by Angela
I am exhausted. I woke up at an embarrassingly early hour Thursday morning in my hometown of Dallas, Texas to attend a parade. No, it was not Dallas’ pride parade (we do ours on the third Sunday in September to commemorate the ruling from Judge Barefoot Sanders that first negated the Texas Sodomy Law). Nope, I woke up at 6 a.m. to hoof it downtown to celebrate the Dallas Maverick’s winning the NBA Championship.
Am I a huge basketball fan? Do I love all things sports related? No, and nuh-uh. But I do love Dallas. Like, a LOT. And how many times does one get a chance to stand outside jammed up against 200,000 of their fellow citizens in over 100 degree weather and watch everyone be HAPPY to be there? Watch them NOT maim each other or shout insults at one another? I figured not too often so, I went.
As far as parade floats go I give it a solid meh. I mean I’ve been to pride parades in Los Angeles and San Francisco, so I know what a good lookin’ float is supposed to look like. None of the floats had dancers, save the actual Maverick’s Dancers, and they were not blasting dance music or any music at all. They were filled with player’s moms, family, the team manager, coaches, and of course, Mark Cuban. Even the equipment manager had a float, and got a huge cheer from the crowd. So this parade wasn’t about presentation at all. People were actually there to congratulate the Mavericks, like, in earnest. There were home-made signs, a few trophy replicas, cars that had been repainted to pay homage to Dirk; people had really labored to produce an offering for the team.
Once I gave in and accepted that most of the Dallasites around me were *gasp* straight, I quit looking at the floats and started looking at the folks. Children, old people, couples, singles, barely legals clad in only blue sequins and/or paint. It was spectacular to share in such a communal joy. To be surrounded by so many people who were just manic ecstatic that the home team won the big one allowed me to feel like a part of something, even if it was just for a little bit, and even if I can only name the starters. Now I’m off to get some rest and nurse my bad ass stupid sunburn.
P.S. This is the very first parade I’ve attended that had a truck with a double-sided Jumbo Tron that played a commercial. Like a real live (taped) Academy Sports commercial. I was a little shocked; I thought commercials were only forced onto people who viewed the parade from home. Joke’s on us I guess.
Dang, now I wish I went even more!