Thoughts while flipping away from the Orioles rain delay and on to the start of the NBA game ...

I may have to give serious consideration to adopting the Mavericks as my NBA team for the rest of the playoffs. (I'm typing this before Game 5 against the Suns tips off.) For one thing, I have yet to see a playoff blog as insane as the one run by the Dallas Morning News. At this moment, there is a heated debate underway about the suspension of D.J. Mbenga, who only the most hardcore, devoted Mavs fan even recognizes as a member of the team, being suspended for going into the stands in Phoenix during Game 4. Fans are also monitoring the clothing worn by the sideline reporters for signs of bias. I wish I were making that up.

There also is video of part of the altercation in the stands that got Mbenga suspended, and the aftermath - raw feed posted from a Phoenix TV station. Yes, that is Mark Cuban getting involved. Yes, the blond woman did give the crowd the finger with her free hand, the one not holding the beer. No, I wasn't sure either which woman was Avery Johnson's wife until the end of the clip.

The clincher for my Mavs conversion? As Marv, Steve and Doug were doing their pre-game set-up, TNT was showing Jason Terry stretching at a courtside table, apparently not the scorer's table because there were seemingly high-rolling ticketholders sitting there. And sitting at that table, talking to Terry at point-blank range and grinning a strangely familiar grin ... Ross Perot. Yup, that one, the Texas rich-guy/outsider presidential candidate from a few elections back. My first thought was, "Is that Ross Perot?'' My second thought, unfortunately, was, "Is he dead?'' According to Wikipedia and other sources, he's not. So that was him.

That's quite a fan base there: crazy conspiracy-fueled bloggers, angry coaches' wives and spurned White House contenders doing their Spike Lee impressions. And as far as I know, they've never thrown full cups of beverage at opposing players, hurled chairs at each other, or run onto the court in mid-game. Not all fans of the teams still playing can say that.

Speaking of sullying your city's name while your NBA team fights for a Finals berth ... there's a strong possibility that Gilbert Arenas is being wrongfully accused, and the police who arrested him in Miami last weekend being unnecessarily overzealous. That is, if this story and this column from the Post, and the other interviews Arenas has done this week, are to be believed, and I don't see a reason for them not to be.

How time flies. Mavs 22-14 late in the first, and O's have not resumed.