Chewing the Straw with Caron Butler

I didn't really know what to expect when I sat down for an interview with Caron Butler.  Aside from a brief introductory "hello", teaming upwith him to play ping pong, and a few media scrum interviews, we hadn't chatted much. 

So when we took over the AAC's main media room, delaying the poor production folks who were trying to set up for Tuesday night's Stars/Sharks game, I came away from our 10-minute interview impressed and intrigued with the just-turned-30-year old's perspective on a number of things.

Here are some highlights:
-He doesn't think that Kobe Bryant was blowing smoke when he told me during All-Star weekend that the Mavs/Wizards trade puts Dallas up there with the NBA's elite.  He said that Kobe isn't in the business of saying things he doesn't mean.  In fact, Kobe texted Caron as soon as the trade happened. Tune in tonight to find out what Kobe said.
-He explains why this trade has worked so quickly for Dallas and how much it's reinvigorated him as a player.
-When the trade happened, Mark Cuban wanted to Butler to fly to Dallas immediately and hang out with him during All-Star weekend.
-He outlines the parameters of "strawgate", when he can and can't chew straws and how he started the whole straw-chewing business in the first place.
-And, I know you Tony Romo fans will hate this, he says Romo is a phenomenal athlete and killed his team one time in a basketball game.  His Racine high school team used to play Romo about 3 times a year in high school.

You can hear the rest of Butler's interview on Mavericks Game Night with Derek Harper and me tonight at 7pm on TXA21.