You know the old joke. The public address announcer at Reunion Arena interrupts game action to implore, "Will the parents of five lost little girls please report to courtside? Your children are beating the Mavericks."

Let’s face it; Dallas-area sports fans have had it pretty good recently. Football’s Dallas Cowboys, with three Super Bowl victories this decade, can stake a legitimate claim to the title "Team of the ‘90’s." Baseball’s Texas Rangers are currently one of the five or six genuinely dominant teams in the major leagues. And, of course, hockey’s Dallas Stars are the defending Stanley Cup champions.

That brings us to the Mavericks.

You know, the other team that plays in Reunion Arena. A team that, with apologies to the Los Angeles Clippers, can probably stake a legitimate claim to the NBA title "Worst Team of the ‘90’s." A team that hasn’t made a playoff appearance since the 1989-90 season.

If that year rings a bell for Dallas sports fans, it’s probably not because the Mavs were closing out a successful run in which they earned a reputation as the "model franchise" for expansion teams to follow toward building a winning program. More likely, it’s because 1989-90 was also Jimmy Johnson’s first season coaching the ‘Boys, a 1-15 debacle that left loyal fans wondering what else could go wrong.

Then a funny thing happened. Johnson made one of the biggest trades in NFL history (Herschel Walker to the Vikings for about six hundred draft picks), drafted some wonderful young talent, signed a few important veterans to balance the load, hired one of the best coaching staffs in the NFL ... and went on to win all those Super Bowls mentioned above. The Cowboys, "America’s Team" in the ‘70’s, struggled through the ‘80’s only to return to prominence in the ‘90’s by taking chances on young players and building toward a successful future.

You think Mavericks coach Don Nelson has noticed?

Quietly, while no one was looking, "Nellie" has turned the Mavericks roster from an aging, perennial loser into a dynamic young team explosive enough to play with anybody.

The team is led by star shooting guard Michael Finley, who after several years as the NBA’s "other Michael" (there was some guy in Chicago named Jordan, apparently) has emerged as one of the NBA’s truly great scorers. With Finley teamed in the starting backcourt with Canadian Olympic point guard Steve Nash, the Mavericks seem set at guard for years to come.

Ironically, though, there are some nights Finley and Nash aren’t even the best backcourt on the Mavericks roster! Backup point guard Robert Pack and sixth man scoring machine Cedric Ceballos can light up the scoreboard with anyone in the league. And, oh by the way, Erick Strickland averages double-digits off the bench as well!

Down low, the imposing 7’6" frame of Shawn Bradley awaits opposing players who have to think twice about driving to the basket against one of the leading shot blockers in NBA history. And the shots Bradley swats away are invariably gathered in by emerging star Gary Trent, who provides the Mavericks with a low-post scoring threat they’ve lacked since Adrian Dantley left town.

Maybe the most exciting player on the team is 1998 first-round pick Dirk Nowitzki, a 20-year-old native of Germany (and another Olympic star-in-waiting) who has drawn favorable comparisons to countryman Detlef Schrempf, a former Maverick and multiple NBA All-Star.

Throw in a few seasoned veterans -- say, forward/center John "Hot Rod" Williams and guard Hubert Davis -- and the take-a-chance, riverboat gambler coaching style of Nelson, and what have you got? A playoff team?

Well, maybe not quite yet. The Mavericks must survive a brutal early-season schedule in which they play 13 of their first 19 games on the road, and the team is still very young. Nonetheless, as of this writing the Mavs have opened the year 4-4, including a win over in-state rival Houston and future Hall-of-Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley.

And remember, Dallas sports fans, the 1990-91 Cowboys (coming off that 1-15 season) only finished 7-9. But with a rookie tailback named Emmitt Smith joining fellow "Triplets" Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin that year, the team sure was fun to watch, and two years later they were hoisting the Super Bowl trophy.

The Mavs seem to be following "The Cowboy Plan." Make two of the biggest trades in league history (involving Bradley, Pack, Finley, Jimmy Jackson and Jason Kidd, among others), draft some young talent, sign a few important veterans to balance the load, hire one of the most innovative coaching staffs in the league, and ... can the Mavericks, a "model franchise" of the '80's, who struggled through the '90's, retrun to prominence in the next decade?

Can Finley, Trent, and Nowitzki be the Mavericks’ version of Aikman, Emmitt, and Irvin? Is Dallas ready for a Mavericks renaissance and a new "Hoops Triplets"?

As the team prepares to move into its new home next season, it sure will be fun watching to find out. Call (972) 988-DUNK for your game tickets.