09:23 AM CDT on Wednesday, April 26, 2006

By KATIE MENZER / The Dallas Morning News

Kyle Davis' devotion to the Dallas Mavericks is written all over his face.

DMN

The head-to-toe Mavs

And his arms.

And his legs.

Just not his back.

A new rule prohibiting exuberant Mavs fans from painting their backs is making some a little blue during this year's NBA playoffs, especially those who have spent years transforming themselves into living Smurfs to win seats to Mavs' home games.

But team officials said that paint from fans' backs was besmirching the seats at American Airlines Center and that the painted fans must sacrifice a little spirit in the name of the public's – and the chairs' – interest.

Still, it was disappointing news to Davis and the rest of his six-person posse after they slicked themselves up in grease paint Sunday night for the Mavs' playoff opener against the Memphis Grizzlies.

"We've got a question: Why are people sitting down?" asked Davis, a 19-year-old Abilene Christian University student, hoping to reason his way out of the moratorium. "We won't be sitting down the whole game."

Although all seat holders have been told to lay off the hinder hue, the policy mostly affects fans outrageously bedecked in paint, wigs and other Mavs paraphernalia hoping to win seats in spirit contests outside the arena.

They get another chance tonight when the Mavs take on the Grizzlies in Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs.

Since 2001, the Mavs have set aside 20 to 30 seats each home game for their most enthusiastic fans, one of many marketing initiatives the team offers its devotees.

The winners are corralled in a special section in the lower bowl of the AAC and flashed prominently on arena screens. They often show up shouting love for the Mavs and their mothers on sports highlight shows.

Because the playoffs tend to draw large numbers of contenders for the $70-plus seats, the competition can be stiff. The playoffs have lured a high school running team that wore only blue Speedos and indigo paint, a man dressed as the championship trophy and plenty of folks wearing basketballs on their heads.

"People will go to any lengths to get in," said Stephanie Perez, a member of the Mavericks Street Team, the group that runs the fans' contests. "People here can get very creative."

For Gary Boring, a McKinney resident who does not live up to his name, that creativity meant a trip to the tattoo parlor a week ago to get star player Dirk Nowitzki's signature etched into his lower leg – just above his tattoo of the Mavs' logo.

"I've got a good argument for me being the biggest Mavs' fan," said Boring, who won seats with his fiancée, Amanda Cameron, to 30 games during the regular season.

On Sunday, street team members gave Davis and his friends towels to remove the paint from their backs, and the fans showed stiff upper lips while scrubbing away their favorite players' names and numbers from their dorsal sides.

"We'll let the team do most of our talking," Davis said.

Boring hasn't been turned away from a game in the five years that he and his fiancée have dubbed themselves the "Ultimate Mavs Couple."

Boring usually wears a blue wig and hula skirt and paints "Go Mavs" on his chest to regular-season games, reserving his full-body war paint for the playoffs.

But Sunday night – knowing the new rule in advance – he left his back unadorned.

"I'll make up for it in rowdiness," the unflappable fan said. "I'll scream twice as loud as I normally do."