David McDavid was on the way out of his Dallas office a couple of days ago, headed to a high school football game, where his 14-year-old daughter was cheerleading. He knew what he would hear in the stands.

"Every time I go somewhere," he said, "all our friends say, 'Well, have you signed it yet?' I've told them so many times, 'We think it's going to be next Monday.' Or, 'We think it's going to be next Thursday.' And then it's not."

His friends are referring, of course, to signing the dotted line on his long-pursued purchase of the Hawks and Thrashers.

For the record, McDavid still believes he's going to do that soon.

In his first interview in several weeks, he chose these words carefully, aware that his previous projections had proved overly optimistic: "The way to characterize it is to say we are of the opinion that the deal is imminent."

McDavid wouldn't discuss specifics of the negotiations, including a complication that surfaced recently --- the need for AOL Time Warner to substitute a letter of credit for the Hawks franchise as collateral on the Philips Arena bonds in order to sell a lien-free team. That is the latest of countless complexities to be negotiated in the 137 days since McDavid signed a letter of intent to buy the teams and arena rights.

"It has been a roller coaster ride," McDavid said. "I can't tell you how much anxiety there has been. But at the same time, I don't think I've ever felt like the deal wouldn't happen. Even when [a part] would blow up in our face, we always felt it would get put back together."