Yea... he's going to complain and challenge the officials to be better... only when the calls are going against HIS team. When the calls work in his favor... like they have several times throughout this playoffs, and last year in the Rockets series... he's barely even audible. If he truly cares about the refs "improving", he should be just as vocal in games where they make some questionable calls that clearly favor his side as well. But, alas, he's just like any of us here... a complainer when things don't go his way... but pretty much the opposite when things are going great. If he really wants the responsibility of improving NBA refereeing, he needs to be in a position to be objective, impartial, and commision an independent year-long study that focuses on all games... not just ones involving the Mavs. But, as an owner/superfan of a team, he'll never have that objectiveness.
Oh, please what a jerk. Be a man. We all know life is not fair, we all know as a grown up we need to learn how to swallow unfairness and move on, make it better. The guy is overly successful and lost his perspective. I wish he could quit acting like a 3 year old. You know we all pass that stage. If he is such was rightous human being, why couldnt he take on far bigger problems in this world than a freaking basketball game. Captialist pig.
On another thought, I think Cuban just doesnt realize it's not about right or wrong, win or lose. I have read about how he became rich. In his world, it's all about numbers, win more, higher. How about characters, how about forgiveness.
I have no problem with this. I think holding someone else to a higher standard than we hold ourselves to is ridiculous. "I'm not an NBA owner, so I have the right to be an ass" - I think that attitude is stupid. If people think whining about refs is bad for him, it should be bad for us too (I hate whining about refs all around). But to expect him to live to a different standard, and then ripping him for not living to the standard people have for him but not themselves, is wrong.
Then, what about holding the refs to a higher standard when things are going his way, in his FAVOR. Where was the outcry of the foul discrepancy when Dirk was getting FT after FT against San Antonio? Where was the "breakdown of the rulebook" when Finley was out-of-bounds against Houston last year? I have no problem with Cuban being a superfan... but if he's going to go on and complain about every single thing every time his team loses, and claim that he's some martyr who's just trying to improve the overall state of the NBA... but yet his team is benefitting from the same defeciencies and he doesn't seem to mind those times when the system works in his favor... he's basically no better than any random BBS poster here. I don't demand that Cuban be better than anybody else here... its just when he's going to go on national TV, or host a blog, or be in the public spotlight during a game... and we're forced to see it... its irritating, tiring, old, annoying, and just a big turn-off to the league in general. I wouldn't want to tune in to ESPN to see any random poster here complain about the refs... so why would I want a prominent figure to be doing it every second of every time he has a public forum? You're right... nobody should whine about the refs, or in general. But, when we do it... nobody hears it but the people here. When Cuban does it, EVERYONE hears about it... almost to the point of abuse. If you can't see the difference in Cuban whining vs. an average fan whining, we're just going to have to agree to disagree.
And yet, people are complaining about Cuban, and not all the posters on the BBS that do the exact same thing. It sounds to me like you're more upset by the coverage of him rather than his actions - I agree with that. I don't think he should be the focus of all this, and I get tired of seeing him everywhere. But then our problem should be with ESPN or ABC or whoever's putting him on TV. It's not like he's going to ESPN and asking them to interview him. ESPN thinks that's what people want to see, so they go cover him. That's not his fault, and I don't think he should be asked not to be himself because ESPN puts a camera on him.
Yes, this is part of the problem that causes irritation... but putting the blame only on the media is being waaaaay to one-sided. We all know they're going to over-analyze any situation that is explosive, confrontational, tirading, and abusive... THAT is what the media loves to do, and has done so for years and years. Can you really say that Cuban is just an innocent bystander in all this, and is a victim of the media overexposing him? I feel most of the attention Cuban gets now has been brought upon by himself. Thousands of owners have made comments to the media, or voiced their displeasure over the years... Steinbrenner is notorious for this. But, to do it after EVERY incident that doesn't go your way, to show your displeasure on TV after EVERY game your team loses, and to constantly preach that he's just trying to evoke "change" (when really he's just mad that things didn't go his way... as evidenced by his lack of complaint when his team wins) are all things that are within HIS control, and within HIS desire to be heard. The media had nothing to do with him going on tirades against the refs after the game... and the media has nothing to do with him being hypocritical when it comes to criticizing refs.
exactly, or a good hitter getting a smaller strike zone. and the same thing is going in baseball, the action is going by so fast that the official has to rely on his or her judgement as much as what is actually seen. I guess what bothers me about the complaining about officials is no one takes in consideration that the NBA is by far the hardest game to call. tall athletic graceful athletes moving at a constant fast pace. no stopping and starting like in football and baseball. go to a pick up game at your local park and see how arguments arise over a ball going out of bounds. and those guys are weekend warriors.
Well, maybe if you didn't have owners actually keeping stats on individual officials, or coaches isolating single referee incidents and exposing them as the focus of attention on post-game press conferences... people would cut the NBA referees more slack. The more people complain about them, the more people will scrutinize every call they make, and the more people will complain about them... its a vicious cycle that can only be stopped by zero-tolerance (severely fining/suspending anybody who even hints at officiating mistakes), or by having no-name/no-ego/no past history officials (pretty unlikely... these guys have been around 20-30 years becuase they're the best at what they do).
It's all so stupid and takes away from the game. At the end, the Mavs and Cuban were screaming bloody murder about everything, when they weren't kicking things, or on the verge of an emotional meltdown. Wade wasn't fouled? He was fouled twice on the critical play, a push in the back by Dirk, that he got called for, and an even more blatant foul by Harris, both caught on film. Howard clearly called timeout, twice, and it's on film. The only thing I'm not sure about is the claim about a backcourt violation by Wade, and that became the "big deal" after it was clear the other "bogus" fouls were fouls, and that Howard had called timeout. I used to think it would be cool to have an owner so involved with the team and the game, and who had an endless pocketbook. The endless pocketbook I'd still take, but not the juvenile antics of Cuban. I'll pass, thank you very much.
