine Lil’ Bow Wow in Like Mike, Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf, Will Farrell in Semi-Pro and throw in the most preposterous parts of The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh, White Men Can’t Jump and Space Jam and … you’ll be about halfway to the insanity of the kid’s implausible script.

It’s the greatest American-born, Taiwan-rooted athletic story since a 17-year-old unknown named Michael Chang beat Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg en route to win the 1989 French Open. It’s leaving the most jaded skeptics with no other option than to watch the fantasy flick, mouth ajar, believing the unbelievable. In a lockout-shortened season riddled by condensed schedules and pitiful play, the kid has our ADD, microwave society suddenly stopped and taking notice about all the good things basketball has to offer.

Trying to explain the kid’s success is like attempting to dissect how Adele can sing so beautifully American, yet talk in annoying, high-pitched, exaggerated British like an old washwoman from a Monty Python skit.

If you say you saw this coming, you’re lying. And if you say you’re not enjoying it, you’re a hopeless curmudgeon bound and determined to hate sunshine and puppies and oxygen and life.

It’s bigger than religion. While Tim Tebow was a Heisman Trophy winner who benefitted from a superb defense and minimal late-game success and shoved God down our throats en route to being the story of the NFL in 2011, the underdog kid is putting up historically good stats and keeping his Christianity as a subtle, understated asset. Tebow might have been divine intervention; the kid is all pick-and-roll acumen and sneaky athleticism.

“Our stories are different in a lot of different ways,” the kid says. “I’m a fan of Tebow, I’m not afraid to say that. But our stories not necessarily comparable.”

It’s bigger than race. Oh, the kid still gets called racial slurs like “chink” and a sign at MSG last Friday night adoringly called him the “Yellow Mamba.” But the substantial critics are being muffled and muted, unless your name is Floyd Mayweather.

“He’s a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian,” said Mayweather. “Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise.”

No, actually, no NBA player – regardless of color – has ever produced a debut like this kid. And on Sunday at noon the Mavericks get their up-close look when they visit the Knicks before ABC’s national television audience.

Once upon a time …

An undrafted 23-year-old Asian who made only $762,000 playing for a 14-15 team totally captivated the NBA and the sports world.

“What’s my favorite nickname?” the kid says, repeating a question. “I kinda like Jeremy.”

Oh forget it. No one would dare believe the Jeremy Shu-How Lin story.

Would you?

(Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. / CBSDFW.com. All Rights Reserved.)

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If that is the case, the Cowboys should be first in line.  No receiver is tougher. No receiver is as team oriented as Hines.

In a position dominated by divas, he is a throwback and a winner.  And who better to lend a hand to mentor Dez Bryant, who is in need of a big one?

The Cowboys need to get a toughness about them, both physical and mental.  He brings it.  Go get him, Cowboys!

Lewin, who has teamed with Mark Elfenbein middays on 105.3 since November 2010, has agreed to join New York’s legendary sports station to be the New York Mets’ play-by-play voice for the 2012 season. He was in the Texas Rangers’ TV booth for nine years before joining The Fan.

“I always said when I left the Rangers that it would have to be the perfect fit for me to leave my radio show and jump back into play-by-play, and this is indeed that perfect fit,” said Lewin, 43, who was born in Rochester, New York. “It’s the team I grew up rooting for. It’s the original Fan, one of the best, most respected radio stations in the country. And it’s play-by-play.”

While Lewin will depart his 105.3 The Fan show with Elfenbein by the time pitchers and catchers report for spring training (his last show will be Friday, Feb 17). Since both stations are CBS Radio, and since Lewin will maintain his primary residence in the Metroplex (where he has two teenagers and plays in a local cover band, Independent George), he plans to do fill-in work for 105.3 The Fan during the baseball and football off-seasons. Said Lewin, “One of the most important parts of this move, to me, is the fact that I get to stay involved with The Fan here in Dallas.”

Lewin will also continue his role as the radio play-by-play voice of the NFL’s San Diego Chargers.

“The Josh & Elf Show” showed significant ratings growth during its radio run, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. weekdays on 105.3 The Fan. “Having a true pro like Josh on our team has been tremendous,” said 105.3 The Fan program director and CBS Radio/Dallas vice president Bruce Gilbert. “His presence, storytelling ability and quick wit have helped lift ‘Josh & Elf’ into the top five with our target demos in their daypart. All that said, Josh is an amazingly skilled play-by-play talent who missed the baseball broadcast booth and who feels most at home calling live action.”

The Fan has undergone constant change during its three-year existence, but this move, unlike most, stems from a host departing to accept a personal promotion. In the last year, The Fan has firmly positioned itself as the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex’s No. 2 sports talk station, ahead of 103.3 FM ESPN but behind 1310 AM The Ticket. Considering that success and tangible station momentum, Lewin’s departure certainly will not trigger another shuffling of the deck between hosts and time slots, but merely prompt an important singular hire alongside Elfenbein.

The Fan will likely look at a group of candidates, including Saturday morning host Chris Arnold, regular station fill-in Mike Bacsik and others.

“Mark Elfenbein is a true sports talk radio pro who is well-equipped to continue anchoring our midday program,” said Gilbert. “Mark and I have been very aware of these discussions and Josh’s plan to get back in the broadcast booth. We have a lot of ideas and a lot of options, and we will be trying out some candidates and working together to find the perfect co-host to work alongside Elf in the coming weeks.”

In the Mets’ WFAN booth, Lewin will work with analyst Howie Rose and replace Wayne Hagin, whose vanilla style didn’t appeal to New York fans. As the Rangers’ TV voice, Lewin was always prepared and consistently a fun listen. He rubbed some of the old-school seamheads — like, ahem, team president Nolan Ryan — the wrong way because he too often filled 10-1 blowouts with “Seinfeld” vignettes, over the staid intricacies of baseball nostalgia.

Lewin has also worked TV play-by-play for MLB on FOX (1996-current), NFL on FOX (1999-2004) and NHL on FOX (1998-2001), and for the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs, along with the Rangers.

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DENTON (CBSDFW.COM) – Valentines Day is one day most guys have a hard time deciding what to get their sweetheart.  Is the standard card, flowers and chocolate okay?  Does she want some jewelry?  What can I do to surprise her this year?  Well guys, this year I think I found something that she will never forget.  A tuba valentine.

In today’s through the lens I caught up with a tuba/euphonium quartet from the University of North Texas music department as they went to deliver a tuba valentine.

Dressed in tuxes and carrying a lot of brass they knocked on the door of Debbie Price’s house.  Her husband Buddy Price had ordered a little low brass concert for his wife this Valentine’s Day, which happens to be their 31st anniversary as well.

The quartet delivered a card and some chocolate roses and then set up to play a couple tunes in Price’s living room.  Tubas and euphoniums in four part harmony is sound like no other.  A soft smooth melody filled the room as they played “Hey Baby” and “When I Fall in Love”.

The group is part of UNT’s local chapter of the International Tuba Euphonium Association and they use the tuba valentines as a major fundraiser to pay scholarship to clinic and to bring in guest performances at the university.  They say tuba valentines is not just for Valentine’s Day.  They will send a group to any occasion at any time of year.  If you want to send a tuba valentine you can email the group at unttubavalentines@gmail.com.  The prices start at $30 for on campus and go up according to where in the DFW area you would like the delivery.

Debbie Price said it was something she never expected and will not soon forget.  So if you want to put your loved one in the mood, maybe a little low brass is just the thing.

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 18: Blake Griffin #32 of the Los Angeles Clippers dribbles against Brendan Haywood #33 of the Dallas Mavericks at Staples Center on January 18, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Copyright 2012 NBAE (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – The Mavericks cancelled their morning shootaround prior to their game against the Clippers Monday. That gave us plenty of time to spend with the Los Angeles team that is stealing some star power from that other team in the City of Angels.

It goes without saying that Blake Griffin is one the league’s best young stars. He’s also one of the most likeable. He’s an uber-talented, marketable, smart young man who is also a thoughtful, humble interview.

The Oklahoma graduate’s parents are staying north of the Red River tonight, but he will still have a long list of fans inside the American Airlines Center tonight. Griffin has family and ton of friends who live in Dallas.

“I’ll have a nice little ticket list tonight,” he lamented with a smile.

I asked him which team those family members cheer for.

“They root for the Mavs when we’re not playing,” he said. “But, you know, they’ve started to watch a lot of west coast games.”

Understandably.

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9. I still hate the New York Giants. And it doesn’t help when they invade the Grammys. For once and all, Victor Cruz’s half-assed salsa dance is overrated. Dude barely moves and we act like he’s Fred Astaire.

8. Rihanna has Rihanna’s booty, which is nice. But Rihanna also has ‘80s MTV VeeJay Nina Blackwood’s hair, which is weird. And as for Katy Perry, I would comment on her blue hair but I was too distracted by her tight gold pants that displayed, well, something along the lines of a desert animal with humps an aquatic economy morphing with foot phalanges. C’mon, you saw it too.

7. Carrie Yumderwood.

6. Making appearances with Taylor Swift and Blake Shelton, 2011 was the year of the banjo. What’ll be new in 2012: The washboard?

5. Lady Gaga showed up with a “hat” that was more … a ridiculous accessory that made her face look like it was a strained tuna trapped in an offshore fishing net. And by the end of the night the net had smeared her lipstick all over her face.

4. I grew up with “Rhinestone Cowboy” and “Wichita Lineman”, but Glen Campbell is a weak Lifetime Achievement Award. Kinda like this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame (Barry Larkin) and Pro Football Hall of Fame (Curtis Martin) classes. Just very underwhelming.

3. When I grow up I wanna be half as cool and 1/8^th as talented as the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl.

2. Liked Jennifer Hudson’s understated tribute to Whitney Houston, but let’s not all pretend to be “shocked and saddened” by Whitney’s death over the weekend. She’s been past her prime for years now, not putting out new music. She’s been strung out on drugs for years now as well. She likely overdosed on Xanax and drowned in her own bathtub. With that voice, to me it’s maddening that she cut it short by a life of self-indulgence and self-destruction. And, one last time, stop calling her Super Bowl XXV one of the greatest “performances” of all time. She recorded the song in an L.A. studio two weeks before the game. Same with the Florida orchestra that accompanied her that day in Tampa. They were playing/singing on the field, but the mics were all dead. What you heard in the stadium and on TV was recorded. Great song? Absolutely. Great performance? Nope.

1. After all these years, I still don’t get how artists like Adele talk annoyingly British yet sing perfectly Americanish. Seriously, when she talks I can’t help but envision an exaggerated, high-pitched old washwoman from a Monty Python skit. Adele’s singing voice = Angel. Adele’s talking voice = Julia Child.

When I was younger I tried my hand at tennis but found I had no talent for that.  I couldn’t control the ball off my racquet.  I would try to hit it like I was a pro and the ball would fly out of the courts.  In today’s Through the Lens I went to the YP Challenger of Dallas where they’re mission is to take tennis to everyone.

The tournament directors at the T Bar M Tennis Club in Dallas have worked hard over the years to make this a world class tournament and this year they double the purse money and drew in several of the top 100 player in the world.  Good tennis players equal good tennis matches and that sell tickets but they are quick to point out that not what the tournament is all about.

They have a huge outreach program to try and spread their love of the game to some people that might not have ever thought of playing tennis.  Each year they bring in a groups of children to teach them about tennis and introduce them to the game.  They bring in deaf children and over a hundred Hispanic children from DISD to let them experience a live professional tennis match.

They are hoping to inspire these kids to take up the game, whether they do it just for recreation or go on to compete a some level.  They have seen kids that have gone on to get college scholarships in tennis and go to college that they might not have ever been able to attend.

Each year they also put on a wheelchair tennis exhibition where they pair up a wheelchair player with a standing player and play double together.  I have done a story on wheelchair tennis in the past and I can tell you those people are real athletes. Watching them as they play, you can see the competitiveness inside them as they push their chair hard in every direction to dig out a save.

Tennis is one of those games that people can play all their life.  No matter how old you are, or whether you have a disability, you can pick up a racquet and have some fun.  If your not a great player and able to compete it is still a fun recreational game for individuals to get some heart healthy exercise.

Whether you’ve reached the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt’s End:

*In the final analysis of how close the Cowboys are to the Giants I’ve come to this conclusion: There are seven Cowboys who could win jobs for the Super Bowl champs. Tyron Smith, DeMarco Murray, Jason Witten, Laurent Robinson, Jay Ratliff, DeMarcus Ware and Sean Lee.

*I know this isn’t popular, but I don’t think Tony Romo should be playing with Tiger Woods in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am this weekend. I’m a huge Romo fan and supporter, but with only one playoff win on his resume it just looks bad that he uses his celebrity and position for anything other than becoming a better quarterback. Of course, I also admit to living in a world where I pretend the players take losses as hard as fans. And that just ain’t right, is it Rob Gronkowski?

*There is a seven-second sex tape of the Rangers’ Josh Hamilton getting busy (canine-style) in the Sherlock’s bathroom on Jan. 30. I’ve talked to a source at WFAA/Channel 8 who has seen still images from it. So far the local media has declined to pay for the tape. But at some point we will see it, courtesy of Deadspin or TMZ. So now we deal with this harsh reality: Josh is not only a relapsing addict, but a slimeball who cheats on his loving, admirable wife, Katie. We’ve been talking about the tape since last Friday on 105.3 The Fan. If you hear radio hosts today breaking “new” information that Hamilton “may” have been a woman on the night of his relapse, well, you’re listening to the wrong station. Unless you prefer your breaking news a week late.

*The Giants are Super Bowl champs. The Eagles have the most talent in the division. But as far as the NFC East goes, I’ll be an even more discouraged Cowboys’ fan if Peyton Manning winds up with the Washington Redskins.

*Please don’t let commerce control your heart. In other words, Hallmark invented Valentine’s Day and the jewelers and florists are keeping it alive. Ignore it. Totally. Give your sweetie something on another day, just because you want to. When and how and what you want, not when an industry tells you to. Deal?

*HOT

*NOT

*So Giants’ co-owner Steve Tisch thinks he’s sticking it to Cowboys’ fans with this: “There’s a group of guys in Dallas that call themselves America’s team, but looking out at all of you and the millions of people in the streets, we’re ‘America’s Dream.’” It’s all yours. Enjoy. You can have the fabricated label, we’ll keep the reality and the five Super Bowls.

*With Murray State’s upset home loss to Tennessee State, there are no undefeated major college basketball teams. And, don’t look now, but the nation’s second-longest winning streak belongs to UT-Arlington at 14.

*Classic Russell Westbrook last night for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He dunks and poses and produces multiple highlight-film plays at Sacramento. Then, with the game on the line, he unwittingly steps on the out-of-bounds sideline for a turnover in a loss to the lowly Kings. I welcome a Mavs-Thunder playoff series.

*Speaking of the NBA, Jeremy Lin = J.J. Barea.

*New TV commercial I love to hate: 1-800-The-General. He’s an animated, 80-ish five-star general who is 5-foot 1, loves to dance and drives around with a sidekick who happens to be a penguin. Dude who came up with that whole company must have been stuffed on pot brownies.

*If Curtis Martin is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, that place isn’t near as cool or exclusive as I want it to be.

*Good TV this weekend. The views from Pebble Beach are always breathtaking, even if the golf in this half-ass pro-am tourney is meaningless. And, over in Switzerland, the U.S. tries to beat Roger Federer in the first round of tennis’ Davis Cup. Sad, our top two singles players these days are Mardy Fish and John Isner. Once upon a time it was John McEnroe/Jimmy Connors, then Pete Sampras/Andre Agassi.

*So one night the Fairview Farms Corral Barn hosts our 105.3 The Fan Bowl 2012, and a couple days later a huge party for Republican Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum. Weird. By the way, one guess who won the paper football tournament? Right.

*Calm down, Mavs fans. The regular season is only foreplay. How’s that you ask? The Giants became the 8^th straight NFL team to win the Super Bowl without having the best regular-season record. In all the four major sports since 1966, only 40 percent of the time does the regular-season’s best team wind up winning the post-season trophy. Hot and healthy for six weeks trumps consistency over six months.

*This weekend? With nothing on the work-related docket for the first time in a looong time, I have designs on hitting the tennis court and jump-starting the process of shedding these extra pounds that have climbed aboard during the holidays/Belize/Scottsdale/Las Vegas/Super Bowl. Don’t be a stranger.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS Radio Inc. / CBSDFW.COM – All Rights Reserved.)

Let me say this: Dallas Mavericks’ forward Dirk Nowitzki doesn’t deserve the All-Star berth he was awarded Thursday night by league coaches. He knows it. I know it. And, if they’re truthful, his fans know it too.

The Mavs, 15-11 entering tonight’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, have been mediocre in this truncated, lockout-languished season. And Dirk, who last summer was the best player in the world, hasn’t been close to being Dirk. Despite taking a week off for a personal training camp aimed at improving his conditioning and tweaking his sub-par game, Nowitzki is still averaging only 17.6 points and 6.2 rebounds while shooting 46 percent and only 21 from 3-point land. Those are the lowest numbers for Dirk since his rookie season in 1999.

Not unexpectedly, his poor play born another bloom of deferential Dirk. Nowitzki doesn’t like shortcuts and, of course, he got this honor only because, as teammate Jason Terry noted, he’s being grandfathered in based on lifetime achievement rather than present success.

“Really, the setup is different with the lockout year,” Nowitzki said. “You really only have like 22 games, and if you judge it on those 22 games I don’t think I should be in. I think there are a lot of other power forwards that played really good over that stretch. To me, if you put all the things together of guys that’s in the first third of this shortened season, then I don’t think I should be in.”

Read between the lines: Dirk didn’t want to be in. And, honestly, after his first two or three All-Star Games he’d had enough of the superstar scene. He doesn’t fit in. At all. He’s not into the rap music backbeat of All-Star Weekend, this year to be held Feb. 26 in Orlando. He doesn’t flash bling in his fashion. Check that, he doesn’t have fashion. He doesn’t dunk. And he’s not selfish enough to shine on a court with nine of the best athletes and biggest egos on planet Earth.

He’ll be in Orlando, sheepishly. Like he has for the 11^th consecutive year as an All-Star, he’ll say the right things and do the right things and take a couple of meaningless, harmless jumpers during the game in which Kobe Bryant or LeBron James or Kevin Durant or Derrick Rose will win the MVP after a couple hours of H-O-R-S-E.

Afterward Dirk, like he’s done for 14 years in this league, will spend a day or two with long-time mentor Holger Gerschwindner getting his game back to an elite level. We saw glimpses of it in the last week. After a dismal dip in the road in the form of a 2-of-15 shooting night in a home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Dirk began to slowly, but surely, come to life. In the next three games he averaged 26 points on 61-percent shooting. He rebounded. He ran. He transformed himself from the old, stagnant, stationary shooter which began the season into a championship-caliber star that pump-faked, and dribbled, and drove and began nailing his trademark Flamingo Fadeaways.

In fact, after watching Nowitzki score 25 points in a road win over the Denver Nuggets this week coach Rick Carlisle remarked, “It looked like an All-Star performance didn’t it?”

With the 15-foot jumper that provided the dagger in Denver, Dirk passed Adrian Dantley on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. By the time we get to March he’ll leap-frog Robert Parish and be among the top 20 scorers to ever bounce a basketball. And by the time the Mavs get to April they’ll be a great team led by a healthy, hot leader peaking at just the right time.

Owner Mark Cuban, who has all season preached patience for his old team slopping through a 66-game season, Tweeted a reminder after the Giants’ victory over the Patriots: Good teams make the playoffs; Hot teams win championships.

It is lunacy to write off the Mavericks while Dirk ramps up his game and Jason Kidd stumbles through various injuries. And it is just plain dumb to write off Nowitzki, a mere eight months after he hoisted the NBA Finals MVP.

Right, TNT analyst Charles Barkley?

“Dirk getting old, bro,” Barkley actually reasoned on Randy Galloway’s 103.3 FM ESPN radio show last week. “Father Time is undefeated. Is Dirk in decline? Of course he is. You just drop off the face of the Earth, just like that. That’s how it happens. His days of being ‘the man’ are over. Great players have farther to fall and we’re seeing Dirk fall.”

If that weren’t insulting and idiotic enough, Barkley – who last year hopped aboard the Mavs’ championship bandwagon – also pitched a shovel of dirt on the Mavs’ coffin.

“You should be concerned, because the Mavs ain’t gonna win the championship,” he said. “They can’t beat Oklahoma City. Can’t beat Denver and they can’t beat Portland. They’re too old and too slow.”

Barkley, of course, has come to the realization that Dirk Nowitzki will finish his career his career with more rings and more points. It stings. It makes him stupid.

Having reached the summit last summer, Dirk is certainly on the downside of his Hall-of-Fame career. But his fall won’t be sudden, or disgraceful. Dirk’s game has never been above the rim. His productivity will remain a product of his shooting and not gravity-defying athleticism. On Feb. 26 he’ll be in an All-Star Game absent of long-time forward peers named Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett.

Dirk isn’t finished.

And the Mavericks are just getting started.

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