Brian Bentley

From tonight’s Mavs-Spurs pregame show.    :)

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A brief update covering the weekend’s activites:

- Melinda and I went to the State Fair of Texas on Friday and enjoyed the sights and great weather. We did enjoy the required Fletcher’s corny dogs, but missed out on sampling any of this year’s fried delicacies. However, I was tempted to try the Fried PBJ & Banana…

- While at the Fair, I spotted this. Does anyone see any glaring issues that might have been missed during the proofing process? And where does the other gate lead to? Am I the only one puzzled by all of this?

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I’ve been in L.A. for the last week studying improv at The Second City and I’ll be here another week taking yet another class and filming a short film. I really love improv because it’s not about being big and over the top funny, but about paying attention and letting the audience lead the scene. Last night was the culmination of our week long Immersion Workshop as we put on an hour long show.

It’s been a blast so far and I’ve met some incredibly talented people. I haven’t worked in a group like that and had so much fun and learned so much about people in a week ever. All 18 of us bonded very quickly and made some lasting friendships. Fortunately for me, 4 of those people have joined me for the Film Lab this week so we can carry the momentum over into the film.

I’m sans camera this trip, sorry, but I have had some celeb sightings: Lisa Ling (at Fred Segal), Todd Bridges (getting gas next to me in Venice), Vanessa Angel (from TV’s “Weird Science” also at Fred Segal). Why so many trips to Fred Segal you ask? Because it’s right next door and has a good cafe for the daily breakfast break.

More as it happens…..

I was originally going to title this post “David Stern Can’t Fine Me”, but I’ve had time to settle down and reflect on the Mavericks first ever NBA Finals appearance. As much as Dallasites will complain that Stern and the refs conspired against the Mavs (that call at the end of game 5 was horrible), they did not have any say over the Mavs failing to hold on to a 13 point lead in game 3 and they didn’t cause them to shoot so poorly. Dirk Nowitzki, the playoff MVP until Game 3, struggled to finish the series, and Dwayne Wade was the second coming (of who, depends on who you ask). Pat Riley made some incredible adjustments, but Avery is Coach of the Year. Yeah, the Heat won. Congratulations Miami, everything fell into place, but they won’t be intact next year and the Mavs will.

“Wait ’til next year” is an excuse for some teams. It’s fact for the Mavs.

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It’s 3:20 a.m. Vegas time and we just got in from a very long day that included Arena Bowl 20, the Mavs domination of the Heat in game 2, a Cirque de Soliel show at The Mirage and some post-show sightseeing. Do the math, and my body thinks it’s 5:20. I’m in for another long day tomorrow.

I’ll post an update with some specifics from the weekend whenever I recover.

GO MAVS.

UPDATE:

We decided to go to Las Vegas for the Arena Bowl and as a delayed anniversary trip. We had a blast and did so much stuff while we were there. He went to the Arena Bowl Fan Fest and Skills Competition (and sat on the front row), enjoyed a nice dinner Saturday night for our anniversary, then the Arena Bowl on Sunday, followed by an on-field concert by Third Eye Blind (pictured, right), then to the ESPN Zone for Game 2 of the NBA Finals, followed by the 10:30 performance of Cirque du Soleil’s Beatle’s inspired show, LOVE, at The Mirage.

Yes, I gambled, and, no, I did not bring home more money than I took.

Here’s a shot of the Chicago Rush receiving the Arena Bowl trophy.

Mavs in 6.

I’m going to post some old school pics that show how far back the love goes (once I can find where I put them).

Melinda and I were in Austin the end of last week for her brother Tom’s wedding. Here’s a pic of Melinda and Tom from the end of the evening just before Tom and his bride, Kelly, took off for their honeymoon in Bora Bora.

The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was top notch. It was such a fun trip and a special thing for us to get to see both sides of Melinda’s familiy and spend some time with cousins and aunts and uncles we don’t get to see very often. (Happy birthday Krystin.)

I’ve added over 40 pics from the weekend here.

Here’s the deal, we were at Petsmart in Frisco three weekends ago to check out the available dogs from the Frisco Humane Society to see if we could possibly find a friend for Lola. We ended up fostering a puppy for 4 days, and now we’re about to become a 2 dog household. His name is Bobby and he’s a 16 week old Jack Russell/Lab mix (I still can’t picture that). Lola and Bobby got along famously and Lola was a totally different animal when Bobby was with us and we both love him so we’re supposed to pick him up Sunday night for good.

Here’s pictures from the weekend we fostered him.

I want to say thank you again to Daryl, Julie, and the Frisco Humane Society for being so patient with us and for all the great work they do.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, after a month, Bobby and Lola were not getting along as they were at first and we’ve had to return him to the FHS for someone else to adopt. He was a normal puppy, but he was becoming too dominant over Lola (biting, taking her food) and she wasn’t standing up for herself. We know Daryl and the FHS will find a home for him quickly and they want the best for Lola, too.

Melinda and I were in L.A. this past weekend for a friend’s 50th birthday party in Santa Monica on Saturday. I can now say I’ve been to a “L.A. Party” as there were celebs present. It was good to see Page, since he had no idea we were coming, and was genuinely shocked and happy we made the trip.

While in L.A. we went shopping on Rodeo drive, hit Hollywood Boulevard, made a visit to Kevin Smith’s store in Westwood, hit the Santa Monica Pier, and caught up with some friends on Saturday and Sunday.

The pictures are posted here.

I had a chance to see the Mavs blowout the Kings, 127-101 tonight with my friend Cratin. The game was close in the opening minutes, but the Mavs got rolling and were up 22 at the half, leading by as much as 30 in the 4th.

Thanks to Bryan Stout for the great seats (I can’t believe how hard it was to find someone to go with me). Maybe it’s me…

Thanks again to Roxy, I spent Friday night in the pressbox of Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco catching the Texas Rangers spring training exhibition win over the Florida Marlins 4-1. Here’s a picture from the cramped play-by-play booth of Roxy and his broadcast partner, Dave Van Horne. In what was a very uneventful game, the majority of the action was taking place behind-the-scenes as GM Jon Daniels completed a three way trade with the Cubs and A’s during the game.

Last night, Melinda and I took our seats at mid-field to see the Desperados beat up the surging Columbus Destroyers 51-30 and we left, again, with free pizza (anytime the Desperados score 50+, then your ticket stub is good for a free medium Papa John’s pizza. It’s the little things, folks.) I’ve fallen in love with Arena Football and we’ve made tentative plans to go to Arena Bowl XX in Las Vegas in June. Hopefully, we’ll be cheering on the Desperados.

More of the grainy cameraphone pics you’ve come to know and enjoy after the jump:

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I had the good fortune of attending the NCAA Men’s Tournament Regionals here in Dallas Friday night thanks to my good friend Roxy Bernstein who is the radio play-by-play voice for the #7 seeded University of California men’s basketball team (that’s him at his courtside broadcast position under the big red arrow). After leading 29-25 at the half against #10 seeded N.C. State, the Bears couldn’t catch a break in the second half as they weren’t able to establish anything down low and the refs called what seemed to be a completely different game in the second half. Read more

So we’re out to lunch with my sister today and Melinda decides to run down the way to pick some stuff up for the Oscar party tomorrow night and I get a text message that says “don’t come down here if you don’t want to see dogs.” Apparently the Frisco Humane Society was at PetSmart with dogs for adoption. Since Elvis passed away in January we haven’t been looking for a dog, but we had decided when the time was right, and we knew we had found the right dog, then we would do it. When I got there, Melinda was hanging around outside (which she never does at these things) and had pointed out some Austrailian Sheppard mixes, and then pointed me to…

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I’m a big sports nut, and this weekend was fun for me. Friday, Melinda and I went to see the “Battle of the Undefeateds” as the 3-0 Dallas Desperados battled the 3-0 Austin Wranglers in a hard fought loss. We bought season tickets after going to the first game against Kansas City and really feel in love with the sport and the atmosphere. The picture is from our seats as the Wranglers kicker missed a field goal wide left. Much to our surprise, a large Austin contingent came up for the game and made a lot of noise for their team.

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We just got back from a weekend trip to Washington D.C. to see Bono give a speech entitled “How to live a purpose filled life”. Melinda got the tickets through an association she is a member of and she thought it would be a cool birthday trip. — and it was. The speech focused on American foreign aid to Africa and debt relief for the nation’s poorest countries. It’s astonishing to hear the facts and to learn what an additional 1% of the US Budget can due to stop the spread of AIDS/HIV and Malaria, the #1 killer in Africa. The money buys bed nets, sends kids to school, and provides anti-retroviral medications. Take the time and go get more info at The ONE Campaign’s Website.

Melinda and I had a blast on the trip and crammed as many historical sights in as we could in a short 72 hour trip. I consider myself in good shape, but Friday almost killed me as we walked close to 8 miles in a hurried afternoon jaunt downtown before going to the speech that night. We had no idea our hotel was so far from the National Mall. Ironically, we discovered the city’s Metro subway system the very next day.

You can check out our pictures posted as a gallery of the trip.