$200,000 of Comedy

Cuban fined again …Are we all desensitized to it?

The Mavericks owner was docked $100,000 for going onto the court late in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals against San Antonio at AT&T Center. During a timeout, he was in between the Mavericks' bench and midcourt while yelling at officials.

Another $100,000 fine was assessed for the blog item, in which Cuban criticized the league for using too many officials in the playoffs rather than just selecting the 12 most experienced refs and going with them exclusively.

It's not the first time Cuban has been fined for something he wrote on his blog. He said he was fined last year for writing about the season starting on election day.
In the blog on officials, Cuban said: "Giving less qualified officials an opportunity to officiate playoff games as a reward gives the official a nice attaboy, but it risks the quality of our product. It makes absolutely no sense to do it the way it is currently done. If the league wants the best officiating in every game, only use the best officials. Anything less cheats us all."

And then here is his blog that cost him $100,000 …

…the NBA has a huge problem. It doesnt view the playoffs as a place where the very best of the best of officials go to work. It views the playoffs as part of a reward system for officials. YOu get promoted to the playoffs. Its not unusual to see an official work a single playoff game in the first round . In fact, if the info i have is correct, there are officials who havent even been promoted to full time crew cheif who get playoff assignments. How crazy is that ?

Thats also a huge, huge, huge business mistake. The playoffs are our most important, most visible product. They should never be used as a stepping stone for promotion.
Instead, the NBA should rank its officials, seed them if you will. Top 12 get playoff assignments. Thats it. If an official does a great job and rises to the top 12, he or she gets the reward. If not, not.

Giving less qualified officials an opportunity to officiate playoff games as a reward gives the official a nice attaboy, but it risks the quality of our product.
It makes absolutely no sense to do it the way it is currently done. If the league wants the best officiating in every game, only use the best officials. Anything less cheats us all.

The San Antonio paper assesses the situation …

The loss was the Spurs' second-worst at home in the playoffs. Only a 23-point defeat to Philadelphia in Game 5 of the 1979 Eastern Conference semifinals was more decisive.

The Mavericks used the same defense as the Spurs, even calling some of the same switches, with one difference: They played it better. Of the Spurs' 66 shots, only 21 were uncontested — that's about a third less than they usually average.

The length and athleticism of Dallas' players, whether it was Howard and Harris or Jerry Stackhouse and Marquis Daniels, frustrated the Spurs. Even when Parker and Ginobili did get into the lane, they lacked the lift to shoot over the Mavericks' centers.

Parker and Ginobili finished with a combined 28 points on 10-of-25 shooting.
"Dallas' defense was excellent," Popovich said. "We have to figure out, offensively, how we're going to score against them."

That probably means relying even more on Duncan, who has 59 points in the two games. In both games, Dallas seemed to let one of its big men take Duncan alone in the first half before doubling him in the final two quarters. On Tuesday, he made 8 of 10 shots and 12 of 14 free throws.

Duncan went to the bench with 6:21 left in the first half after picking up his third foul on a charge call.

Popovich called Duncan's exit "monstrous": The Spurs didn't make another shot the rest of the quarter and went into halftime trailing 58-38.

"This is the most active and most dynamic he's been in a long time," Popovich said. "'Playoff Timmy' is certainly there. Now we need to get more help from more people."

A good p1 found this story of greatest busts in basketball And our friend Shawn appears …

Pro scouts fell in love with Bradley, a fairly athletic 7-foot-6 stickman who put up 14 points, seven boards and five blocks a game in his only season at BYU. When he became the talk of the 1993 draft, Bradley hadn't actually played competitive basketball for more than two years, spending that time overseas on a Mormon mission.

Still, the Sixers, in love with his potential and athleticism for a guy that big (he supposedly batted close to .400 on his high school baseball team), took Bradley with the second overall pick — ahead of Penny Hardaway, Jamal Mashburn, Vin Baker and Allan Houston. (Gheorghe Muresan was a high second-round pick in that same draft.)

Bradley had a 12-year run in the league before retiring with the Mavericks last year. But he never lived up to the hype that followed him out of college, peaking as an off-the-bench player who averaged eight points, six rebounds and 2.5 blocks in his career. Bradley was best known for getting posterized by some of the NBA's best (as well as just average) dunkers, including the famous one where T-Mac rode him like a horse in the 2005 playoffs.

How was George Lucas inspired for Star Wars? …



I know this may be a commercial that wasn’t seen here in America, but, only in Europe can we see The great Thierry Henry and the great Dirk Nowitzki in the same commercial …even if the commercial has huge gay overtones…

Hated to see this news, but my official fish store, Dallas North Aquarium had a horrendous fire last week…Hang in there, boys…

Dan Pompei says the Saints have Bush and Deuce to dominate together …

I was asked via email the other day to occasionally update the status of the DVD boys. So, here you go through Tuesday:

John Danks – AA Frisco …

6 starts 2-4, 5.97 ERA, 42 hits allowed in 28 innings

Thomas Diamond - AA Frisco …

6 starts, 2-1, 4.70 ERA, 22 hits and 20 walks in 23 innings. Also, 30 Strikeouts.

Edinson Volquez – AAA Oklahoma City …

6 starts, 2-2, 5.23 ERA, 32 hits in 32 innings and 29 K’s.

As you can see, there is no such thing as a sure thing pitching prospect.

How to Kill my NHL Playoff Buzz in 2 steps:

1) Eliminate as many relevant teams as possible in Round 1 (Dallas, Detroit, Calgary, Philadelphia).
2) The 2nd round should have almost 0 drama; In fact, were it not for Edmonton’s triple overtime goal last night, ALL 4 SERIES WOULD BE 3-0!!! Yuck! How about a little intrigue, boys?

Here is this week’s version of “if this happened over here, this is all we would be talking about” story: the situation. Top 4 teams in England go to the Champions League next season. Chelsea, Manchester United, and Liverpool are already in. Tottenham (Steve Nash’s team) is in 4th and Arsenal is in 5th with 1 game to play. If Tottenham wins or ties, they get the final spot. Well, they did neither, losing to West Ham 2-1, and costing their organization $14 million pounds (at least). Here is the rub: At least 10 Tottenham players were affected with food poisoning the morning of the game, and now everyone is wondering if they were poisoned!

The details of lasagna gate …

The defeat meant that Arsenal, their arch rivals, qualified for the Champions League. One fans' website hinted at conspiracy, showing a mock-up of Arsenal coach Arsène Wenger dressed as a chef.

Spurs' failure to make the Champions League will cost at least £14m, according to Nigel Currie, director of the sports sponsorship firm brand Rapport. He estimated lost TV revenue alone would be at least £2.5m and a forthcoming shirt sponsorship deal could fall from £6m to £4m, with another £1.5m lost in merchandising sales.
The Premier League last night effectively ruled out a replay. A spokesman said: "Tottenham Hotspur fulfilled their fixture and the result stands."

The Spurs players became ill after dining in a private room at the five-star London Marriott West India Quay Hotel on Saturday. They sat down to a buffet of steak, chicken and pasta prepared by the hotel chef on the advice of the club's nutritionist. By 5am many were ill with diarrhoea and vomiting and club officials asked for the police to be called.

TV Squad looks at the Lost Hanso Commercial …



Deadspin prepares for Madden 2007 …