Tag: San Antonio

NBA Finals earn big TV ratings in San Antonio — even with no Spurs

There was a lot of chatter on the local sports radio talk shows wondering about how much interest there was in San Antonio without the Spurs and with Miami and Dallas playing in the NBA Finals.

The viewers in San Antonio answered with the best ratings in any metered market outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth area or South Florida.

San Antonio’s market ranked fourth (15.9), trailing only behind Miami-Fort Lauderdale (33.7), Dallas-Fort Worth (30.7) and West Palm Beach, Fla. (17.7), .

Here’s are the markets where the NBA earned its top television rankings for the Finals.

1. Miami-Fort Lauderdale  (33.7)

2. Dallas-Fort Worth (30.7)

3. West Palm Beach, Fla. (17.7)

4. San Antonio (15.9)

5. Cleveland (15.8)

6. New Orleans (15.1)

7. Memphis (14.5)

7. Houston (14.5)

9. Oklahoma City (14.4)

10. Chicago (13.7)

And the lowest metered market in the nation was Pittsburgh (5.1) — Mark Cuban’s hometown.  

It’s interesting that the Spurs beat even Cleveland, where interest was high as Heat fans rooted against LeBron James and the Heat.

Many San Antonio fans were rooting against the Mavericks at the start of the series. But by the end of the Mavericks’ dramatic title victory, I bet the Texas team had picked up some fans even among disgruntled Spurs fans.

Gossip website claims TP’s mom crashed Eva’s book signing

Even with their divorce settled for more than seven months, Tony Parker and his former wife Eva Longoria have again popped up in the tabloid blogs the last few days. (Hat tip to Ben Maller.com).  

Rumor Fix.com reports in what it claims is an exclusive story that Parker’s mother, Pamela Firestone, made a dramatic appearance at a recent book-signing event for Longoria at a Williams-Sonoma store in San Antonio.

The website reports that Firestone was seen sobbing as she rushed to get counter space so she could . She then handed it to the actress before walking out of the store. Longoria reportedly remained calm during the ordeal.

It’s interesting that Longoria and her new 25-year-old beau, Eduardo Cruz, were in town at the same time as Parker, who made a recent appearance at the Spurs summer camp before leaving for his native France later this month. The website also reports that Longoria and Cruz were staying at the same hotel as Parker in San Antonio while they were here.

No word if there was any interaction between them at the lobby bar. Or  if they ran into each other at Parker and Longoria’s favorite old dining place — Rudy’s in Leon Springs.

Cuban couldn’t stick to silence after Mavs’ WCF triumph

Vociferous Dallas owner Mark Cuban understandably couldn’t resist exulting in his team’s Western Conference Finals series triumph over Oklahoma City Wednesday night.

Since the beginning of the playoffs, we’ve been , who has been seen or heard little during the Mavericks’ run to their first NBA Finals berth since 2006.

After Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki said he would prefer for his boss to take less of the spotlight before semifinals series against the Los Angeles Lakers, Cuban has kept his mouth shut.

That is, until Wednesday night.

He side-stepped the question of why he has been so quiet and then thanked the fans at the American Airlines Center for their support.

But then, we saw the old Cuban emerge — if only for a few seconds.

Cuban couldn’t resist punctuating his speech by screaming “We ain’t done yet!”

Dallas fans then responded with chants of “Beat the Heat.”  

Cuban has been one of the biggest villains for Spurs Nation over the years with his comments about the city of San Antonio and disdain for the Spurs franchise.

Has there been enough of a change for Spurs fans to forgive his previous missteps as they revel in a championship run for another team from the state?

Or would they like to see the Mavericks lose in four games in the NBA Finals to whomever emerges from the Eastern Conference?