Full-Court Press

Cuban backs league

Mark Cuban has been a harsh critic of NBA refereeing during his course as Mavericks owner, and he's been fined heftily for voicing his criticisms.

But on the day when shocking news hit that one of the NBA's veteran refs was involved in a betting scandal with mob thugs, Mark Cuban swoops in to add his perspective, a very league-friendly perspective, via his blog.

Cuban writes:

"Every company of any size has had a problem(s) that its CEO and stakeholders have lost sleep over. Its the law of big numbers. If enough things go on, something is going to go wrong.

"Products get recalled or are tampered with. There are workplace disasters. There is corruption. No industry is immune. Churches, consumer products, law enforcement, cars, planes, trains and plenty more. No profession is immune. From the CEO who misrepresents corporate numbers or events at the expense of shareholders, to the doorman who tips himself from the cover charge at the expense of the club owner, people of every profession make bad decisions.

"[Stuff] happens. Bad [stuff] happens. When it does, there are two options. Cry over it and do nothing or recognize the problem and do the best you possibly can to not only fix it, but make the entire organization stronger...

"As bad as the allegations facing the NBA today are, it's also an opportunity to face every allegation that has ever been directed towards the NBA and its officials and pre empt them from ever occuring in the future.

"Calamity can be a catalyst for significant change."

-- Jeff

Cuban making his Mark in Chicago

Well, it's official, Mark Cuban is in the hunt for the Cubbies.

If Cubs fans (and players) could vote for a new owner, Cuban would be their man -- no question. Cuban has the reputation of having a bottomless wallet. He is a billionaire, after all.  And the long-suffering Cubs lovers think he might make their team the Yankees of the National League.

Not so fast. If they've been paying attention to the Mavs the last few years, they'd realize Cuban has definitely tightened the purse strings and gotten more prudent about his spending. (Remember Michael Finley, member of the NBA champions San Antonio Spurs?)

While charismatic Cuban may be the people's choice in Chicago, there's no question he's not Bud Selig and the MLB owners'  choice. He's like Borat coming to dinner at that genteel Southern mansion. A turd in the proverbial punch bowl.

So, who knows? Cuban may be be serious about buying the Cubs, or he may also be doing this just to ruffle the feathers of the MLB peacocks. Cuban is not the only bidder in this high-dollar auction, and many of the other interested conglomerates have closer ties to Chicago.

For now, Cuban will be giving us a reason to pay attention to baseball in the second half. Heaven knows the Rangers can't say that.

-- Jeff Caplan, Rick Press