Cuban whistle crisis

DALLAS – When all was said and done in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban stood courageously in the stands, applauding the team that crushed his hopes of a championship for the franchise he paid $285 Million to own six years ago.

Cuban wasn’t his usual vociferous self. He was subdued, almost humble in defeat. Right in front of his eyes and over 20,000 hometown fans, the Mavs succumbed to the pressure of a do-or-die game. The players choked under fire. And coach Avery Johnson seemed always a step late in adjusting to situations on the floor.

Nobody could deny the better team won. Miami’s defense was unforgiving and coach Pat Riley proved his mastery in the battle of wits.

Cuban, 47, was fined $250,000 by the NBA for his outburst after Dallas lost Game 5 in overtime in Miami last Sunday. He berated referee Joe DeRosa and appeared to stare down NBA commissioner David Stern. The league, of course, wouldn’t tolerate Cuban’s antics.

Since buying the Mavs in 2000, Cuban has been slapped fines of about $1.5 Million, mainly for lashing out at NBA referees. He donates to charity every dollar he pays as his personal counterpart. His biggest fine was $500,000 in 2002 when he said he wouldn’t hire supervisor of officials Ed Rush to manage a Dairy Queen (because) "his interest is not in the integrity of the game or improving the officiating."

A columnist of the newspaper Miami Herald wrote the other day that he overheard Cuban accusing Stern of "rigging" the games in the Finals. But Cuban denied it.

"The games are not rigged," said Cuban. "That’s a complete insult to the players on the court and the incredible amount of effort they put into preparing for and playing the games. The NBA couldn’t rig the games if it wanted to. And it doesn’t want to."

Losing Game 5 was such a heartbreaker that Mavs star Dirk Nowitzki blew his top on the way to the dressing room from the court. He kicked the basketball into the stands, drawing a $5,000 fine, and pushed away a stationary bike. Nowitzki was upset that he missed a free throw late in regulation and opened the door for the Heat to send it into overtime.

Not too many fans know that Cuban once sold garbage bags in his neighborhood in Pittsburgh as a boy, worked his way to college as a disco dancing instructor and earned about $1,100 from starting a chain letter.

Early in his professional career, Cuban was fired by a software dealer for choosing to make a sales call to close a $10,000 deal instead of opening the store on time. He later formed his own software company, which was sold to CompuServe for $6 Million. Then, Cuban and partner Todd Wagner conceived the idea of broadcasting live games and events via the internet through Audionet, a company they organized.

In four years, Audionet had grown to employ 330 workers and generate revenues of close to $100 Million. The company was eventually sold to Yahoo for $5.7 Billion. Today, Cuban’s net worth is estimated to be $1.8 Billion.

Cuban’s wealth is evident in the way he pampers the Mavericks with luxuries.

Solar vice president for production Erick Tam, broadcaster Vitto Lazatin and I visited the Mavericks locker room and saw for ourselves, how Cuban lavishes his players with unnecessary amenities.

In the locker room, each player cubicle has a 13-inch flat-screen TV monitor, a DVD player, stereo equipment, earphones, a play station gadget and a $2,000 chair.

Cuban said the TV is primarily for players to watch tapes of games.

"All those things I’ve never seen in a locker room before," said Dallas reserve forward Keith Van Horn who had previously played for New Jersey, Philadelphia, New York and Milwaukee. "That attracts players. It makes players want to be here, to know all the hard work and effort you put into the season is appreciated.

"You’ve got to give Mark Cuban a lot of credit. He’s come in and turned around the whole culture of the organization, made this a place where players want to be. Everything starts at the top and we have a passionate owner."

Outside the locker room doors, there is a spacious weight room, a lounge with a large screen TV, a pool table, a full-size practice court with 24-hour access, hot and cold tubs along with a hydro-therapy pool and a training/rehabilitation center adapted to compensate for NBA-sized athletes.

Additionally, the Mavs travel on their own $41 Million 757 jet and during home games, sit on specially-designed chairs that offer back support and extra padding.

Cuban promised to give away 1,000 tickets–or 500 pairs–to fans for Game 7 through an online promotion. To register for free tickets, fans must live with 75 miles of the Mavs’ homecourt and had to fill up entry forms. Winners would’ve been chosen at random.

Because the Finals ended in Game 6, no free tickets were given out.

But Cuban, who plans to buy baseball’s Chicago Cubs, said he has something better in store for fans next year. He has announced an across-the-board reduction of ticket prices, including a package of 10 games for only $20.

"We’re going to be the first team probably in NBA history to go to the Finals and reduce their ticket prices the next year," said Cuban who’s a self-styled maverick in the real sense of the word.