you're right that it's all perception. it's certainly subjective. but it's funny, because i have friends all over the country and they all feel this way about the mavs. it's not like this rockets messageboard started the idea that the mavs are whiners. that has been with them for a while now. i think largely because cuban is the face behind it. every owner sends in tape to argue calls...but he's the only one i know who talks about it. it seems he's incessantly complaining about something.
The Mavs whine a lot, even more than the Pistons. If they commit a foul it's like they are being screwed by the refs, NBA, commissioner Stern. They never take the blame.
I just can't get it to bother me any more than any other team because I really feel that all teams whine the same amount. I've felt that way about the Spurs for years and finally had people agree with me this year. The Pistons, the Heat (Gary Payton and Antoine Walker are major-league cry-babies), the Suns, the Lakers, the Kings, again, I could go on and on and on. I think Cuban's the reason why the Mavs have this reputation. I think every single one of us would love it if we had an owner that was so passionate about his team that he would be so vocal. Major hit the nail on the head. Mark Cuban a rabid fan who just happens to own a team. I can appreciate that. As fans, we all b**** about calls...we all did it last year in the playoffs. Anytime there's a bad call, people want to send e-mails to the league and the entire city nearly **** itself when JVG was suspended last year and when the refs made that mistake at the end of game 5 to give them the game. Yet, we make excuses when we all b****, but don't want to give someone else the same benefit of the doubt just because he's an owner. I also believe that if it was the Golden State Mavericks instead of the Dallas Mavericks, we might not even be having this conversation. The hyperbole in this thread is ridiculous. The Mavs don't whine after every call. Sure, they whine a lot, but the argument can stand alone without saying "all they do is whine". Well, they also play very good basketball. If anyone believes the only reason they're in the NBA Finals is because they got help from the refs and they whine, well, those people are flat-out biased and out of touch. Oh well, I'm in the vast minority on here and I know it. No use in arguing about it anymore.
I agree that its nice to have an owner who takes more than just the passive/"bottom-line" interest in his team's performance... and Cuban is just as passionate/extreme as any diehard/lifetime fan there is. But, what diehard/lifetime fans do you know that get to have post-game press conferences? What passionate fans get to have one-on-one contact/interaction with the refs after games? What fans get to go up to the commisioner and yell in his ear, or call him every other day with another complaint? Being a owner+fan is great for the sport, and for the team you own... you're going to want your team to win more than anything else. But, being a fan causes you to generate extreme emotions regarding your team... most of them irrational/heat-of-the-moment emotions. I have a problem with Cuban taking advantage of the fact that he's an owner, and using this as a vehicle to express those irrational/short-sighted emotions... especially since he's the ONLY one out there doing it. If Cuban was content to handle all "issues" he had with the NBA on a professional basis, I would have no problem with him showing his love for the team by sitting with them, wearing jerseys (as a grown man), and acting like he was the 13th guy. Its the fact that he does all that... AND decides to storm the court and get in people's face (like all of us would love to do sometimes) that is definitely over the line, and is likely the source for the angst among most people.
Also, it's not just the whining. If Cuban just whined and it was left at that, I think most of us would be OK with it. Fact is, when Cuban makes a huge stink, fine or no fine, the refs are intimidated or at least have Cuban in their heads. This directly influences the outcomes of basketball games. Basically, Cuban is trying to manipulate games in his favor - moreso than players and coaches or just sending tapes to the league office. Since Cuban has a lof of money and time, he could care less about his fines - as long as the refs are scared and call the game in his favor. Which they inevitably do. Witness the Yao moving pick fiasco from last year. Tell me the refs objectively decided to call moving picks on Yao of their own volition when they hadn't been doing so all year and tell me that Cuban's b****ing had nothing to do with it. And tell me Cuban's whining had nothing to do with Dirk getting to the line during the playoffs more than anyone else in NBA history (more than MJ). We all know Dirk is a fadeaway jumpshooter who, despite improvements in post play, doesn't take it to the hole nearly as much as any of the other stars. Cuban is a little b**** and should STFU. No one sympathizes with him since his prissy little Mavs been getting the benefit of the doubt the entire playoffs.
My problem with him is he's just rude. I was taught to always show good sportsmanship, no matter how bad you got screwed. You tell reporters to "ask a real f-ing question" in that tone and get my respect. And then the Dirk tirade. Classic. I'm routing for the right team in this one. The Heat are showing a lot more class.
My general feeling is that the Mavs act collectively as if they deserve the win, rather than trying to earn the win. Oh well, at least we know who Mav fans are.
If Bogans wrongly called a timeout that cost the Rockets the game in the NBA Finals, JVG sure as hell wouldn't blame the refs. He would sit Bogans out for the rest of the damn series! But then I hardly think JVG would put such responsibility on someone so inexperienced in such a situation. He would put it on his team leaders, his veterans (T-Mac, then probably Wesley then Yao).
Its not "intimidation"... its more that Refs NEVER want to be the center of attention... ever, ever ever. When you don't notice the refs in a game, that means they did a GREAT job (by their standards). With Cuban, the refs are going to come up every single time his team loses... without FAIL. Sure, all teams whine about refs from time to time... but Cuban does it after EVERY loss.... 100%. No other person invovled in the NBA brings as much heat to the refs as Cuban does... that's a FACT. While all teams may send in tapes, nobody comes out and says PUBLICLY what they are sending tapes of, or has a blog that keeps track of ref's stats. To say that the refs don't notice what Cuban does is naieve... at the point that the refs are concious about it, that's already more of an effect than any other owner has had on referees in any other sport. But, as I said before, NBA refs have their own agenda... and have had one even before Cuban came to the league. They FAVOR superstars... they let them get away with more, and let their defenders get away with less. Its gotten to the point that superstars EXPECT that treatment, and are willing to test its limits. Cuban may be wrong for trying to influence them with his antics... but the only reason he feels he can do so is because of the track record of refs being "flexible" to situations, not simply calling the game as is, and doing things to favor most the guys who bring attention to the game. If you had college refs out there, who didn't play favorites, and didn't ref games relative to the momentum of a series (or against the momentum to even things up)... and most importantly DIDN'T favor superstars... the players would learn to adjust (especially the ones who want the spotlight), and it would be more of a non-issue, instead of one of the lead stories after each and every playoff game. I'm with you... NBA basketball has become amazingly hard to stomach in recent years because of the diminished quality of play, and the added hypocricy of ticky-tack foul calls with escalated superstar treatment.
the refs do not favor superstars, they favor agressive player. steve francis will 15 free throw attempts. now who honestly believes the refs like steve francis. superstars go to the line a lot because the handle the ball alot. they go to the line a lot because they are taking the shots. dennis rodman was a superstar in his own right, he hardly ever went to the line because he hardly ever shot the ball. obviously jordan went to the line a lot, he was an agressive player taking all the shots. now what bothers me about the way the game is callled is the tendency to favor agressive players. like when announcers say "he created that foul". but the game is so fast, that its hard to make that judgement in a split second, if the player being fouled actually caused it. they're just gonna call the foul. honestly everyone needs to lay off nba refs.
I'm not just talking about players simply getting to the foul line... you're right that the aggressor gets a ton of calls in his favor. But, who is more likely to get the foul call... David Wesley and his attempted drives, or Tracy McGrady? Everybody gets hit/contact... but it takes less for the star/established player to get to the line than it does the journeyman (who has to get really hammered). The preferential treatment extends on the other end as well... slower guys like Dirk, Shaq, and even Yao Ming will get away with a little bit more on defense than a lesser player simply because the refs conciously (or subconsiously) know that fouling said player out would cause a bigger uproar than not fouling that player out. Established players get the benefit of the doubt on palming, traveling, and loose ball fouls as well... whereas the rookie or journeyman would get penalized for the majority of infractions they ever commit. Its gotten to the point that its "established" and "expected", thus when they don't follow that doctrine now... even THAT gets noticed. You don't have that problem in college, where a big-name player often gets whistled for the same fouls they commit in the 2nd half as they would in the 1st half. In the NBA, if a big-name player like Wade, Kobe, or Shaq has 4-5 fouls going into the 4th quarter... it will take much more for the refs to actually foul them out, than it would have in the 1st or 2nd quarter to call that same foul on them.
The replies below his entry are priceless. Most of the posters sound like total suck-ups and oblivious sheep. "Yes, sir, Mr. Cuban. You're right as usual, Mr. Cuban. Don't let the Man get you down, Mr. Cuban." ROFLCOPTER.
Maybe they favor superstars because they are overall better players and don't feel the need to push off, charge, or initiate body contact that would lead to a foul. Not saying that superstars never foul, but with a few exceptions, I always remember that Jordan and Olajuwon could get their shots off at will most of the time. They didn't need to run over their defender. If you watch Wade, he has this way of shifting his direction and dribble to squeeze through defenders like very few I've seen before, and I honestly believe that officials notice this and give him the benefit of the doubt based on his abilities. Same thing with Maddux getting a wider strike zone and quarterbacks getting favorable treatment (can't blow on them these days without getting a penalty called against you).
I really was impartial as far as who I was going to root for in this series. I had my own reasons for wanting either team to win. However, now, I want to see Dallas lose just so I can see Cuban go ape **** and fly off the handle.
His other latest blog: Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Laptop died in Miami and sitting in an internet cafe didnt appeal to me. I have this saying that Right is its own Defense. I actually got it off a tshirt i bought about 20 years ago. In this day and age, every one wants to categorize you and then make you defend yourself. Im <fill in the blank> owner of the Dallas Mavericks. How can I be <fill in the blank> Why cant I be like <fill in the blank> We are starting a website that focuses on uncovering corporate crime. I have every intention of trading on the information uncover, and disclosing exactly what i do. The ultimate transparency. A journalism professor was quoted as “not being able to get his mind around it ” Others have criticized me for having a good idea but “ruining” it by trading on the information. HDNet is talking to Dan Rather and we hope to do a deal where he produces a show that uncovers news. Information with a payoff. Some people have already decided that working with Dan alone defines positions we will take in our programming. Of course we have a 5 year history of news features already with World Report, but why let that get in the way. For some reason the thousands of people send me emails and many others are writing stories about any or all of these things. Its as if they expect something to change. That they have a lock and key on what is right. Well lets be clear. Right is its own defense. Im going to do what I think is right. Period end of story. You may not like that i want the officiating in the NBA to get better. I think its the right thing to do. You may not like that I will trade on information we uncover and then publish it. I think reporting what we find is better than not reporting it. If we can uncover fraud. Thats a good thing. That profiting on the information we find is the smart thing to do. It beats the hell out of trying to remake the site every year to maximize advertising or subscriptions. It changes the newsenomics, which need to be changed. You may think you know what Dan Rather and HDNet will do together. But you dont. You have no idea. I will tell you that there wont be any corporate considerations. No earnings per share issues. No worries about advertisers and what they might think. Right is its own defense.
Hmm, well that didn't come out quite right. I guess the board thought there was some HTML. Here's the link: http://www.blogmaverick.com/entry/1234000377073756/
