Photo courtesy of mvongrue via Flickr

The Dallas Mavericks played well yesterday evening, beating the Miami Heat 86 to 83 in another nail-biting championship game and tying the series 2-2. Dirk Nowitzki played the game with a 102 degree fever, looking quite exhausted and sickly throughout the game. As a Mavs fan, I was concerned for Dirk, but moreover, I couldn’t help but think about germs. Everywhere. On the ball. In the other players’ faces and on their hands. I couldn’t help it. And not-so-secretly, I hoped for the feverish contagion to spread throughout the Miami Heat team. Man, we take this basketball seriously, don’t we? I guess when you get paid over $18 million per season, or roughly $220,000 per regular season game, a 102 degree fever is miniscule.

Get well soon, Dirk. Beat the Heat. Oh, and I’m willing to fly to the next few games if you need a benchside nurse.