Many call him obnoxious. Many call him a blowhard who likes to hear himself talk. Many call him an attention whore. I call him one of the best owners in pro sports.
Billionaire Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and the bane of NBA commissioner David Stern’s existence, often likes to sound off on his blog (Blog Maverick), or in TV and radio appearances. It was Cuban you remember, was very outspoken with his criticism of LeBron James after “The Decision.”
“Where I think LeBron made a mistake, was in how he did it. I don’t even have a problem that he had the TV show. But it turned out to be the largest public humiliation in the history of sports. He humiliated the organization; he humiliated the state of Ohio, the city of Cleveland. All of a sudden he became a bad guy, he lost a billion dollars in brand equity, give or take a couple bucks here or there.
Who didn’t love reading that outside of LBJ, Maverick Carter, LRMR, and their mouthpiece Chris Broussard of ESPN?
On yesterday’s “Ben and Skin” show on ESPN Radio in Dallas, he was asked about several subjects. One in particular caught Cuban’s fancy. The brash owner seemed to be reveling in the struggles of James’s new team, the Miami Heat.
Hallelujah, boys, is that great or what? … How cool is that? Now, they could still turn it around and win out for all that matters, but you’re starting to see some of the problems. Any team with a strong, big guy that can score, they’re getting abused by. Paul Millsap goes out and pulls a Tracy McGrady. What, Tracy McGrady scored 13 and 30 and Paul Millsap scores 11 in 29 seconds or something like that? They just don’t have size to battle. They have the fewest points in the paint of any team and that’s tough. … My buddy Dan Gilbert is smiling all the way, too. Again, it’s early in the season and you never quite know how it’s going to play out, but how glorious.
That is just absolute classic Cuban right there. When everything went down here this past summer, he was the first (and only) owner to come to the defense of Dan Gilbert publicly. Now a month into the season, he is continuing to beat the anti-LeBron/Heat drum.
Anyone who wants to keep him out of the Major League Baseball “boys club” ownership group is nuts. MLB is losing the young fan base, and they are still in denial about it. Who wouldn’t love to see Cuban going nose to nose with the Steinbrenner family each year? Or sitting behind home plate yelling at umpires?
Quick straw poll – The Dolan’s or Mark Cuban? (I’m kidding).
