Dallas Mavericks' Owner Mark Cuban Has a Few Choice Words For the NJ Nets Owner

We need more people in professional sports like Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban. There is never a question as to his dedication. His seats in Dallas are right next to the bench, and when on the road he is there in his t-shirt and jeans rooting loudly just behind his players.

He has never been one to shy away from voicing his opinion either. When the guys with the whistles upset Mr. Cuban he has, on occasion, been known to (since I am in the South right now I will use a southern phrase) “pop off” on them as encouragement to not be so ridiculous with their calls.

Though, to my knowledge, he has yet to throw a chair—a la Bobby Knight. He has certainly lined Commissioner David Stern's pockets with plenty of generous fines that would easily pay off my debt, buy me that new truck I need, put a nice down payment on my future house and have enough left over to get season tickets to the Mavericks.

Full Disclosure: I am a Celtics fan but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the Mavs owner.

Cuban had the wherewithal to get the hell out of the dot-com bubble before it burst and also had the chops to act on HBOs hit series Entourage. OK, I will use the term “act” loosely but you can’t really fault his portrayal of himself because well, think about it.

Cuban says what he is thinking and yeah sometimes he pays for it, but in a world that has become way to PC, it is refreshing.

I can picture Cube (may I call you that?) hanging out with my group of friends giving each other crap during our NFL Fantasy Draft. “Really Jeff? Michael Vick in the third round? He’s not even starting, moron.”

“Oh yeah, well look at me now, Mr. Billionaire. Maybe you should stick with the hardwood sports.”  He just seems like one of the guys.

Then, after the draft, he would get in his helicopter, chopper to the airport and board his G6 back to Dallas while the rest of us finish our five dollar foot-longs and PBR, hop in our ’91 Accord, drive back to our studio apartment and circle the block for 30 minutes waiting for a space to open up.

Inevitably we would have to park on the side of the road with street cleaning at some ungodly hour in the morning, forget to wake up and then receive a $50 fine. Eh, whatever, Cuban gets fined too. Makes me feel like an NBA owner.

So when I read Tim MacMahon’s column today on ESPNDallas.com about Cuban calling out the owner of the New Jersey Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov, I wasn’t at all surprised.

Evidently Cuban called Prokhorov a bad name because he rarely goes to his own team’s games and when he does he sits in his comfortable suite away from the fanfare.

Prokhorov quipped back by saying, “I think Mark has it wrong. I don’t like cats.”

Are you kidding? This stuff is great. These are some of the wealthiest guys on the planet and they are just like you and me. This is why I like Cuban, because we are able to relate to him. He’s an average guy. Sure his watch costs more than my college education and the thread count on his underwear is higher than the mileage on my car, but when all is said and done, he’s just like you and me.

All of this banter was said in jest and not meant in a hurtful manner. This is what is needed more in professional sports these days. Hell, it is needed more in life these days. People need to loosen up a bit. Take a lesson from Cuban and let’s all get fined every now and again.

Mark, if you are not too much of a “cat”, feel free to leave me a comment or two. Oh, and we will have a spot opening up next year in our fantasy football league, if you’re interested. Just drop me a line.