I got into a bit of an argument with someone who is a Chicago Cubs fan a few weeks ago because I thought thatMark Cuban owning the Cubs would be a great thing for baseball. Cuban, the current owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, is one of my favorite people in all of sports. I mean, how cool is it that an owner of a sports franchise pretty much attends every home (and often away) game and behaves like a typical fan getting up in the face of referees. I know he takes it to the extreme and I imagine that his antics often wear on the coach of his team, but if I'm a Mavericks fan, there isn't a single reason not to love this guy unless maybe you don't like people who wear their hearts on their sleeves.
Maybe it's because Cuban behaves as I would if I happened to be a billionaire owner of a sports franchise. I'd probably be sitting right down in the front row with my A's gear on, getting all fired up and into the game. I mean, this is a guy who gave away round-trip tickets to all of his fans on fan appreciation night. He didn't just give out some tumbler or bobblehead sponsored by Pepsi. He treats his athletes like gold as he does the fans of his team. And we all know how I cry about the poor umpiring in baseball...Cuban would probably have an aneurysm watching the baseball men in blue on a nightly basis, but maybe he could shake things up and help be an agent of change for the status quo in baseball.
The Cubs' fan I discussed this with happened to be the guy who runs Bleed Cubbie Blue. His whole objection to Cuban was the fact that Cuban is a guy who basically wants everything to be about him. He lives for the spotlight. But the truth is that I couldn't care less about that. I want an owner who is dedicated to winning and is willing to do what it takes to get there. Cuban is one of the best owners in sports in my opinion. And I would love to have him shake up the baseball world. The problem is that the baseball world is too insular for that to happen.
So all I can do is read a fellow blogger and watch Cuban shake his groove thing on Dancing with the Stars and vote for the guy. Maybe he'll at least come out on top somewhere.
As for baseball's League Championship Series, the Rockies look to continue one of the most impressive runs in all of baseball history. Had the Rockies not lost that one game to the Diamondbacks in September, they would've essentially won 21 in a row and counting. At the most crucial time of the year. It's an unbelievably feat that really has me rooting for the team that Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman are likely pulling for.
Boston and Cleveland suddenly looks like it could be a long series. It might not have been had the Red Sox pulled out the marathon game the other night, but with Dice-K not looking very strong down the stretch and Tim Wakefield maybe not being 100 percent, the series may have turned on that one night. I'm actually paying more attention to the playoffs than I thought I would. I kind of figured I would've checked out of baseball mentally after this emotionally draining A's season. But I haven't. I'm mostly enthralled with the Rockies these days.
