The Cubs, MLB, and a Cuban Missile Crisis

Murray Brown weighs in on how MLB avoids awarding the Cubs to Mark Cuban:

The Cubs are an underutilized brand. Wrigley hasn’t been fully tapped. Cuban took the Mavericks, in a city where the Dallas Cowboys are somewhere short of religion, and made them a player in the NBA. After purchasing the Mavericks in 2000 for $200 million, Forbes valued them at $461 million, the sixth highest rated valued franchise in the NBA. What if Cuban decides to do the same with the Cubs? How do you think Jerry Reinsdorf would feel about that?

The fact that the club that would be impacted the most by a Cuban winning bid is also owned by a man that knows Cuban through the NBA smacks of the ironic. Reinsdorf, who owns the White Sox, also owns the Chicago Bulls. How did Jerry vote on Cuban coming to the NBA? He said no. Where does Jerry sit in order of the ownership brethren? He’s as close to Bud Selig as one can get. Cuban getting through the door will not be easy, but not impossible. He’s been on record as saying he’s opposed to guaranteed contracts in the NBA. Imagine if he put his weight behind that concept in MLB?

11 months ago The Cheat Comment 17 comments 0 recs |

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I actually like Cuban, and he would be a good owner for the Cubs

Baseball ownership and Selig are crusty fucks who hate change, I don’t care if Reinsdorf is one of Bud’s closet allies, Cuban is a pro-active owner who has learned the limits of being too involved in the action. Besides, in baseball it’s not like he can be in the dugout, basketball is just a much more interactive sport with the fans.

I was a multiple time all star throughout my little league career. Won 5 championships- 4 in a row- thats more in a row than MJ… (kenwo4life@aol.com)

by Ozzie Montana on Aug 4, 2008 12:08 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Cuban would be a great owner for the Cubs, which arguably, is a bad thing for the Sox

I’d love to see Cuban get an MLB franchise, just let it be one outside of Chicago, outside the AL Central.

AIM: SouthSideCheat

by The Cheat on Aug 4, 2008 1:04 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Bad because Reinsdorf is part of the old guard, or because Cuban alone will get more attention than the Sox?

I was a multiple time all star throughout my little league career. Won 5 championships- 4 in a row- thats more in a row than MJ… (kenwo4life@aol.com)

by Ozzie Montana on Aug 4, 2008 11:12 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Bad because of the first couple sentences I highlighted

The Cubs haven’t been fully optimized. They’ve been led by wasteful spenders and have for too long been content with their place as lovable losers. This has changed slightly in recent years, especially since the Sox championship, but Cuban would stand for nothing less than domination of the NL Central and would energize fans that the Cubs and Sox didn’t even know existed.

I’m sick of the Cubs, and especially Cubs coverage - it’s been a World Series year since February. Fukudome is the first Japanese man to set foot on US soil - I can only imagine what it would be like if they had not just competent ownership behind them, but a man with a vision and a history of going against the grain and making waves.

I suppose you could spin it as bad for the Sox when it’s Jerry who’s doing the major blackballing, but I can totally understand why he’d want a pre-packaged Jeffry Lauria type in here.

AIM: SouthSideCheat

by The Cheat on Aug 4, 2008 1:25 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

We're already #2 (literally and figuratively) in the city and the US

as it is without the Cubs having smart ownership. JR vs. Cuban, mano-y-mano is no contest where popularity is concerned. Sox would need to be as good (or as profligate), consistently, as the Mets to keep up with the Cubs, who might resemble the Yankees (if we are talking about cross-town rivalries) re: talent/ability to spend.

If I were JR and had 3-4 more good ownership years I’d not want my setting sun to occur while Cuban was making his baseball bones under my nose.

shaftr, the ghost author. cheat, the never-present manager. colin, the obfuscating author. wiz…well. who the fuck knows. at least he shows up to work.

by winningugly on Aug 4, 2008 1:39 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

well cuban might be a good thing

if you think the competition might force jerry to spend more money where necessary (high draft picks, latin american recruiting).

He was a catcher with the Orioles back in the day. Sorry looking (expletive). My brother had his card. He looked like this little kid who got left at a bus station by his parents. You know why? Because he had to catch Hoyt Wilhelms knuckle ball five (expletive) years.

by onlysoxfaninboston on Aug 4, 2008 2:35 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

But will the players like their owner sitting in the dugout with them

in a full Cubs uniform?

"Everybody looks at the Cubs. Look at the White Sox. They're a pretty good ballclub." - Lou Piniella (6/29/08)

by tailgater on Aug 5, 2008 12:44 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ask the Braves

since T-squared used to do it.

I’d love to see Cuban come to town.

shaftr, the ghost author. cheat, the never-present manager. colin, the obfuscating author. wiz…well. who the fuck knows. at least he shows up to work.

by winningugly on Aug 5, 2008 1:04 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Cheat, don't know if you saw the article before the one you linked to...

But 1 of the Sox made the Best Defense list, and 1 made the Worst Defense list:

http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2008/07/deefense_deefen_1.php

In two weeks they will win 7 or 8 in a row and you all will have 10 inch boners.

by Chiburb on Aug 4, 2008 10:23 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

thanks for the pointer chi

The greatest trick the White Sox ever pulled was convincing their fan base that "Ozzieball" ever existed.

by The Wizard on Aug 4, 2008 1:29 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

My point is made almost immediately:

A fellow advisor from Cary, NC just e-maile me when I asked him if he was going to attend a Sox game while we were in town next week:

Saw that the Cubs were away; didn’t think about Sox! Is someone taking you?

JR doesn’t need the additional competition.

shaftr, the ghost author. cheat, the never-present manager. colin, the obfuscating author. wiz…well. who the fuck knows. at least he shows up to work.

by winningugly on Aug 4, 2008 1:55 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

e-mailed, MF MF MF

shaftr, the ghost author. cheat, the never-present manager. colin, the obfuscating author. wiz…well. who the fuck knows. at least he shows up to work.

by winningugly on Aug 4, 2008 1:56 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

what's that, 3 times today? did I miss any?

and you were SO quick to chastise that little girl in another thread.
As Carlos Quentin said, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.

In two weeks they will win 7 or 8 in a row and you all will have 10 inch boners.

by Chiburb on Aug 4, 2008 2:54 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I've never been published, as was your daughter

And I can spell, I just can’t type. (But I am horrible, man. Just horrible. Thank God for Tdogg.)

But I dig your protectiveness, and fully embrace it.

shaftr, the ghost author. cheat, the never-present manager. colin, the obfuscating author. wiz…well. who the fuck knows. at least he shows up to work.

by winningugly on Aug 4, 2008 3:01 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

well, if she were a Cub fan I'd throw her under a bus.

and I guess she really isn’t that “little” either… seeing how she’s a spinster and all.

In two weeks they will win 7 or 8 in a row and you all will have 10 inch boners.

by Chiburb on Aug 4, 2008 3:17 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

somebody told me she's old enough to be a grandmother.

fuck you, that's my name!! you know why, mister? 'cause you drove a hyundai to get here tonight, I drove a eighty thousand dollar bmw. that's my name!!

by MarketMaker on Aug 6, 2008 5:03 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs