The Dumb Zone FREE - DZ 2-11-25: Mavs fans who were ejected from game and Brandon Aubrey partying with Post Malone DZ 2-11-25: Mavs fans who were ejected from game and Brandon Aubrey partying with Post Malone PREVIEW

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

Hear the entire episode of The Dumb Zone by subscribing at DumbZone.com or Patreon.com/TheDumbZoneWe spoke to the Mavs fans who were ejected from Monday's game for saying "Fire Nico" ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Hey now! What you are about to hear is a free preview of one of this week's premium episodes of The Dumb Zone. If you would like to hear this program in full, along with the full archive... Ah, shit. If you would like to hear this program in full, with the archive of all of our past episodes, you can subscribe at DumbZone.com. Uh, okay, so we have A.C, we have Chris, and we have Walker. There he is. Who do we start with? Let's start with Walker. You might be the the big star of the night.

Although you guys each each starred in your own way, but you're the guy who was on the Jumbotron singing. Like okay, so number one the first game back, Saturday, singing like okay so number one the first game back Saturday they weren't letting fans on the Jumbotron at all were you guys at that game I was they they actually said they were gonna do the karaoke cam but they never actually got around to it so you know the plan was to do it on Saturday, but it just didn't work out. So maybe it worked out better this way. Okay, so your idea was I'm going to stand up, pretend I'm just really into this. Yeah, you had like a makeshift mic. Yes, the little clapper things they fold up that everyone uses

as their their makeshift mic. It works great to get on the Jumbotron. Seasoned vet right there. Okay, so you had to play. This is like a prank caller trying to reel them in. Yes. But they never did it on Saturday. So then yesterday's game, from what I understand, first half was also fan free on the Jumbotron, correct? But then they, how did that go? correct, but then they how did that go? Yeah, it was it It seemed fan fan free

The volume seemed a little lower the volume on all the in-house PA on Saturday was just cranked So some of the I'll call the tamp down techniques. They were using them Saturday. They weren't using them as much Yesterday maybe because everything was pretty mild on Saturday. Maybe they weren't quite as concerned. Okay, yeah. You say tamped down. They were tamping down like you weren't allowed to even... You couldn't wear a Fire Neko shirt. We know that. But you couldn't even put a piece of black tape over your Mavs logo. You couldn't do that. They made it very, very I mean it's always loud in the arena, but even extra loud so you really couldn't get

organized. You know, any kind of Fire Niko chant. It was just getting drowned out. Nobody could hear anything. I saw on Twitter that they kicked a 12 year old kid out yesterday for trying to start a chant. Did you guys see that? Yeah. Well, unfortunately, I we weren't around to see that. Yes. Who were the first ones out? Who's that? Chris? No, AC Walker. We were the first ones out. So we were the first ones that squirted out. We didn't see any of the other people that squirted out. What about you, Chris? Well, we were very strategic with making sure that we weren't doing anything that was going to violate NBA code of conduct rules throughout the night.

So it had been building through the night. I didn't really see anybody start to get kicked out until the fourth quarter. And then with about two minutes left is when I really started getting the fire Nico chant going. And I don't know if you guys seen seen the video or seen anything I posted, but that's when Mark Cuban turned directly to me, pointed at me and started yelling, sit down, sit down. And I pointed back at him and I said, you sit down, you did this.

It's your fault. And that triggered him. And he started yelling over and over again, shut the F up and sit the F down and he was yelling it directly at me like four or five times and I hope that somebody gets that video because my video that I posted today it's like four and a half minutes is all the interaction that happens after that right after Mark Cuban drops like 10 F bombs on me, and I don't use foul language once. I'm not obscene one time. I don't do anything you can consider indecent one time during the entire game, not even during this time when security Dallas PD. And here's the

thing I got a problem with. They're so hostile and aggressive, they bully and target and threaten fans on Saturday and last night. They don't come up, they just like, the way that they do it is so out of pocket and so unnecessary, and there's no repercussions for them. If anybody violated NBA code of conduct rules last night, it's Mark Cuban

for sure. 100%. There's no debate. Tim McMahon wrote his article on ESPN, which has it verbatim what Mark Cuban was yelling at me. Crazy, crazy behavior in the arena staff, the team personnel and Mark Cuban all violated Dallas PD security. They all violated NBA code of conduct rules last night. And I don't think any of us did that are here on this call with you guys. So Walker and AC, you're both attorneys, correct? Yes. Correct. Chris, you sound like one.

It feels like you came in prepared to make sure you towed the line, but didn't step over it I I've been going to NBA games for since the late 90s. I grew up in Southern, California So I'll be going to Kobe Shack games since the late 90s I've had season tickets with the Mavs now living in Dallas here for four years And I'm just an NBA junkie like not as how much I consume it, but just I love it. I've always loved it. I played basketball growing up. So it was just such a treat for me to get to Dallas and get to see Luca in his prime.

And I was like, Oh, we should look at tickets. Oh my gosh. I get to see all the best teams come to town and I get to see Luca in his prime. And I just fell in love with the Mavericks, fell in love with Dallas and Luca, you know, taking the kids to the game Just everything you could imagine and then Looking getting traded man, but the point is I know I know where the line is that I've only been kicked out one time at a Dallas Mavericks game and I've probably been to a hundred games there

I probably went to a hundred games at Staples Center One time besides last night, What was the other time? Wait, one time besides last night? What was the other one? Okay, so two years ago, I wore a fire Jason Kidd shirt to the game. I did not get kicked out for it. They told me that I had two choices and they were very hostile that night. They pulled me out of my seat because somehow I got a $30 ticket at halftime to get 10 rows behind the Mavs bench with my shirt and I hadn't taken I

hadn't taken my jersey off all night. So I took it off when I got to that seat. And within two minutes, security came up to me, removed me from my seat. And I was I just I just went to the concourse with them. That's the mistake is just being like, Okay, guys, yeah, we could talk out the concourse. What do you want to talk about? It's game over at that point. But they just said, cover the shirt or you're getting kicked out for your shirt.

And so I just covered it. I said, I want to watch the game. I watched the rest of the game. Same thing two years ago. Me and three buddies, we had tickets in the lower bowl. My seats are good, you see from the video. But we had seats. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not

going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going

to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not when it would get quiet, I would say, fire Mark Cuban. And they had warned me several times.

Well, we were too, we snuck down to the fifth row and we were two rows behind Nico. And the first time it got quiet in the arena, I stood up and yelled it as loud as I can. And my voice carries so far in that area. I just, I have the timing down. 25 years we've been putting this work in, you know? And because it was right by Nico, they immediately grabbed me.

And because we were not in our correct seats, that's where they had us. So I begged him and I said, look, I'll leave. I'll take one for the team. Don't kick my friends out. It's not their fault. Let them sit in the seats that they had purchased in my seats. And I'm sorry. And I'll leave. This was in the first quarter. So I took one for the team there because I didn't want to ruin my friend's night. Some may say hero, but we'll leave that to the public. So for AC and Walker, the first interaction is the Fire Niko during karaoke. And then

you also had signs, right? So just kind of you guys walk us through. Well, the fire Nico thing too was just, you just lip synced it, right? Just lip synced it, right. But it showed up on the jumbotron. So how did things unfold from there? Sure. So after doing the bait and switch with Whitney Houston and getting the mouth,

or mouthing the fireiko, we did have signs. I originally had, I tried to bring signs on Saturday. We had similar, I had similar ones, I made them and they wouldn't let them in the door. They had to unroll them, show what they were and they said those aren't coming in. So those got trashed. So this time I made just generic goMab signs and one said PJ and

we got them in. They made it past security and then took my handy Sharpie and added a little extra to the backside of them, the fire Niko. And then we kept them rolled up until the appropriate time. And then we waited in the fourth quarter. We didn't want to be a distraction again, just like Chris. We wanted to abide by the code of conduct. We weren't profane, we weren't obscene. It wasn't a personal attack on Niko.

We wanted to do it at an appropriate time. We waited till the Kings were shooting on our end It wasn't a personal attack on Niko. We wanted to do it at an appropriate time. We waited until the Kings were shooting on our end. And then finally in the fourth quarter, we decided it's time and unrolled them, held them up, and you've seen the rest. After that, the ushers came and pretty quickly confiscated them. As you can see in the videos, we cooperated. We pretty willingly gave them up. And we thought, okay, well, that's that.

And then about five minutes later, security came and said, you need to head up the stairs. And that was our night. And do they just walk you outside or is there a little roughing up? What are we doing? You know, you pick your battles and that was not going to be one I was going to win. So we went willingly.

We cooperated. We went right on up the stairs. We went out the nearest exit. And when I was outside the building, the door was still open. I said, hey, why are you doing this? And they kind of laughed, like, are you serious? I said, no. So I anticipated this, so I read the old back of the tickets

and the terms and conditions. And basically, the Mavs can do whatever they want. Anything they deem inappropriate in their sole discretion is inappropriate. But I wanted to hear it from them, from the security guy who probably hadn't read the terms and conditions. inappropriate and their sole discretion I was getting worked up about that, and that's when I decided, you know what, it's not worth it. And that was that, how our night ended. So I wanted to go back to the karaoke thing, because I thought that was just pulled off brilliantly.

Are you normally a karaoke guy? Did you see this as an opportunity? Because, I don't know, we love when people get pranked, and you knew how to pull it off and in respect I Am NOT karaoke, but I you know I've been coming to games for a long time. We've I've had season tickets That area for nine years before that AC and I we were go to games in that section since 2004 so when you're in certain sections You see people get on on camera and just you go to enough games and you see what gets on camera.

And there's always a camera on the baseline in that section and they're pointing up and people all around always get on camera. I'm not that type of person. I prefer not to. But I've seen enough and you know how to get on and you just kind of crumple up your your clapper stick you stand up and you sing and belt out the song and You're probably gonna get on camera and that worked to that worked perfectly Did they say anything to you about the fire Nico thing from earlier in the game? No, not a thing back. We were a little surprised at that They made they may have pinpointed you then and then been looking for it But who knows so I fire Nico sign Was previous to that

After yeah, it was after so we did the karaoke was the third quarter and that's why we waited for fourth quarter We wanted it to be towards the end of the game Only when the second man people shooting the free throws and that's waited, again, for the perfect time as not to be disruptive. So as far as other chants, and any of you guys can weigh in on this, I'm gonna start with AC. Just in general, were there other people around you? Could you hear other chants? Like what, did any of them get off the ground?

A buddy of mine who was there said, because Dumont was sitting with Sports Mayor and Rick Welts, and a buddy of mine said that when Dumont and Sports Mayor returned to their seats, midway through the third quarter, there were a lot of boos. There weren't boos, and we made it important not to boo. We didn't want to boo the players or anybody else, anybody specific for the team.

We cheered for the teams, we cheered during the opening introductions. We would only boo, I think the only time we'd welcome our boo-do is when we got ejected or maybe when Daman was invited. But otherwise, we were respectful for other people. A lot of the chants we heard were like pro-Luca, like, you know, Luca or Luca,

and there were a few of Nico. But otherwise, nothing derogatory. And they always really stamped out those chants, nothing really going wide in the statement at all. Yeah, I think that's important. I think that's important to say is that we were respectful of the players. I was cheering for the Mavericks when they were score,

I'm doing this, you know what I'm saying? I'm giving them the like we're we're doing it and we were respectful I will say I think one of the reasons Cuban got triggered was that at the end we did get the fire Nico chant going during the match shooting free throws and some people will some people will disagree if that's okay or not and and and we'll say hey hey cut the players a break, like don't be like that to the players. But I think that Nico and Cuban and the staff

put us in this situation. So now I have to apologize. I'm saying that was the only time it was quiet because they're purposely trying to drown people out. So if that's the only chance that I have and my homie Garrett just showed up cause we got the news coming over later. Um, and he was with me at the game. He actually just walked in right now, but, um, I will tell you that the first time

Kyrie shot free throws, I looked at him and I said, I'm not going to yell anything right now out of respect for Kyrie. He just made his ninth all star. I love Kyrie. I'm not going to say anything right now because I was doing a bunch of Luca. If you heard any Luca chants, it was coming from me in my section. I was yelling, put in Luca out of respect for Kyrie. I did not do it during his first free throw, but then later on it got quiet during a Kyrie free throw. And I just said, look, I gave him his pass earlier. And there was one other guy that shot free throws his first time.

And I said, I'm not going to do it right now, to respect, because he's a baller and I love his game. And the time came at the end of the game. It was go time. And we got the fire Nico chant going. And that's what triggered the Mark Cuban thing. And I think it's important, if you have not seen my video that I posted of my interaction within the first 10 seconds of my video,

security tells me, do you want to walk out or get dragged out? Yeah. First thing they said after my interaction with Cuban, and then you can see in the video over and over again, they're threatening me with going to jail saying you got two choices. and I just now look, was I being dramatic in the video? See, I was going to say, listen, they're definitely happy. I enjoyed myself so much, man. It's so much fun to be there.

So when I start, yeah, look, I am type one diabetic for 35 years. Don't get it twisted, but obviously I'm trolling a little bit and just having fun. That's part of the experience. Obviously, I'm trolling a little bit and just having fun. That's part of the experience. Yeah you went full like a civil rights protest towards the end and I'm like hey look Everyone do their part. I promised my wife that I was not gonna get arrested and We know these guys said that they left and they comply that think that's what happens is they bully fans

No, these guys said that they left and they can fly. And I think that's what happens is they bully fans. They'll just come up and be hostile and aggressive and just say, you're out. And most people don't know how to react. And they're just like, okay, I guess I did something wrong and I have to leave. And I made a stand last night and I said, I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving.

I didn't do anything wrong. I'm not leaving. And right up until I actually thought Dude was about to maybe pull cuffs out I could see it in his eye that maybe we were at that moment. I was like, okay Maybe we could slowly walk out. We all know we all know So have any of you been contacted? Regarding the future as far as your status in the game like and for life anything like that. I

your status in the game, ban for life, anything like that? I have not been. In fact, that was actually my number one concern and probably why I did back down is I enjoy going to games. I love going to games, been doing it for years. I don't wanna, you know, I'm not one of the people who's gonna go cancel tickets. So as of this morning, Wednesday's game still loaded up in my app so hopefully it will continue to do so and the ticket will scan tomorrow but

no no one's reached out to me yet no and I haven't heard from anybody either so I was I was obviously following these situations pretty closely on Twitter and I think somebody posted a video of the arena and it was pretty empty there towards the end and some people were saying it's because a lot of fans were getting escorted out. Did you guys notice that? I don't know if it was a ton. Not a lot. Okay. Yeah I think we were the first ones out but I didn't notice just a file of people of security dragging folks out. You know, some of that could just be a late Monday night game, but I think people on Twitter were trying

to make it seem like security were just sending people out in waves. No, it was empty because it was a Monday night against Sacramento, you know, AD, and they just traded Luca. So nobody wanted to be there. Everybody, I think, at the protest on Saturday got a lot of their their feelings out

And we all thought we were over it until Patrick Dumont wants to make that statement and just completely Reignited the storm and I think that there was a lot of that energy in the building last night and deservedly so they deserve Everything come in their way every bit of it them Tim McMahon. They could all get it was Nico in there Yeah, okay. No, no Nico did not See, I know where he sits cuz remember the story there. Well, I was checking his seat all night And we're far enough away. I couldn't yell anything that would ever reach him in that seat. He was at the game But him and Finley did not go sit in their seat. They have not shown their face in those seats yet Okay, cuz I read sports mayor was sitting next to Dumont.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. They got booed when they walked back in. Nico was on the floor before the game, but he was not in his regular seat. Yeah, I fully expect that I'm going to hear something, even though I thought that with the fired Jason Kidd shirt two years ago and they never said anything to me. But I hope that I do enough of these podcasts and interviews today that I shine enough light on how the fans have been treated. And that includes me, I think that maybe there's enough spotlight there where they feel like they can't just rip my tickets away from me

because I think they would be hard pressed to show where I violated any rules for the AAC or the NBA Code of Conduct. Well, it's like he said though, it's written in such a way that it can be applied very broadly, right? And they can say anything, which is a can of worms that I find interesting

because what if you just boo an opposing player? Like what if somebody, what if a player had forced his way out of Dallas and you wanted to boo him when he comes back? What if a coach that you didn't? I mean, hell, my point was Cuban has made a name for himself as a guy who yells at referees. Guys who are at a sporting event doing their job

and he's yelling at them all the time. So there could be different rules for Cuban? Well yeah, but I mean it makes me think like, so Cuban did say, somebody emailed him and he said, the LOL, the arena was booing the guy while the Mavs were shooting free throws, while we had the ball at the end of a closed game. If you don't think I would do something to protect our players, you don't know me at all. So I can get trying to make a difference between who's at the line and who's not. I think there should be chants every single time the opposing team is at the line, for sure.

But what if you just started chanting, we love Nico? Right, so like that's the point I made it if I was to say let's go Mavs or let's go Kyrie and I did it loud and I did it in the exact same moments of the game that I did it they would encourage me and applaud me but

when I say something else then it's different so I actually don't think they have a leg to stand on for kicking people out, even with the vagueness of the rule. I really don't. Um, I think sure they could look at it and just say, Oh, you know, you were, you were disturbing or whatever, but like, I don't think they can just point people out and say, Hey, we don't like you. You can't, it's not, it is not a, uh, right to refuse service type of situation. The NBA has written rules for

how NBA fans are supposed to conduct themselves. You can look it up word for word and I dare them to find where I violated a rule within the NBA code of conduct. Well no, I don't think that they can. I'm kind of with Walker. He is a lawyer and he's like yeah they could probably can. But I sound like a lawyer. Yeah, no, you do. So no, Walker, I wanted to, I just want to say something to Walker before. I think you might have a hard out here in a minute, but I'm not sure.

I'm OK for a few minutes. OK, you don't have a trial to get to? But what do you guys, like, are you guys thinking, what are the thoughts on when Luca comes back? Because I know Jake is already planning to go to that game. And even if this thing dies down, I feel like it'll get just as big, if not bigger, when Luka's back.

You know, I've thought about that. And I'll be honest, I don't know what my response is going to be. You know, certainly I'll cheer Luka. Am I going to boo the Mavs then? It's going to be hard. I mean, I'm mad and upset now. Will I be this mad and upset in two months? I don't know. And I'm not sure what the arena is going to be like. I think this was, you know, I think this gives them a good idea that there weren't a whole lot of protests, but you heard the boos. And so there is that pent up energy. So is that going to come out on April 9th?

I don't know. By the way, I will say, to your previous point about the tickets, what y'all are doing is the best thing that thankfully attention's been brought to this and they're getting a black eye in the media. So hopefully, you know hopefully losing the PR battle is gonna keep them from retaliating. But yeah, April 9th, Jake, I can't wait for my leader here to tell us what to do.

Yeah, we have some time to work on it. But I think people who have calmed down will be pissed off again once it's a couple days before and it's all anybody's talking about and who knows? The trajectory of the way that this story's developed over the last nine, 10 days, there's gonna be more stuff they do that upsets us. They're not done pissing us off,

but my thought is MVP chants anytime the guy has the ball for starters, and I just don't see how they can stop 17,000 people in unison from chanting fire Niko or sell the team every single time the Lakers are at the line. No matter who from the Lakers are at the line, that's the time you do it. To me. That's what it's got to be. It's got to be the strength in numbers.

It's easy for them to pick off AC and Chris and me and a few here and there, but it's got to be the strength in numbers. It's easy for them to pick off, you know, AC and Chris and me and a few here and there, but it's gotta be that strength in numbers. And it's gotta get to the Lakers fans, right? They'll help us with this, cause there's gonna be a ton of Lakers fans there either way, probably more now, and probably you won't be able to tell, cause I'll have a yellow and a purple and gold on 77. It has to be Lakers fans as well.

You get your Niko your your ownership shots in any time. They're at the line How do you stop that? Yeah? No, I mean What fake lawyer Chris and these real lawyers are saying is like even if you like in theory the Mavs could say You can't wear a Lakers Jersey into this arena, right? Right You can't do you remember somebody brought this up to me this morning. Do you remember how much we were encouraged to go after DeAndre Jordan when he came back here?

They would let you get away with anything that night. And now? It was brutal. Every time there was a stoppage, if he went to the free throw line. Yeah, you were probably there. Merciless. Yeah. Chris is muted, or he's talking.

You want to wrap up with him? There you go, Chris. Let's see. Now we lost his audio. We lost your audio for some reason, man. Oh, well. You guys are the best. Yeah.

Fighting the good fight. We appreciate you. No, very creative. Way to get that sign in. I wonder if they're just going to confiscate all signs on Lucanite. Yes, because there's just no signs at all, because they'll know how to sneak them in. And so we appreciate you guys offering us the forum to get out our side of the story.

I mean, maybe they may be strip searching because I was because I was gonna say you know maybe a smuggle thing your body can absorb a lot more back there than you think. Yeah, Jake found that out the hard way. You mule it. I was thinking we need eight guys so we got you three we get need five more you do the you paint your chest you know the-I-R-E and all that, and then you just fire off shirtless. I'll do it. At some point in the game, and you know you're gonna be escorted out,

but I do think this, what you guys did just keeps the spotlight on the whole thing. Yeah. And it raises awareness. And you are the heroes. This is actually a raise in awareness I can get on board with.

That's right. All right, you guys. I've been shirtless with the numbers on before the sporting event, so I'm there for doing it on April 9th. For some reason, that doesn't throw me off. I'm like, oh yeah, of course this guy's been shirtless in the sporting event. The Dumbs Up.