The Cuban Factor

I have to admit that I was one of the few people who actually watched some of the NBA finals this year, and rather expectedly, I was less than impressed.  I guess I want a little more out of a basketball game then repeated isolation plays for each of the team’s star players, but maybe that’s just me.  I also don’t know when ball movement became a weakness for basketball teams, but it appears as if the “team concept” is now limited to the college ranks and the Phoenix Suns.  Of course, it was really great and exciting to see the officials completely take over a few of the games, calling time-outs when they obviously weren’t asked for and basically giving Dwayne Wade foul shots whenever he drove to the basket, but maybe I’m just disconnected from the entire country and this is actually what people want to see.  Unfortunately for basketball fans everywhere, I’m sure that David Stern has worn his arm out patting himself on the back and is now dedicating his time to destroying the only redeeming entity of the league: Mark Cuban.

While the finals turned out to be a completely lackluster event, Mark Cuban once again filled the bill as the best thing that ever happened to professional sports.  I love that goofy bastard, and I believe that everyone in America should feel the same way.  In an era where professional athletes cheat the system and routinely get arrested for infractions like beating their wives, Mark Cuban provides America with a role-model we can all relate to.  Mark Cuban lives the “What would you do if you won the lottery” fantasy, and he lives it to the fullest.  He is the American Dream, and while I still don’t understand why he doesn’t try to improve his physical appearance a little, I can completely relate to almost everything else he does.

If you owned a professional sports franchise, where would you sit at the games?  I would sit right on the court, just like Cuban.  Hell, I would sit on top of the backboard if I could figure out how to do it, and I’m sure he is currently devising a plan to accomplish this task.  How would you spend your money?  I would try my best to utilize my fantasy basketball skills and throw money around like a drunken sailor.  Cuban agrees with this philosophy wholeheartedly, and he has resurrected the lowly Dallas Mavericks into a consistent competitor for the NBA championship.  He’s emotional, ridiculous, and sometimes annoying, but everyone who’s seen him knows one thing: Mark Cuban wants his team to win, and that type of dedication is what every fan wants from an owner.

Now, I know that Cuban isn’t the poster boy that the NBA wants as the face of the league.  He’s far from photogenic, he whines, he looks like he might cry at times, he throws ridiculous temper-tantrums that make Dirk Novitski’s rampage against the exercise bike look masculine, and he really needs to hit the gym once in awhile, but beggars can’t be choosers.  Cuban takes care of his players, takes care of his fans, and generates a lot of revenue for the league through fines alone.  Who among us didn’t wish we were at the final Maverick’s home game when he gave away free airline tickets to everyone in the building?  I was super-pumped up when I got a free visor at a Red Sox game that I’ve never worn, I can’t imagine what my reaction would be to airline tickets.  Mark Cuban’s track record as an owner is amazing, yet the NBA is trying their best to push him out.

At a time when the league is floundering, David Stern continuously tries to inhibit the actions of Mark Cuban despite the general public’s positive reaction to his antics.  Mark Cuban doesn’t have an arrest record (that I know about at least), he’s never been busted for bringing pot on a plane, been caught smoking crack in a seedy hotel room, or been accused of assaulting a woman.  For all we know he’s never even had a speeding ticket, yet because he is so passionate about his team, he is routinely identified as a maverick owner (no pun intended) who is detrimental to the league.  Fining Mark Cuban is absurd, he should be awarded excess funds to spend as he sees fit, because obviously he knows what he’s doing with his money.

The word on the street is that Cuban put in bids to buy both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs, but unfortunately for MLB nothing panned out.  The sports world would be a much more enjoyable place if there were more owners like Mark Cuban, Jerry Jones, Daniel Snyder, and Bob Kraft as opposed to most of the profit driven morons who own most teams, especially in David Stern’s ideal NBA.